Factors Contributing to Motivation among Iranian EFL In-Service Teachers

Since learning English as a foreign language in Iran has turned into one of the most important issues in educational settings, especially in recent years, having motivated teachers in education and maintaining this motivation is one of the defining factors in assuring students’ learning. Teachers' motivation affects the process of teaching and EFL learners’ achievement. The present study was an attempt to investigate factors contributing to creating motivation among EFL in-service teachers and also factors which contribute to maintaining motivation among these teachers. The results of the study revealed that in interest in learning a foreign language, motivational intensity, and desire to learn English, respectively, two thirds of the teachers were at high and intermediate levels. It can be concluded that they had a positive intrinsic motivation to learn a second language, but that there were external factors that affect such motivation. The results also suggest that teachers in general demonstrated an intermediate to high instrumental and integrative orientation towards teaching English as a second/foreign language. Introduction Language teachers have always been considered an inseparable part of education and have always had a great responsibility. Since learning English as a foreign language in Iran has turned into one of the most important issues in educational settings, especially in recent years, having motivated teachers in education and maintaining this motivation is one of the defining factors in assuring students’ learning. Teachers' motivation affects the process of teaching and EFL learners’ achievement. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to identify potential factors which motivate language teachers and help maintain this motivation. Statement of the Problem Motivation is one of the important factors especially for teachers in teaching English as a foreign language. Because motivation can lead to job satisfaction and in turn result in maintaining the job (Orpen, 1994), motivation and job satisfaction are very essential in the lives of teachers because they form the fundamental reasons for having a career in life (Bishay, 1996). However, in the Iranian EFL contexts, few studies have been conducted on factors which may contribute to teacher motivation (e.g., Gheralis, 2003; Shoaib, 2004). Obviously, without an awareness of such factors, it will not be possible to help teachers enhance their motivation throughout their profession. More importantly, maintaining a constant level of motivation throughout the teaching career will not be possible unless such factors are identified. Thus, the current study will make an attempt to fill an important gap in this regard. A construct that is often associated with motivation is efficacy. Woolfolk Hoy and Davis (2006, as cited in Woolfolk Hoy, Hoy, & Davis, 2009) argued that teachers’ behaviors in the classroom and their interactions with students are shaped by their sense of efficacy. In turn, these efficacyinfluenced teacher behaviors and decisions may have consequences for students’ behaviors, emotions, and decisions. In terms of direct instructional effects, teachers with a strong sense of JOURNAL OF TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES, Vol. 2, NO. 3, Winter 2014 62 efficacy tend to exhibit greater levels of planning, organization, direct teaching, motivation, and enthusiasm (Allinder, 1994, as cited in Woolfolk Hoy, Hoy, & Davis, 2009). Woolfolk Hoy, Hoy, and Davis (2009) argued that much more remains to be done, especially at the individual level, to explore and to refine efficacy and to examine the relationships between individual teacher academic optimism and student outcomes. Statement of the Purpose Exploring factors that could motivate Iranian teachers of language and maintaining this motivation among them is an important factor in teaching especially in foreign language teaching. Teachers' motivation is one of the important factors that would lead to classroom effectiveness and teaching centers improvement (Ofoegbu, 2004). The present study is thus an attempt to identify potential factors which may affect teacher motivation and to propose strategies to maintain teacher motivation. Significance of the Study Teachers in general and English language teachers in particular in Iran are the most important part of education who may not be motivated most of the time, which will negatively affect foreign language students’ achievement in Iran (Hosseini Kohestani, 2012). This is so because teachers' competence and commitment are the most important determinants of learning outcomes. What is striking is that little systematic research has been carried out on motivational issues among EFL teachers in Iran (but see Rezaei et al., 2008). The importance of the present study is twofold: first, it will make an attempt to identify potential factors which may affect teacher motivation. Second, it will seek to propose strategies to maintain teacher motivation in the EFL context in Iran. Research Questions The present study will make an attempt to provide answers to the following questions: 1. What factors contribute to creating motivation among EFL in-service teachers? 2. What factors contribute to maintaining motivation among EFL in-service teachers? 1.6. Statement of the Hypotheses Since the study is exploratory in nature, the number of potential factors which may contribute to creating, enhancing, and maintaining motivation among in-service EFL teachers is an open question. However, based on the literature available on teacher motivation, factors such as financial satisfaction, receiving due respect from the school administrators, receiving support from the school managers and higher officials, and parents’ support are expected to play an important role in creating and maintaining motivation among in-service EFL teachers. Teachers’ motivation Many researchers have argued that motivation is one of the variables that determine language achievement (Dweik, 1986; Njadat, 1998). Motivation is the intensity of a person's desire to engage in some activity (Dessler, 2001). Ryan and Deci (2000) defined motivation as concerning energy, direction, and persistence. Ofoegbu (2004) considered teachers' motivation as one of the important factors that would lead to classroom effectiveness and teaching improvement. Teachers' motivation causes them to be satisfied and dedicated in such a way that they bring their best into their classes. If teachers do not have enough motivation to continue their work, it reduces classroom effectiveness and students’ quality output. JOURNAL OF TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES, Vol. 2, NO. 3, Winter 2014 63 Ryan and Deci (2000) stated that motivation concerns energy, direction, and persistence--all aspects of activation and intention (p. 69). Similarly, Whiteley (2002) believed that motivation involves encouraging people to help them act in a particular way. He argued that motivation is elusive because it exists in the unlikeliest places and is absent in the most promising locations (p. 6). In addition, he stated that motivation can be neither assessed nor easily observed. According to MacIntyre (2002), questions about motivation address three issues. The first issue is why behavior is directed toward a specific goal. The second one refers to the determination of intensity or effort investment in pursuing goals. The third issue addresses why different people in the same situation differ in the direction and strength of motivated behavior. The factors with a heavy influence on job satisfaction based on the work of Kassabgy, Boraie and Schmidt (2001) are intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, autonomy, relationships, selfrealization and institutional support. Intrinsic motivation has been defined as performing a behavior for its own sake in order to experience pleasure and satisfaction such as the joy of doing a particular activity or satisfying one's curiosity (Dörnyei, 2001). Some intrinsic motivations for teachers can be: internal desire to educate people in a language, help learners to communicate, successful transmission of knowledge, the educational process itself where the teacher is positively affected by working with students and watching them grow and improve. Extrinsic motivation consists of positive motivators including factors such as as salary, pension, and insurance. Maslow's (1970) need-based theory of motivation is the most widely recognized theory of motivation. According to this theory, a person has five fundamental needs: psychological, security, affiliation, self-esteem and self-actualization. This model will be used as the theoretical basis of the present study. Method In order to answer the research questions of this study which was investigating the factors contributing to creating and maintaining motivation among EFL in-service teachers, the Attitude Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) was administered to all the participants. As previously stated, this instrument was adapted to the Iranian college context. There were 9 subscales in this instrument and the items were included in each table to make clear what was being evaluated. These subscales include interest in foreign languages, motivational intensity to learn English, teacher evaluation, attitude towards learning English, attitudes toward English speaking people, desire to learn English, integrative orientation, instrumental orientation and English course evaluation. Also included are the number of teachers in each of the clusters that the SPSS software formed, the results of the computations, and some general observations. It is important to take into consideration that the choices in the Likert scale for every item varied from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree). It should be noted that the 100 teachers were divided into 4 groups: Group 1 included teachers teaching in the capital, Tehran. Group 2 included teachers who were teaching in small cities and towns like Qazvin an