The Effect of Multilingual Awareness on Indonesian EFL Pre-Service Teachers' Teaching Motivation

1. Introduction

Multilingualism has become increasingly significant in our interconnected world. With globalization producing changes to our societies, there is a need for communication across linguistic boundaries that is becoming increasingly apparent. With regards to English as a Foreign Language (EFL), several current trends in multilingualism have been influencing the way the language is taught and learnt worldwide. These trends mirror the varying needs and perspectives of people and communities as they confront our globalised world. As emphasis on multilingualism increases, several European countries have become exemplary in this development (Cavalheiro et al., 2022; Hedman & Fisher, 2022; Kalaja & Pitkänen-Huhta, 2020). For instance, international student enrolment in Portugal's schools is on the rise (Cavalheiro et al., 2022). Students from many countries are recorded here, such as China, France, Ukraine, Romania, and Brazil among others. Thus, this new trend of Portugal's increasingly multilingual learners necessitates that teachers adopt a more flexible approach towards instruction, with EFL classrooms being no exception.

Literature has suggested the role of multilingual awareness in enhancing the teaching abilities of both EFL teachers and pre-service teachers. For instance, a study by Otwinowska (2017) emphasizes the significance of developing multilingual awareness among EFL teachers. The study highlights that teachers who possess proficiency in languages other than English are more likely to employ effective multilingual teaching strategies and have a better understanding of their students' linguistic backgrounds. Consequently, the study suggests that EFL teachers should ideally be proficient in at least two to three non-native languages. This proficiency enables them to create tasks and materials that facilitate cross-lingual comparisons, enhancing their students' learning experience (Cavalheiro et al., 2022). Similarly, Portolés and Martí (Portolés & Martí, 2020) emphasize the importance of cultivating pre-service teachers' multilingual awareness during their university education. This study attempts to identify pre-service teachers' multilingual awareness prior to their experience of teaching in an actual classroom setting. The findings reveal that most ELT trainee teachers agree with the utilization of multilingual pedagogy for effective learning and teaching.

Additionally, literature has shown that motivation plays a crucial role in promoting EFL teachers’ capability to teach in the multilingual classrooms. A study by Richard J. Sampson (2016) explores classroom motivational dynamics of an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher at a Japanese technology college. Using qualitative data from the teacher's research journal and students' journals, the research examined the evolution of teacher motivation over time and its interactions with affect and identity. The findings show that there is a complex nature of teacher motivation and its connection to external influences and adaptive experiences within the classroom. For instance, from the observation, some students positively affect the teachers’ motivation in a dynamic time of fluctuations. This means that the contextual factors, in this case coming from students, influences EFL teachers’ motivation. Similarly, a study conducted by Sak (2022) also investigated the fluctuations of Turkish EFL teachers' motivation while teaching in an online regular EFL classroom at a particular length of time. The study results revealed that not only contextual classroom characteristic factor which influence teachers’ motivation during online teaching, but teachers’ standard teaching materials and student’s learning engagement factors. Since the classroom was conducted online, the observation analysis revealed that the teaching felt more tiring than doing it face-to-face. Moreover, Galante et al. (2020) conducted a quasi-experimental study exploring if Canadian university pre-service teachers can implement plurilingual instruction since they were uncertain to utilize it in the classroom. The study finding shows that those teachers with motivation to implement the multilingual classroom compared to the monolingual or English only spoken classroom can create enjoyment for the students' learning. For instance, in the experiment, the students were more aware and really anticipated the tasks given by their teachers when the teachers gave the plurilingual task.