English Teachers’ Post-Pandemic Motivation in Macau’s Higher Education System

English teachers’ post-pandemic motivational experiences within Macau’s hybrid postcolonial context have not been extensively investigated, although teacher motivation is crucial to the quality of education and student outcomes. This qualitative study aimed to address this gap by interviewing 13 English teachers across Macau universities about their motivations. Semi-structured interviews were iteratively coded to identify key themes. The results indicated that intrinsic motivations included a passion for teaching and helping students, as well as an altruistic desire to contribute. Positive relationships between students and teachers motivated participants, while disengaged student behavior, a lack of participation in policies, unclear roles, and unbalanced workloads demotivated them. University culture, curriculum, and governance were viewed as a means of providing purpose and empowerment through social responsibility. The motivational sustainability process included recommendations regarding reducing teaching hours, improving teacher governance, improving research support, and clarifying faculty responsibilities as part of the motivational sustainability process. While the results were limited to an exploratory study, they provided insight into how to align practices with the intrinsic aspirations of Macau’s university English teachers to re-engage them.