EFL student-teachers’ imaginations of English language and their motivation for learning and teaching

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated three Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) student-teachers’ imaginations of English language and explored how these imaginations may affect their motivation for learning English currently and teaching it in the future. The findings revealed that the participants valued English due to the economic, cultural, symbolic, and social capital that this language could bring for them in the future and that their imaginations played important roles in their motivation for learning and teaching English. The study concludes with implications for teacher educators to consider the EFL student-teachers’ imaginations and conceptions of English to make them more motivated to learn English and be effective English teachers in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Imagination
• EFL student-teacher
• capital
• motivation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.