The Motivational Disposition of English Language Teacher Trainees

Abstract

It has been suggested that teacher motivation has a profound effect on the motivation of language learners. While the motivational disposition of students is widely researched, that of teachers has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Even less attention has been dedicated to the understanding of teacher trainees’ motivation. The present research aims to fill this gap by means of an interview study with four English language teacher trainees in Hungary with the aim of exploring their attitudes and motivation; to find out how their attitudes and motivation have changed during one year of training; and to see whether they have a strong intrinsic motivation to become teachers of English. Differences in the interviewees’ reasons for pursuing a degree in teaching, with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors present, and differences in their career intentions were found. The study also reveals that the interviewees have somewhat negative attitudes towards the teacher training programmes they attend.