How a one-year overseas teacher education programme improved a teacher’s motivation strategies

This longitudinal study investigates how in-service study abroad can improve the professional skills of teachers in regard to the strategies and attitudes they use to better motivate their students to learn English. The subject of this study is an in-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher from China who undertook a one-year teacher training course in Hong Kong and Australia, including taught modules, school attachment and teaching practicum. A series of interviews and classroom observations were conducted as the course progressed in order to collect the participant’s views and practical strategies she plans to employ to enhance student motivation. Benefits of the one-year overseas training course are that the participant has become more sensitive to individual student potential, can more effectively tailor relevant teaching approaches to students’ levels of understanding and will better comprehend that a teacher is of critical importance in motivating students to learn English. These three benefits, it is argued, will not only make the teacher more effective, but also tend to further draw out the potential in each student, resulting in better student performance. Copyright © 2016 Pedagogy, Culture & Society.