Tracking motivational changes in self-initiated professional development in ELT: a single-case analysis


Sak M.

INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING, vol.18, no.5, pp.480-490, 2024 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 18 Issue: 5
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/17501229.2024.2315107
  • Journal Name: INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, MLA - Modern Language Association Database
  • Page Numbers: pp.480-490
  • Keywords: Professional development, self-initiated professional development, teacher motivation, language teacher motivation, motivational changes, English language teaching
  • TED University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

While motivation has been recognized as a key catalyst for the uptake of self-initiated professional development (PD), motivational changes that occur in the course of self-initiated PD practices remain unexplored in English Language Teaching (ELT) contexts and beyond. Yet this research area warrants closer attention since motivation is a dynamic construct displaying nonlinear trajectories over multiple timescales. The exploratory single-case study reported here aims to tackle changes in motivation and the sources of 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. Drawing on data from self-ratings of perceived motivational intensity, journal entries, and semi-structured interviews, the analyses showed that the focal participant’s motivational development manifested a constantly evolving pattern with temporal ups and downs, fluctuating in response to a complex array of individual and contextual factors such as shifting self-efficacy beliefs, display of coping efforts, perceived success/failure of the lessons, and group dynamics in the classroom. Implications for facilitating (trainee) teachers’ sustainable engagement in self-directed learning are discussed.