Improving EFL Teachers’ Professional Experiences and Motivation: An Ecological Approach

This article explores in-service EFL teacher (de)motivation in secondary state schools in Spain. Possible solutions to teachers’ negative professional experiences and demotivation were proposed by 23 Spanish EFL teachers. These suggestions are examined applying Ecosystems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1993). Using this framework, the present qualitative study offers an ecological understanding of the improvements needed in the EFL teaching profession, in which the importance of the context is reinforced since they were found to affect teachers and their motivation. Data were collected through in-depth online and face-to-face semi-structured interviews and recurrent classroom observations. Innovation and training, teaching support, a reduced teacher-student ratio and empathizing with students were some solutions proposed to solve teachers’ motivational problems. This ecological standpoint shows that teachers are negatively affected by factors beyond their control and therefore, the intervention of policymakers to upgrade teachers’ working conditions was found to be key to protecting teachers’ extrinsic motivation and to preventing the deterioration of their intrinsic motivation.