Understanding the Sustainable Development of L2 Chinese Teachers in New Zealand: A Case Study of Teaching Assistants’ Motivational Engagement in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

Informed by the expectancy–value theory and motivational factors influencing teaching model choices, this case study explored three Chinese-as-a-foreign-language assistants’ (L2 Chinese TAs’) engagement in L2 as a sustainable lifelong career New Zealand. Each TA participated rounds of semi-structured interviews process data collection. The findings revealed that (1) TAs’ expectancy was all student oriented, regardless their different backgrounds; (2) values contributed to performance choices; (3) impact self-efficacy on profession retention pivotal, but controversial, when taking previous majors into account. Implications for development teachers were discussed.