L3 Motivational Profiles of Iranian EFL Teachers Using L2 MSS

Inspired by L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) proposed by Dörnyei (2005), this mixed-methods study investigated L3 (i.e., English) motivational profiles of Iranian EFL teachers. It, also, explored relationships among ideal L3 self, ought-to L3 self, and English learning experience as sub-components of L3 motivational profile. To this end, a total of 40 EFL teachers from Urmia (25 EFL teachers with university education in ELT affiliated fields and 15 EFL teachers with just language learning experience in private language institutes) were selected through purposive sampling. The participant completed L3MSS questionnaire (Dörnyei, 2009) and open-ended self-report questionnaire of EFL learning achievement. The findings indicated that there is a positive relationship between ideal L3 self and English learning experience of EFL teachers. Furthermore, no significant difference was observed in the L3 motivational profiles of EFL teachers in relation to their educational background in universities or language schools. Moreover, English learning experience and ought-to L3-self ranked first and last in both groups of teachers, respectively. While corroborating these findings, self-report analyses showed that learning environment’ was the most effective factor in EFL teacher s success in L3 learning, whereas the impact of others was rated as the least effective one.