Metamotivation in L2/L3 Student Teachers’ Metalinguistic Reasoning

Metamotivation has received growing attention in applied linguistics, yet little is known about how language teachers experience and regulate motivational tension during pedagogical reasoning. This qualitative study examined how 14 student teachers in an Estonian foreign language teacher education programme described such tension while explaining linguistic phenomena, how they interpreted and regulated it and how these processes differed across formation pathways. Participants represented linguistics‐based and career‐change trajectories. Data consisted of semi‐structured interviews combining metalinguistic explanation tasks with reflective discussion. Analysis was abductive and drew primarily on metamotivation, with self‐determination theory used to interpret competence, autonomy and relatedness. Findings showed that tension arose when participants perceived a mismatch between their available knowledge and the demands of pedagogical explanation. Career‐change entrants more often struggled to convert experiential language knowledge into explicit justification, whereas linguistics‐based entrants more often had to select, simplify and restructure disciplinary knowledge. Regulation involved reframing task demands, adjusting explanation, seeking resources and using learner or mentor feedback. Task, strategy and self‐knowledge supported these responses. Competence was the most consistently salient need, while autonomy and relatedness shaped how participants created options and maintained pedagogical connection. The study highlights the value of supporting metamotivational awareness alongside linguistic and pedagogical preparation in teacher education.