Motivation of EFL teachers at public primary schools to teach English: the case of Bahir Dar city administration

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to explore the motivation of EFL teachers to teach English. The participants were 65 EFL teachers of public primary schools who were teaching in Bahir Dar City Administration. Data were collected through questionnaire and interview. The results of the study generally revealed that EFL teachers were motivated to teach English. Most of the responses the participants provided revealed that they were motivated to teach English because of several reasons. Some of the motivators were the personality of their previous EFL teachers who taught them beginning from their primary school to college, engaging lessons of their previous EFL teachers and the fact that English was a global language. The findings of the study also showed that the participants exhibited behaviors such as reading extensively in English when they were intrinsically motivated to teach English. The findings of this study imply that it is essential to pay attention to the motivation of English teachers to help improve the difficult situation in which English language teaching finds itself in. Finally, conclusions are drawn based on the findings of the study and recommendations are made for further research.