Are foreign language teaching enjoyment and motivation two sides of the same coin?

1.1 L2 teacher positive psychology

Over recent decades, applied linguists have shown increasing interest in L2 teacher PP (Gkonou et al. 2020; Martines Agudo 2018; Mercer and Kostoulas 2018; Mercer et al. 2016). In L2 PP research, MacIntyre and Gregersen (2012) adopted the theoretical framework from psychology called Broaden-and-Build theory (Frederickson 2001). This theory posits that experiencing positive emotions such as enjoyment can broaden one’s “momentary thought-action repertoires and build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources” (Fredrickson 2006: 219). This definition suggests that L2 teachers actively learn and employ new teaching techniques and become more enthusiastic, energetic, and supportive toward people surrounding them such as colleagues and students in order to complete their job as an L2 teacher, when they experience positive psychology. Recently, a growing body of teacher PP—although limited—is under investigation such as emotions, especially enjoyment (Mierzwa 2019), and motivation (Dewaele 2020). However, the literature has rarely been developed in light of how different factors are interacted and what causes them (MacIntyre et al. 2019).

1.2 Foreign language teaching enjoyment (FLTE)

Among studies on L2 teacher emotions, enjoyment has come to the fore in recent research (Derakhshan et al. 2022; Proietti Ergün and Dewaele 2021; Yang et al. 2023). Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) proposed the idea of foreign language enjoyment (FLE): “a complex emotion, capturing interacting dimensions of challenge and perceived ability that reflect the human drive for success in the face of difficult tasks” (p. 216). Applying this to L2 teachers, Proietti Ergün and Dewaele (2021) conceptualized FLTE as involving three pillars: personal enjoyment of L2 teaching, student appreciation in the L2 classroom, and social enjoyment of L2 teaching. Personal teaching enjoyment relates to satisfaction in doing challenging work and enjoying L2 teaching, while student appreciation refers to how much teachers perceive that their psychological needs are met by their students, such as their stimulating behaviors. Social enjoyment of teaching describes a positive bond and relationship with surrounding people (e.g., students and colleagues). When teachers experience FLTE, they can actively learn and employ new teaching techniques such as being more explorative, enthusiastic, energetic, and supportive toward people surrounding them; more importantly, it can enrich their personal life (Fredrickson 2001).

Previous studies report that L2 teachers greatly enjoy teaching but that there is much uncertainty about what influences FLTE. Mierzwa’s (2019) pioneering research explored Polish teachers of various languages in different educational sectors. This mixed-methods study showed that the teachers experienced a high magnitude of teaching enjoyment. Later, Proietti Ergün and Dewaele (2021) developed a new scale with nine items for measuring FLTE. A quantitative study using the new FLTE scale for teachers of Italian showed similar findings to Mierzwa (2019) in that these teachers immensely enjoyed teaching the language. Furthermore, this finding of high FLTE was confirmed in the Iranian context, a non-European circumstance, adopting Proietti Ergün and Dewaele’s scale (e.g., Derakhshan et al. 2022).

At present, the antecedents and influencing factors of FLTE are largely unknown. Demographic factors (e.g., teaching experience) appear to have shown little impact on FLTE. To date, no significant relationship between teaching enjoyment and socio-demographic factors has been found among compulsory education teachers (Mierzwa 2019; Proietti Ergün and Dewaele 2021). Other individual difference factors have been reported to be strong predictors of FLTE, including teacher resilience, well-being, grit (Derakhshan et al. 2022; Proietti Ergün and Dewaele 2021), emotion regulation (Noughabi et al. 2022), and mindfulness (Yang et al. 2023). However, more empirical work on what individual difference factors contribute to FLTE is needed to improve our understanding of how teachers overcome adversity and enjoy L2 teaching (Derakhshan et al. 2022).

1.3 L2 teacher motivation

Motivation can be among factors that are potentially interrelated with FLTE. Self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci and Ryan 2000) is a frequently adopted theoretical framework to understand L2 teacher motivation (Dörnyei and Ushioda 2021). SDT attests that three psychological needs (i.e., competence, relatedness, and autonomy) influence motivation (Deci and Ryan 2000). The extent to which these needs are thwarted or satisfied brings about different motivations, namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and amotivation (Deci and Ryan 2000). Teachers with intrinsic motivation are driven by internal factors such as a sense of curiosity, enjoyment, and satisfaction. In contrast, teachers with extrinsic motivation rely on external forces. This motivation is differentiated into four subtypes based on internalization or self-regulation (Ryan and Deci 2017). External regulation is the least autonomous motivation, and encourages action to avoid punishment and to seek rewards (e.g., stickers and points). Introjected regulation refers to a less controlled motivation whereby individuals internalize the importance and value of taking action. A more autonomous regulation of extrinsic motivation is identified regulation. Those possessing identified regulation take action with great eagerness, endorsing the value of doing so. The most autonomous extrinsic motivation is integrative regulation, which reflects a considerable congruence between the importance of the action and its value in doing so. The last type of motivation is amotivation, meaning no motivation. In the continuum of these self-determined motivations, a three-type distinction framework is frequently applied (Ryan and Deci 2017): Autonomous motivation consists of intrinsic motivation, integrated, and identified regulation; controlled motivation includes introjected and external regulation; the third type is amotivation.

Research to date has yielded inconclusive results regarding the degree and sources of L2 teaching motivation. Generally, L2 teachers are intrinsically motivated. Dewaele (2020) investigated the relationships between motivation and demographic factors by adapting Fernet et al.’s (2008) work tasks motivation scale for teachers. The results from L2 teachers worldwide showed that autonomous motivation was more prevalent than controlled motivation and amotivation. Likewise, Zhang et al. (2022) examined ESL teachers of adult learners in Canada with various ethnic backgrounds. The survey results generally confirmed the trend that L2 teachers had more autonomous than controlled motivation.

Concerning the antecedents, more work is yet to be done. Dewaele (2020) denoted no significant effects of teaching experience and age on teacher motivation levels. Koran (2015) identified that altruistic desires to assist others such as students’ future growth and society’s development were typical motivators among EFL teachers in Iraq. Additionally, L2 teachers were motivated by positive perceptions of their profession-related capabilities like love of teaching and English and a sense of success in teaching (Roth et al. 2007). However, the role of sociocultural aspects in L2 teacher motivation (e.g., the social status of L2) has remained uncertain (Hiver et al. 2018). Given the aforementioned findings, however, there is a paucity of research on how L2 teacher motivation is related to other psychological variables like enjoyment and how teachers become motivated.

1.4 Enjoyment and motivation

From the PP perspective, it is reasonable to theoretically presume that certain relationships exist between enjoyment and motivation, yet little is explored among L2 teachers. The findings from L2 learners and general education have provided the key findings. Kim and Pekrun (2014) argue that emotions, such as enjoyment, and motivation are intertwined and reciprocal. Empirically, their positive correlation has been confirmed in recent studies among L2 learners (Dewaele and Proietti Ergün 2020). Moreover, in Parr et al.’s (2021) study, 124 secondary school teachers in the United States demonstrated the same pattern, indicating that autonomous motivation was positively interconnected with enjoyment. These findings from learners and teachers of various subjects give us a hypothesis that there is a reciprocal relationship between enjoyment and a more intrinsic type of motivation among L2 teachers, as well, yet the relationship with other motivation types and what causes their relationships is largely unknown (Proietti Ergün and Dewaele 2021). Considering the unique, different contexts and experiences L2 teachers encounter compared to learners and other subject teachers (Mercer and Kostoulas 2018), it is relevant to investigate specifically L2 teachers’ psychology.

1.5 The present study

The literature discussed above illuminates that L2 teachers tend to experience relatively high enjoyment in teaching and their enjoyment stems from various individual difference factors, yet socio-demographic factors tend to play little role in L2 teacher psychological states. However, no research has investigated how L2 teacher FLTE is related to their motivation and what causes the relationships despite the potential relevance of their link to empower L2 teachers and improve L2 education. Concerning the research contexts, the majority of previous studies were conducted in Europe or the Middle East. Given that psychological well-being is context- and culture-specific (MacIntyre et al. 2019), it is worth investigating teachers in an underresearched context, East Asia. As such, the present study focuses on secondary JTEs, whose working conditions are poor (Jerrim and Sims 2019), to empower from the PP perspective. To these ends, the present study is guided to answer the following research questions.

2.1 Participants

The target population was in-service L1-Japanese English teachers in Japan. A total of 63 JTEs across the country participated in the study. The teachers’ age was between 23 and 63 (M = 35.25, SD = 10.29). Their teaching experience ranged from 0.3 to 40 years (M = 10.59, SD = 9.43). The distribution of age and teaching experience is summarized in Table 1. The majority of participants taught English in public schools and finished their education with a bachelor’s degree (see Table 1 for the details).

In the context of education in Japan, secondary school schools, including junior high and high schools, are divided into three categories (the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, MEXT 1947). Public school is the most common type of school in Japan where schools are run by the municipal, local government, while national school is funded and operated by the national government. Private school is administered by independent organizations such as corporations and religious organizations. While the first two schools follow the national curriculum provided by the government, private school is given more autonomy regarding pedagogical approaches.

2.2 Data collection

The current study used snowball sampling for convenience (Rooney and Evans 2019), after a pilot test with four JTEs. Initially, the information sheet about this study was distributed to teachers via the author’s contacts. These participants were asked to forward the information to other teachers.

The data collection went through two phases and was conducted online once an ethical clearance application was approved from Human Ethics committee of the administering university. First, all participants were given the URL for the questionnaire about their FLTE and motivation with 42 question items in Google Forms. Then, at the end of the questionnaire survey, they were invited for interview participation. On average, it took approximately 10 min to complete the questionnaire. In the second data collection stage, seven teachers volunteered to participate in the follow-up interview via Zoom to better understand their FLTE and motivation episodes. Each interview lasted approximately 18 min.

2.3 Instruments

2.4 Data analysis

The analysis of the survey data underwent three processes using JASP. In the first step, descriptive analysis and normality tests were performed regarding teachers’ FLTE and motivation levels. Because the z-scores of skewness and kurtosis of these psychological variables were within ± 1.96 and normally distributed (Field 2013), the statistical analysis applied a parametric test for the correlation analysis. Next, to answer RQ1, Pearson correlation coefficients were estimated between FLTE and motivation. In the final stage, t-tests and one-way ANOVA were applied to measure the effect of participants’ socio-demographic factors on FLTE and motivation, respectively, to answer a part of RQ2. Given the relatively small sample size for RQ2, however, the statistical analysis applied non-parametric tests, namely Mann-Whitney test, and Kruskal-Wallis test.

Furthermore, the author manually transcribed a total of 132 min of the voice-recorded follow-up interview data, which were then subject to thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2013) to provide a more comprehensive answer for RQ2. First, the transcription was coded and organized; then, these recurrent codes were scrutinized and thematized as a group (see Appendix C for a coded sample). This thematizing stage was flexibly and recursively processed to ensure the trustworthiness of the coding (Braun and Clarke 2013). Given that semantic and latent meanings pertinent to the research questions can be combined (Braun and Clarke 2013), the generated codes and theme entail both meanings of the data. The themes and sub-themes were then discussed with a colleague who is familiar with thematic analysis and L2 education in Japan to secure the trustworthiness of the findings (Braun and Clarke 2013). The excerpts presented in the following were translated into English by the author using a back-translation method to ensure credibility (Dörnyei and Dewaele 2022).

3.1 Survey results

Regarding the magnitude of FLTE and motivation, descriptive statistics results are presented in Table 3. The mean score for FLTE was 4.16 (SD = 0.62), ranging from 2.53 to 5.67. Regarding motivation, the mean scores for autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and amotivation were 4.90 (SD = 0.61), 2.28 (SD = 0.80), and 1.62 (SD = 0.61), respectively.

3.2 Interview results (RQ2)

Following the survey, the study conducted the follow-up interviews to better understand what causes strongly related features identified in RQ1 (i.e., FLTE, autonomous motivation, and amotivation) (see Table 4). The results of thematic analysis identified a total of seven recurrent themes from the dataset: three themes for FLTE sources, and two themes each for autonomous motivation and amotivation sources.

4.1 Relationship between FLTE and motivation

The study aimed to answer two questions to better understand a new concept of FLTE among secondary school JTEs: its relationship with motivation as the primary aim (RQ1) and the sources of salient factors identified in RQ1 as the second aim (RQ2). Regarding RQ1, the results indicated a significant positive correlation between FLTE and autonomous motivation. In contrast, FLTE was negatively correlated with amotivation. This finding aligns with previous research on teachers in various subjects (Parr et al. 2021). Theoretically speaking, internal rewards such as joy and curiosity are pivotal predictors of autonomous motivation (Ryan and Deci 2017), which partially overlap with the FLTE concept. However, given that amotivation is the opposite of autonomous motivation, it is understandable that the opposite pattern was found.

Surprisingly, the study shows that not all types of motivation are related to FLTE. Namely, no significant correlational relationship was identified between controlled motivation and enjoyment (see Table 4). This could be because teachers who experience controlled motivation do not necessarily find a positive emotion. External motivational resources (e.g., rewards and avoiding a negative reputation) can be more strongly linked to other emotions, such as guilt and agitation compared to enjoyment (Ryan and Deci 2017). Furthermore, given its strongly positive connection with amotivation (see Table 4), controlled motivation might be indirectly linked with FLTE. For instance, this motivation may mediate enjoyment through amotivation or other negative emotions. Such more complex paths among variables can be further researched in the future.

In sum, the relationships of FLTE with motivation in this study provide empirical evidence of the underpinning role of PP. Positive experience in one psychological aspect (i.e., FLTE) can help facilitate an increase in the positive psychological variable (i.e., autonomous motivation) and buffer against negative effect appearance (i.e., amotivation) (Fredrickson 2001).

4.2 Antecedents of FLTE and motivation

In order to identify the key factors constructing the relationship identified in RQ1, RQ2 investigated the sources of enjoyment, autonomous motivation, and amotivation. Although the results showed various attributes, some congruence was identified between FLTE and autonomous motivation catalysts: personal fulfillment and growth. This finding was not unexpected because of a chicken-and-egg relationship between FLTE and autonomous motivation (see Table 4). Given their dynamic interrelationship found in RQ1, this overlap of sources between FLTE and autonomous motivation, therefore, is reasonable. Specifically, having an aspiration for improving teaching skills as a goal was a powerful source of teacher motivation as well as enjoyment among many teachers in this study. As found in previous research, future visions of ideal and possible teacher selves can provide L2 teachers with an increase in autonomous motivation (Kubanyiova 2012). Also, the process of pursuing this goal with achievement experiences can give a sense of enjoyment and flow (Ryan and Deci 2017) and boost motivation (Parr et al. 2021), which would put teachers into a positive psychological loop. Therefore, equipping L2 teachers with a clear image of what they want to/can become in the future as an EFL teacher and how this can be achieved would be a significant factor as the first step of empowering L2 teachers.

Looking at how FLTE was generated, the study showed a dynamic, complex characteristic. FLTE appeared to fluctuate depending on the professional experience. The results of RQ2 showed no significant effects from participants’ socio-demographical factors. Put simply, teacher-related dimensions had little impact on fluctuation in teaching enjoyment. This finding is in accordance with previous research (e.g., Mierzwa 2019). Optimistically, the present study demonstrated that JTEs experienced high enjoyment notwithstanding their demographic profiles. Nevertheless, some teachers’ voices in the interviews offered valuable insight into a complex underlying mechanism of FLTE. F2 and M1 in the interview pointed out that there were some changes in quality over time. Teachers can pay more attention to their teaching strategies as their career progresses. This psychological affordance gained after sufficient teaching experience allowed for more critical reflections and richer satisfaction, compared with their experiences in the first few years, as F2 explained:

The frequency has decreased, but I feel the quality has improved. … Up until about the 5th year, it was very shallow, like if I was just being excited, the students were also excited, and I was happy that we had fun. … After 6th year, I experience [enjoyment] less often, but I can reflect on it deeply like, that was the key point today, that was the trick, or I was able to do this because of that.

That is, just because the enjoyment level is stable does not mean that teachers find enjoyment in the same things. Rather, what satisfies them can gradually change and bring deeper enjoyment at the cost of fewer joyful moments.

These results have not been observed in previous research on other subject teachers nor in L2 teachers. In Russo et al.’s (2023) study, teaching enjoyment among math teachers linearly increased with teaching experience. One possible explanation is the different instructional situations that L2 and math teachers encounter. Having students solve numerical formulas is incompatible with achieving something non-linguistic using the target language for teachers and students; L2 classes tend to be more student-centered and communicative than math (Beausaert et al. 2013).

Another noteworthy finding is that episodes related to social enjoyment—one component of FLTE—were not clearly reported by any teachers in the interviews; the emerging three themes fit into either personal enjoyment or student appreciation. Most of the enjoyable experiences were events that occurred at a teacher-student level, not a teacher-class level. This lack of social enjoyment experience might be due to the difficulty of constructing such a harmonious classroom environment. Social enjoyment experienced in such a classroom atmosphere requires more effort and time due to many people involved than seeing a stimulating individual (i.e., student appreciation) and simply enjoying a teaching job (i.e., personal enjoyment) at one-on-one or individual levels. Therefore, enhancing student appreciation and personal enjoyment might be more effective to empower teachers. However, further research is needed to gain a better understanding.

To summarize, our study provides important insights into FLTE, revealing its complexity. Namely, not only can the amount, depth, and sources of FLTE vary over time, but self- and other-driven stimuli can replenish teacher enjoyment, which is unique among L2 teachers. Moreover, though FLTE consists of three sub-constructs, the social enjoyment factor might be more difficult to fulfill than the other two factors.

In contrast to enjoyment, we found that one demographic factor and other conditions affected autonomous motivation and amotivation to influence FLTE. Where autonomous motivation was concerned, this study identified that desires for professional development and for helping students were powerful motivators (see Table 6), similar to previous research findings (e.g., Koran 2015). Among altruism-related factors, the study identified an interesting finding: the power of the English language. Teachers were motivated to teach English because they believed it played a critical role in today’s world for their students. This finding—unique to the English language—is reasonable, given its social status as an international language in Japan, where being able to use English is a powerful tool to find a well-paid job and enjoy a more cross-cultural social life (McKenzie 2010). Moreover, multicultural awareness and understanding are strongly emphasized in English education by MEXT (2011). This factor, driven by the high value of the language in society, has hitherto been identified only by pre-service Chinese as a second language teachers in China (Zhang et al. 2020). Although more research is needed to confirm this finding, it might be probable that L2 teachers can possess motivation related to cross-cultural interests to educate students for the better through L2 education. This implies that building up a sense of social purpose in teaching EFL as a vocation can play a crucial role in enhancing teacher motivation. Accordingly, it can be argued that it is of relevance to raise teachers’ awareness of how important L2 can be to shape the next generation’s future in the globalized world.

Teachers’ amotivation appeared to be predominantly attributed to the current English language teaching situation in Japan. The present study demonstrated the two types of antecedents: inadequate stakeholder understanding and heavy workload. These may be specific to the Japanese context. The first issue may stem from the discrepancy between teachers’ and other stakeholders’ goals toward L2 education. The level of Japanese people’s English proficiency has been low. According to the EF English Proficiency Index (EF 2011, 2013]), Japan was ranked 14th among 44 countries in 2011 and 26th among 60 in 2013. As a response, the government set in place curriculum reforms such as an English-only policy without teachers’ voices (MEXT 2014). Furthermore, the expected goal was set to ensure that all students reached B1 CEFR level by the completion of secondary school, which was achieved by only 10 % of students as of 2017 (MEXT 2017). However, from teachers’ perspective, despite such high expectations, little teacher support is provided by the government (Glasgow 2018), and more work other than English teaching is assigned, amounting to 58.9 working hours per week on average (Jerrim and Sims 2019). Rather these physically and mentally exhausted teachers are criticized for not achieving the goal as the present study shows. Also, they are not necessarily satisfied with the current goals set by the government. M2 mentioned, “I feel a bit in a dilemma between the external pressure such as their goals and what I believe to be the goal.” Such factors are also confirmed as a source of amotivation in previous research in Japan (e.g., Kumazawa 2013; Sugino 2010). Under such workplace climates, it is not difficult to imagine that teachers would lose their motivation. Hence, attempts to fill the gap between stakeholders’ and teachers’ goal beliefs (e.g., constructive discussions with teachers to re-set the current goals in a more contextually appropriate, realistic, and achievable way) and working condition improvement (e.g., less workload, more teachers, optimal use of technology) should be urgently made.

To summarize, the two salient types of teacher motivation found in the present study can contribute to the level of teacher enjoyment. Teachers can be encouraged to increase autonomous motivation by setting future professional goals and understanding the language value in a globalized society. Moreover, it is essential for stakeholders such as policymakers and institutional staff to be aware of what amotivation factors teachers experience and reconsider the current situation accordingly to empower L2 teachers and maximize L2 education.