Motivational Factors Influencing Pre-Service EFL Teachers to Choose Teaching as A Future Career

Abstract

Motivation to choose teaching profession has a significant role in the professionalism and commitment to the teaching profession. This study investigates motivational factors that influence pre-service teachers of English Education Study Program at FKIP Tanjungpura University, Pontianak to choose teaching as a future career. Unlike the previous research in the Indonesian context that mostly used intrinsic, extrinsic, and altruistic motivation frameworks, this study used a motivational framework by Watt & Richardson (2007) named FIT-Choice Scale. This research was conducted using a survey method. The number of participants in this study is 216 pre-service teachers. By using an online questionnaire that contains close-ended questions adapted from FIT-Choice scale and open-ended questions, the findings show that the main motivational factors that influence the pre-service teachers to choose English teaching as a future career are subject interest (M: 6.13), intrinsic career value (M: 5.78), social utility value (M: 5.75), and prior teaching and learning experience (M: 5.79). Moreover, related to the belief about teaching, the pre-service teachers perceive teaching as a profession with high task demand (M: 5.40), but they rated task return lower (M: 4.91). Furthermore, the researchers also identified other motivational factors mentioned by participants in open-ended questions named religious, personal and professional development, and dual benefit of learning to become an English teacher.

Exploring changes in EFL preservice teachers’ motivation to enter the teaching profession in the context of policy change

“…Within the Indonesian educational framework, studies focusing on motivation encompass a broad spectrum of participants, including both preservice and novice teachers (Afrianto, 2014;Asriani et al, 2022;Hartono et al, 2023;Lomi & Mbato, 2021;Novita, 2019;Suryani et al, 2016;Tustiawati, 2017Tustiawati, , 2019. Despite the extensive array of theories pertaining to motivation, investigations into the motivation of preservice teachers in Indonesia have frequently employed the Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000), which highlights the intrinsic elements of behavior such as an individual's expectations and values concerning the behavior.…”

“…Furthermore, the majority of motivation-related studies have utilized the FIT-choice scale, congruent with EVT, resulting in a diversity of outcomes. For example, in their examination of preservice teachers in Kalimantan, Asriani et al (2022) discovered that intrinsic motivation was most prevalent among the subjects. In a similar vein, Hartono et al (2023) found that extrinsic motivation constituted the primary impetus for individuals electing to enter the teaching profession.…”