A Structural Equation Modelling Analysis of Factors Influencing Teaching Motivation among German and Iranian English Instructors

Motivation constitutes one of the key factors underlying language teachers’ professional performance. It exerts a considerable influence on their pedagogical efficacy and is likely to determine their resilience across various language contexts and academic settings. The present study scrutinized the main factors among German and Iranian English teachers’ motivation. Furthermore, it examined the difference between the motivation of these teacher groups. To this end, the researchers used convenience sampling to select 281 German and 231 Iranian English teachers as the participants. Moreover, they used four reliable and valid questionnaires to examine these participants’ teaching motivation, teaching enjoyment, emotion regulation, and work engagement. Lastly, they analyzed the obtained data using structural equation modelling and t-test. The results of the study indicated that German teachers’ teaching enjoyment and work engagement were the main factors in their motivation. On the other hand, Iranian teachers’ emotion regulation and work engagement were the significant predictors of their motivation. Furthermore, German teachers’ motivation was significantly higher than that of Iranian teachers. The results of the study are likely to provide guidelines on the development of education courses and manuals for English teachers in foreign language contexts.