A cross-national study into pre-service EFL teachers' career choice motivations in Germany, Japan, and Turkey

This study investigated career choice motivations and beliefs about the teaching profession for a cross-national diverse sample of German, Japanese, and Turkish pre-service English teachers. The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale was used to collect data from 85 participants. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U test results revealed significant differences between samples in all motivational constructs: 'self-perception', 'intrinsic', 'personal utility', 'social utility', 'social influence', and fallback'. German participants reported having more positive perceived teaching ability than Japanese participants, who rated choosing teaching as a fallback career significantly higher than the others. Turkish participants were found to be more altruistically and intrinsically motivated, while more negative feelings were reported by German participants regarding the social status and value of the teaching profession in society. Following these findings, the role of context in career choice motivations and beliefs about the teaching profession are discussed.