Pre-service teachers’ narratives: a case study of unpacking the complexities of motivation to become EFL teachers

Tóm tắt

This qualitative study examines the experiences of 55 participants enrolled in English-teachers preparation program at Foreign Languages Department at Vinh University in Vietnam and analyzes reflections on their motivation to become EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers. Multiple measures of data with triangulation have been collected from coursework, including reflection essays from 55 pre-service teachers and a semi-structured interview with the pre-service teachers. The data are analyzed with thematic analysis and Key-word in context in order to find categories of factors that influence the pre-service teachers’ motivation to choose to be EFL teachers. The findings  suggest that the incentives making pre-service teachers pursue the career of English teachers consist of  personal, professional, and social aspects, in which  teachers’ influences - one of the factors of social aspects - has been considered the most dominant factor influencing the desire of pre-service teachers to become EFL teachers. Some pedagogical implications are suggested to improve the strategy of training teachers and career orientation education for students.