Basikin
Educators with robust motivation are well-positioned to enhance the facilitation of English language instruction. Nevertheless, alterations in educational policy regarding qualification requirements may influence the motivation of prospective English teachers to pursue a teaching career. This study aims to explore the impact of such policy changes on the motivation of prospective English teachers to enter the language teaching profession. The data were collected through an online open-ended survey, and responses related to participants' initial motivation and motivation at their 8th semester were analysed qualitatively. The survey, distributed via email or message application to 400 English Language Education students, garnered responses from 299 students, yielding a response rate of 74.75%. The qualitative analysis involved coding and labelling responses according to the regulations proposed by the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) of motivation. Results revealed that 48.2% of participants reported their initial motivation as extrinsic, 41.8% as fallback career, 1.7% as amotivation, 7.4% as intrinsic, and 1% as altruistic. Notably, a significant shift from fallback career to more autonomous extrinsic regulations was observed, with 75.9% of participants reporting extrinsic motivation and 6.0% fallback career at their 8th semester. The prevalence of high initial fallback career motivations underscores the necessity for meticulous selection of language teacher education programs. The observed change in fallback careers suggests prospects for enhanced teaching practices among future educators, thereby contributing to the improvement of English language instruction in classrooms. © 2023, authors, e-ISSN: 2502-6747, p-ISSN: 2301-9468
English Language Education Department, Faculty of Languages, Arts, and Culture, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Jl. Colombo No. 1, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
