Situation-specific motivational dispositions of EFL students and instructors in online teaching at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The aim of this case study was to explore the situation-specific motivational dispositions of EFL students and instructors and to examine if the dispositions differ according to their gender, faculty type and level of English for the EFL students, and age, years of teaching experience, department graduated from and level of study for the EFL instructors in online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic in a state university preparatory program in the Black Sea Region of Türkiye. For this quantitative case study, the data were collected from 343 students and 45 instructors through student and instructor questionnaires. The items related to the students’ and instructors’ motivational dispositions in online teaching were adapted from Guilloteaux and Dörnyei (2008) for the online questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The results revealed that the students’ motivational dispositions seemed to have differed regarding gender, faculty type and level of English, while the instructors’ motivational dispositions seemed to have changed according to age and years of teaching experience. Overall, the students’ and instructors’ motivation levels were not very high in online teaching caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.