Abstract:

The main aim of this study is to explore prospective teachers’ opinions on their academic motivation levels. In this context, we aimed to see whether there were any statistically significant differences among prospective teachers’ views toward their academic motivation levels in terms of gender, grade level and department variables. Data for the study were collected through “Academic Motivation Scale” developed by Vallerand et al. (1992) and adapted into Turkish by Karagüven (2012). The scale was administered on 806 prospective teachers at Faculty of Education in Fırat University during Fall term of 2012- 2013 academic year. The scale included 28 items and seven subscales entitled intrinsic motivation to know (?:.79), intrinsic motivation to accom¬plish (?:.74), intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation (?:.67), extrin¬sic motivation external regulation (?:.79), extrinsic motivation introjected regulation (?:75), extrinsic motivation identified regulation (?:.73) and amotivation (?:.83). Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for the overall scale was calculated to be .87. The items were rated on a seven-point scale, ranging from does not correspond at all (1) to corresponds exactly (7). Independent samples t test, one way ANOVA, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis H and Tukey HSD tests were utilized to analyze the data. Findings revealed statistically significant differences among the views of prospective teachers on their academic motivation levels in terms of gender, grade level and department variables. Male prospective teachers had higher level of academic motivation than female prospective teachers. First year students’ academic motivation level was found to be higher than that of the fourth year students. Prospective teachers enrolled at the department of Fine Arts Education had higher academic motivation level than those enrolled at the department of Mathematics toward intrinsic motivation to know subscale. Science prospective teachers were observed to have higher level of academic motivation than Pre-School prospective teachers toward intrinsic motivation to accom¬plish and intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation subscales. Fine Arts prospective teachers had higher motivation level than Pre-School prospective teachers toward intrinsic motivation to accom¬plish. Prospective teachers enrolled at Pre-school and Computer & Instructional Technologies departments were determined to have the highest academic motivation level toward extrin¬sic motivation external regulation. Results were compared and discussed in relation to previous related studies. Some useful implications are discussed based on the research findings to increase academic motivation levels of prospective teachers.

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