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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │Issue 6 │2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.581823 THE MOTIVATIONAL DYNAMICS OF EFL TEACHERS: GOAL-SETTING, INTRINSIC INTEREST, AND TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS Fatemeh Karbasi1, Afsaneh Ghanizadeh2i MA student of TEFL, 1 Imam Reza International University, Iran . 2Assistant Professor of TEFL, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran Abstract: The prominence of teacher motivation in teaching practices and behaviors and its impact on student achievement is widely recognized in educational psychology. Nevertheless, English as a foreign language EFL teachers’ motivation and the factors influencing its development appear an uncharted domain. The following study attempted to explore EFL teachers’ motivation in relation to intrinsic interest, goal setting, and teaching effectiveness. The sample comprised 127 Iranian EFL teachers with their students (N= 500). The teachers were asked to complete a battery of two questionnaires. To assess teacher goal-setting and intrinsic interest, the researcher utilized the 'Teacher Self-Regulation Scale (TSRS)' designed by Yesim, Sungur, and Uzuntiryaki (2009). To gauge teacher motivation, 'The Work Tasks Motivation Scale for Teachers' designed by Fernet (2009) was employed. In the present study, this questionnaire was translated to Persian and then the translated version was validated in the Iranian context to pave the way for future studies on teacher motivation in Iranian context. To measure language teachers' performance and success in language teaching, the researcher employed the 'Characteristics of Successful Iranian EFL Teachers Questionnaire' (CSIET) designed and validated by Moafian and Pishghadam (2009). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that there were relatively strong interrelationships among the three variables (intrinsic interest, goal-setting, and job motivation). All of them were positive and significant predictors of teacher success, and intrinsic interest exhibited the highest impact. It was also found that intrinsic i Correspondence: email ghanizadeafsane@yahoo.com, a.ghanizadeh@imamreza.ac.ir Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 286 Fatemeh Karbasi, Afsaneh Ghanizadeh THE MOTIVATIONAL DYNAMICS OF EFL TEACHERS: GOAL-SETTING, INTRINSIC INTEREST, AND TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS interest positively influenced job motivation. The SEM analysis also indicated that goalsetting was positively influenced by both intrinsic interest and job motivation. Keywords: teacher motivation, intrinsic interest, goal-setting, teacher success, SEM analysis For downloading the full article, please access the following link: http://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/748 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 6 │ 2017 287