Open AccessClose to the Heart or Close to the Home? Motivational Factors Influencing EFL Teaching as a Career Choice among Female Arab-Israeli Students
Author(s) -
Iman Garra-Alloush,
Wisam Abughosh Chaleila,
Abeer Watted
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
english language teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1916-4750
pISSN - 1916-4742
DOI - 10.5539/elt.v14n1p48
Subject(s) - psychology , english as a foreign language , scale (ratio) , likert scale , foreign language , pedagogy , mathematics education , medical education , developmental psychology , medicine , physics , quantum mechanics
The purpose of this study is to examine Israeli-Arab pre-service teachers’ motivations for choosing English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching as their future profession. Data were gathered using the adapted Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) scale. Study participants (a cohort of N = 100) responded to a questionnaire of 38 motivational factors that had influenced them to choose English teaching as a future profession when entering education colleges. In addition, 20 of the participants took part in semi-structured interviews. Results revealed that the reasons Arab students become English teachers are based on a combination of intrinsic, extrinsic, and altruistic motivations. As all study participants were women, our results provide an initial indication of what draws Arab-Israeli women to the profession.