Inner worlds, classroom realities: Personality and teaching attitudes of Balkan heritage Turkish EFL pre-service teachers

The current study aims to investigate the relationship between personality traits and teaching attitudes of the pre-service English teachers who are Balkan Heritage Turkish Speakers. The explanatory sequential research design is utilized since the study includes both quantitative and qualitative methods. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. The population consists of 30 pre-service English teachers from the Balkan regions, who receive English Language Teaching (ELT) education in the Foreign Languages Department at Trakya University. The participants are categorized into two groups according to their personality traits. Groups include 18 extrovert and 12 introvert pre-service EFL teachers. The quantitative data is collected via Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Attitude towards Teaching Profession Scale, while the qualitative data is collected through semi-structured interviews. The analysis of quantitative data is conducted via Mann-Whitney U test on JASP software, and the qualitative data is analyzed through content analysis. The findings indicate that there is no significant difference between extrovert and introvert groups in terms of their teaching attitude (p > .05). However, they have positive expectations towards the ELT profession. In light of the findings, the study will be discussed in detail and necessary suggestions will be made for further research.