Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs) refer to periods of sustained motivational momentum characterized by clear direction, structured pathways, and ongoing feedback. This study examined how teacher cognition shapes DMC-like engagement in exam-driven EFL classrooms and how these processes appear in learners’ moment-to-moment engagement. Using a longitudinal multiple-case design, we followed five upper-secondary EFL teachers in public schools over one academic year. Data collection included repeated teacher interviews, classroom observations and field notes, teacher reflections, focus groups, including a follow-up session, learner interviews, and paper-based motometers tracking within-lesson engagement trajectories. Data were managed in MAXQDA (2022) for coding and organization and analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis guided by Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase model, with systematic triangulation across teacher- and learner-side sources. The findings showed that teachers valued DMC principles but often saw full DMCs as hard to sustain under exam cycles and pacing demands. Instead, their cognition centered on route-building practices, i.e., clarifying direction, sequencing subgoals, maintaining routines, and providing frequent low-stakes feedback, which supported episodic DMC-like engagement as shown in motometers and observation field notes. However, institutional route-change events and learner-level fragility repeatedly disrupted continuity, shifting engagement toward exam-framed persistence, reducing learner-owned momentum. The study sharpens the boundary between DMC-like engagement and exam-driven persistence and offers practical guidance for designing flexible motivational routes that protect continuity in constrained school contexts. By linking teacher accounts to learner-side engagement signals, the study provides a mechanism-level explanation of the interplay between teacher cognition and learner engagement trajectories across a school year.
