Pre-Service English Teachers' Motivations to become Teachers of English

drs. h. abdul salam nasution, sh, mm; siti zulaiha, m.a., ph.d.; silih warni, ph.d.;

This research attempted to explore pre-service English teachers‟ motivations to learn English and become teachers of English as well as their perceptions about English teacher as a career. The method used in this study was explanatory design of mixed method. In collecting the data, the researcher used online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The participants were pre-service English teachers in a teaching and education college in Sukabumi. 86 of the pre-service English teachers filled the questionnaires and 10 of them were interviewed to gather the qualitative data.
It could be found from the questionnaire findings, that extrinsic (Having a good skill) and altruistic (improving the English skills of others) motivation influenced the pre-service English teachers to learn English. In addition to that, the other factor which was found in the process of the interview was a job requirement. Some student workers learnt English because of the demand from the places where they work. As for their motivations to become teachers of English, the majority of the pre-service English teachers were influenced by altruistic motivation (willing to shape young generation). In addition, the data from the interviews revealed that some of the students were also influenced by religious teaching; having reward from God and getting a blessed salary. Furthermore, in term of English teacher as a career, they positively perceived it as a noble and sincere profession, a career which has incomparable reward, other career opportunities, an important role and high status in society, and they perceive it as the other kind of worship.
The researcher suggested that the college, especially the English education department, will be responsible to maintain well-motivated students and to influence all the students no matter what their reasons in attending the college. What to be emphasized is that English education program is available to prepare pre-service English teachers to become qualified and professional teachers