Exploring Relationships Between EFL Teacher Motivation,Meaningful Content, and Learner Motivation

Abstract

This is a qualitative pilot study in which I investigated the motivation of three EFL teachers in Japan with regard to the global education material that they taught, their reasons for doing volunteer work, and the motivation of their learners. Preliminary results indicated that due to the autonomy these instructors had to teach material about which they were passionate, as well as the high motivation of their learners, these three busy instructors were highly motivated to volunteer their time to teach at Mother Theresa School (“MT School”－a pseudonym). Implications of this study for EFL pedagogy in Japan include the importance of instructors choosing materials about which they and their learners are enthusiastic, as well as ensuring that they have the autonomy to teach these.