Preservice English teachers’ burnout levels and motivations to choose the teaching career

Abstract

This study aims to investigate preservice English teachers’ motivations for choosing the teaching career, and their student burnout levels. The correlation between these variables, and the participants’ perspectives about student burnout reasons in English Language Teaching departments were examined. The sample consisted of 466 preservice English teachers at two different state universities in Türkiye. This study adopted a concurrent mixed method study design, and the data were gathered via a questionnaire, an inventory, and a structured interview. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and correlation analyses, while qualitative data were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The findings suggested that the participants’ most frequent motivations for choosing the teaching career were intrinsic motivations, yet their burnout levels were high. The participants’ career motivations correlated negatively with their burnout levels. Participants mostly reported assignments, difficulty of courses, and oral presentations as their burnout reasons. At the end of this paper, the individuals desiring to study ELT were recommended to have strong motivations to study ELT and be aware of its heavy workload.