This study explored the relationship between learners' perceptions of native and non-native English-speaking teachers' teaching competence and their motivation for learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Data were collected from 218 EFL learners in an intensive English programme in four universities in mainland China using two instruments: "Student Satisfaction Questionnaire" and "English Learning Motivation Questionnaire." We conducted path analysis with latent variables to investigate the relationships between teacher competence and motivation using AMOS. It was found that: (1) EFL learners' degree of satisfaction with native and non-native English-speaking teachers' teaching competence had a minor impact on their English learning motivation; (2) there were several direct causal relationships of the subcategories of satisfaction with teaching competence to the subtypes of English learning motivation; and (3) satisfaction with teaching competence had an indirect influence on the subtypes of English learning motivation. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of the findings for our understanding of the construct of teaching competence and pre-service or in-service EFL teacher education.