To be or not to be an EFL teacher: An investigation of student teachers’ motivation

Felman-Nemser (2001) notes that teacher educators, policymakers and employing authorities have for too long overlooked the motivations of people who intend to enter the field of education and insufficiently explored how motivation has shaped their aspirations for professional engagement and the trajectory of their career development. The aim of the study reported in this paper was to explore the issues of motivation of student teachers before and after their two practicum blocks, which were held in the third year and the final year of teacher training. Participants provided quantitative and qualitative data through questionnaires and in-depth interviews which were conducted at four time-points over two years: pre-practicum and post-practicum in the third year and the final year of studies. This study adopted mixed methods to collect data – questionnaires, in-depth interviews and weekly log entries. The results showed that the student teachers’ worries originated from different aspects, of which some later became the sources of motivation. The four longitudinal qualitative cases herein demonstrate how student teachers’ sources of motivation change over time. Copyright © 2018 Asia TEFL.