Motivational Strategies -informed workshop and Iranian EFL Teachers’ Cognition and Practices of Motivational Strategies

Abstract

Abstract It is believed that motivation has a significant impact on English as a foreign language learners’ language achievement. It is also believed that it is mostly the teacher who can determine the level of success or failure in achieving the determined sets of goals in the educational process. Studies of motivation in language learning have mainly focused on different types of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. However, only a few studies addressed the impact of teacher training workshops on teachers’ perceptions of the importance and practices of motivational strategies in Iranian EFL classes. To do so, 200 high school English language teachers were selected through convenience sampling. A quasi-experimental research design consisting of pretest, treatment, and posttest was used. The teachers received the Teachers' Motivational Strategies Scale (TMSS). The questionnaire consisted of 37 micro-strategies and 6 macro-strategies. Then, 100 teachers were invited to take part in an in-service training workshop on the importance and types of macro and micro-motivational strategies, but 100 were not included in the treatment. The control and experimental groups’ scores on all micro and macro motivational strategies were submitted to different independent samples-t-tests. Results revealed that the experimental group’s scores on all micro and macro strategies exceeded the control group’s mean scores, verifying the effectiveness of teacher training workshops on teachers’ cognitions and practices of motivational strategies in EFL classrooms.