Changes in motivation during self-initiated professional development in ELT: Insights from a single-case study

The 21st INGED International ELT Conference, Kayseri, Türkiye, 3 - 05 Kasım 2023

Professional development (PD) has been established as a primary means of developing

necessary competences and qualifications for teaching, as well as transforming previously established

beliefs and updating work-related knowledge. Motivation has been recognized as a key driver for

initiating and sustaining engagement in self-initiated (PD). However, the current scholarship suggests a

lack of attention to motivational changes that arise during the course of self-initiated PD practices in

English Language Teaching (ELT) contexts. This is an area worthy of close scrutiny given the

dynamically evolving nature of motivation which reflects highly complex, nonlinear trajectories over

time in response to the influence of multiple internal and external factors. Using an exploratory

single-case study design as the research methodology, this study aims to capture changes in motivation

and the reasons underlying these changes as reported by an English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL)

teacher trainee who engaged in ELT assistantship in a real classroom as a self-driven PD activity over

four months in Turkey. The analysis of data from self-ratings of perceived motivational intensity,

reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews revealed that the participant’s motivational

experiences did not display a stable pattern but were characterized by temporal ups and downs,

fluctuating in response to a wide range of personal, relational, and context-specific dynamics such as

shifting self-efficacy beliefs, the use of coping resources, perceived effectiveness in teaching practices,

group dynamics within the classroom, student participation, and the lack of professional support. These

findings have implications for promoting (trainee) teachers’ sustainable engagement in self-directed

learning.