Mediating role of motivation towards teaching profession in the relationship between teacher identity and personality traits

This quantitative study aims to investigate the formation of professional identity among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers (PTs) enrolled at Inonu University and Fırat University concerning personality differences and the mediating effect of motivation towards the teaching profession. The study, which makes use of the Big Five Model, focuses on how personality traits—like openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—shape the identity of teachers. Recognizing that the period throughout their undergraduate education is a crucial time for identity development, the research attempts to provide empirically validated insights into the relationship between personality variations and EFL PTs' teacher identity formation. The study intends to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex elements affecting the formation of teacher identity in the particular context of EFL teaching by including motivation as the mediating variable. To include as many participants as possible, convenience sampling method was employed. Data collected through adapted versions of the "Early Teacher Identity Measure" (Arpacı & Bardakçı, 2015), "the Big Five Personality Traits Scale" (Horzum et al., 2017), and "Motivation on Profession and Field Choice Scale" (Atav & Altunoğlu, 2013). Based on the results, while intrinsic motivation towards profession plays the mediating role extrinsic motivation did not play a mediating role in the relationship between teacher identity and personality traits.