The Driving Forces Behind Teacher Attrition and Its Multifaceted Face in Language Teaching: A Scoping Review of the Articles From 2000 to 2020

Introduction

In general terms, teaching involves assisting pupils in learning by conveying knowledge to them and creating an environment in which they can and will learn efficiently. However, the roles that teachers play are complex and change depending on the branch and educational level. Aside from being experts in a specific field of knowledge and mentoring, these roles include mediating learning, organizing curriculum, fostering curiosity in learners, providing opportunities for gaining meaningful learning experiences, leveraging technology to reinforce learning, researching, and assessing achievement (Johnson et al., 2005). Yet, different from the others, language teachers may encounter some other trouble while conducting these complicated tasks. That is, apart from understanding the various learning challenges that children have, overcoming bullying amongst learners, dealing with family issues, or a lack of funds, being supportive and motivational in difficult circumstances, and attempting to resist unending paperwork and long workdays; ineffective communication, the use of vernacular language, diverse backgrounds, cultural differences, or lack of authentic materials are just a few of the hurdles that these teachers face (Kardos, 2004). Accordingly, those barriers alone signal the need for further investigations and suggestions in distinct language contexts considering their potential direct impact on language teacher development and professional training in the teaching and education phenomenon.

A wide range of studies in language education majorly focus on identifying potential forces in how to advance learner outcomes or the reasons behind learners’ failure to achieve learning objectives. Further recent research on teachers and their in-class experiences has come forth as well to boost the overall success of language classes via addressing the current serious difficulties. These challenges encourage teachers to take radical decisions, such as quitting the job, taking early retirement, and making transitions from one position to another (Carmel & Badash, 2018; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019; Swanson, 2012; Wilkerson, 2000). One of the main problems worth referring to is teacher attrition which can be described as teachers’ leaving their full-time profession. In addition, it will have a knock-on effect on teacher shortage, the standards of language education and teaching, and the learning process, in turn. Hence, teacher attrition poses serious trouble in in-service education considering its direct impact on other aspects of teaching and learning, such as management skills and career plans, mobility rates and the labor force in the country, educational policy, and even the national welfare (see Goldhaber & Theobald, 2022). To that end, the sources of teacher attrition would be worth examining in-depth among the teachers of foreign or second languages. Moreover, the current study has aimed to address whether the impetus behind the emergence of professional attrition would differ from one language context to other via scoping review of the studies published in the last two decades.