Student-teachers' communication motivation

Teachers (preschool teachers, primary school class teachers, and subject teachers) carry out their profession through various forms of communication with students, families, colleagues, and the social community. The dynamic dimension of their communication competence direct their communication. The paper studies the structure and strength of student-teacher motivation for interpersonal communication. The Interpersonal Communication Motives Scale and the Questionnaire on students’ sociodemographic characteristics were used. The sample included 260 students from three faculties in Serbia that educate preschool teachers, primary school teachers, and subject teachers. The results indicate that the students are most motivated to communicate by the need for emotional connection and exchange of affection, and by the following motives of equal strength: to achieve communication satisfaction, relaxation, and social interaction involvement. The students are less motivated to communicate to establish control or avoid something through communication. The only identified difference among students of different years of study concerns their motivation for interpersonal communication aimed at achieving satisfaction and pleasure during the communication process itself. It was concluded that the education of future teachers should include training in their own communication motives recognition, so that they can integrate them into professional action.