On the relationship between Teacher self-disclosure and learners` motivation: the case of Iranian EFL learners

Research in education literature has shown that teacher classroom behavior influences learners` learning behavior and motivation. One such teacher behavior which has been studied frequently in mainstream educational literature but has gone almost unnoticed in second language (L2) research is teacher self-disclosure. The present study examines the relationship between EFL learners` L2 learning motivation in the classroom and their perception of their teachers` self-disclosure. Participants were 87 learners (36 male and 51 female) who were recruited from a private language teaching institute. [1] Cayanus and Martin`s (2008) Teacher Self-Disclosure Scale and the Student Motivational State Questionnaire developed by Papi and {2} Abdollahzadeh (2011) were used for the purpose of data collection. Students responded the questionnaires during normal classroom time. The results indicated that teacher self-disclosure dimensions of amount and relevance had a significant positive relationship with learners` motivation. Teacher-self-disclosure dimension of negativity, however, was not significantly related to the construct of L2 motivation. The findings highlight the importance of increasing teachers` awareness of the role that their self-disclosing information in language classrooms can play in increasing or decreasing learners` motivation.

Keywords:

Self-disclosure , L2 learning motivation , learners` perception , classroom communication