A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis of the Model of Motivational Variables Affecting Iranian EFL Teachers’ Competency in ELT

1. PHD Candidate, Department of English Language, Qeshm Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qeshm, Iran 2. PHD, Department of English Language, Qeshm Branch,Islamic Azad University, Qeshm,Iran, *Corresponding author email: a.sh32@rocketmail.com 3. PHD, Department of English Language, Bandar Abbas Branch,Islamic Azad University, BandarAbbas,Iran Introduction Education has the vital function in the process of human growth and development. It is a character building process, enhancing owns personality and makes him/her capable, rational, and responsive and intelligent. Education is viewed as an instrument to develop the cognitive qualities, tolerance and understanding of people. Education quality is a central theme in education systems, and various studies have been directed toward seeing how quality in training is accomplished (Kulshrestha & Pandey, 2013). The history of English language teaching (ELT) in Iran indicates that it has undergone a host of ups and downs and gone to extremes (Aghagolzadeh & Davari, 2017). Despite the importance of learning English, it seems that English education is still suffering in Iran and educators turn out to have paid only lip service to it. The factors conducive to this situation are not, of course, easy to identify. However, one single factor, which undoubtedly plays a crucial role and overshadows other factors, even if they are favorable, is the teacher. Teachers have the fundamental role in educational development. No country can make any progress without Abstract: Teacher competency is defined as an integrated set of personal characteristics, knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed for effective performance in various teaching contexts. Despite the importance of teachers’ competency in the design of classroom practices and methods, few studies in Iranian EFL context have explored the effects of factors affecting this construct. Accordingly, the present study attempted to develop and test a model of motivational variables affecting a group of Iranian EFL teachers’ competency by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. A total of 197 EFL teachers teaching at a number of schools in Hormozgan province participated in the study and completed a teacher competency test, a self-efficacy beliefs scale and a self-regulation in teaching questionnaire. The tested model gave satisfactory fit indexes and the variables of study had a positive relation with teachers’ competency. More specifically, instructional strategy, as the subscale of self-efficacy, and intrinsic interest, as the subcomponent of self-regulation, could best predict teachers’ competency.