self-determination theory and efl teachers/students motivational parameters: the role of instructional styles and psychological needs

Self-determination, developed by deci and ryan (1985), has been found to be an effective approach toward a better understanding of motivation. this study examined the correlation between the motivation of iranian tefl teachers and students’ motivation. the participants chosen for this study were 200 iranian english learners (including both males and females) who were intermediate or advanced students. a total number of 200 english teachers were chosen. the participants were selected via convenience sampling. to meet the aim of the study, four questionnaires and a semi-structured interview were conducted with 10 teachers to gain a deeper insight into the motivation of the teachers. the data was analyzed quantitatively to see if the items of the questionnaires were normally distributed by using histograms, skewness, and kurtosis statistics. the reliability coefficients of the instruments were determined, and the correlational computations were run using the spearman formula. in addition, the normality was cross-checked through kolmogorov-smirnov test. the findings revealed that there was not a correlation between teacher motivation and their teaching styles. in fact, teachers' motivation had no significant role in their teaching styles in efl classes. moreover, the findings showed that teachers’ teaching styles had a positive correlation with the amount of satisfaction of their students’ basic psychological needs. therefore, it was concluded that teaching styles were among the important elements in the efl context to meet the psychological needs of language learners. in addition, the results indicated that teachers’ motivation for teaching english had a positive relationship with student's motivation for learning english. the results showed that the more motivated teachers were, the more motivated their students were to learn english. the findings from the interview also revealed that teacher motivation was vitally important in this process, and teachers attach different meanings to the notion of teacher motivation, all of which highlight its importance and the potential implications for teachers and students and also for the educational system planning policy.

Self-Determination Theory and EFL Teachers/Students Motivational Parameters: The Role of Instructional Styles and Psychological Needs

Self-determination, developed by Deci and Ryan (1985), has been found to be an effective approach toward a better understanding of motivation. This study examined the correlation between the motivation of Iranian TEFL teachers and students’ motivation. The participants chosen for this study were 200 Iranian English learners (including both males and females) who were intermediate or advanced students. A total number of 200 English teachers were chosen. The participants were selected via convenience sampling. To meet the aim of the study, four questionnaires and a semi-structured interview were conducted with 10 teachers to gain a deeper insight into the motivation of the teachers. The data was analyzed quantitatively to see if the items of the questionnaires were normally distributed by using histograms, skewness, and kurtosis statistics. The reliability coefficients of the instruments were determined, and the correlational computations were run using the Spearman formula. In addition, the normality was cross-checked through Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test. The findings revealed that there was not a correlation between teacher motivation and their teaching styles. In fact, teachers' motivation had no significant role in their teaching styles in EFL classes. Moreover, the findings showed that teachers’ teaching styles had a positive correlation with the amount of satisfaction of their students’ basic psychological needs. Therefore, it was concluded that teaching styles were among the important elements in the EFL context to meet the psychological needs of language learners. In addition, the results indicated that teachers’ motivation for teaching English had a positive relationship with student's motivation for learning English. The results showed that the more motivated teachers were, the more motivated their students were to learn English. The findings from the interview also revealed that teacher motivation was vitally important in this process, and teachers attach different meanings to the notion of teacher motivation, all of which highlight its importance and the potential implications for teachers and students and also for the educational system planning policy.