A Narrative Case Study of Chinese Senior High School English Teachers’ Emotions: An Ecological Perspective

Teacher emotion research is of great significance to teachers’ teaching effectiveness, professional development, and physical and mental health. Taken from an ecological perspective, this narrative case study used purposeful sampling to select two Chinese senior high school English teachers as research participants. Various data collection methods were used, including narrative framework, teacher interview and teacher reflection log, to describe the emotional episodes of Chinese senior high school English teachers before and after collective lesson presentation, trial teaching, and formal teaching in a teaching improvement project. The purpose of this collection of data was to explore the dynamic emotional development process and characteristics of Chinese senior high school English teachers in the interaction with ecological systems and those ecological factors that may influence their emotional development. Results indicated that the two participants developed 68 emotions: 39 positive and 29 negative emotions. At exosystem, they developed the most emotions (28 emotions). Teacher emotion changed with time quite obviously. They evolved from positive to negative and, finally, predominantly positive. Personal antecedents, contextual antecedents, and teachers’ emotional capacity are the main ecological factors that may influence the development of teacher emotion. Based on the research findings, implications for teachers’ professional development and teacher education were also provided.

Measuring Language Teacher Emotion Regulation: Development and Validation of the Language Teacher Emotion Regulation Inventory at Workplace (LTERI)

Educational context is a pool of various emotional demands asking for competent teachers who are capable enough to regulate and manage them. The language teacher emotion regulation focuses on the strategies that language teachers implement to regulate their emotions. Considering the paucity of a psychometrically sound instrument in language teacher emotion regulation, this realm has received scant research attention. Thus, the present study was an attempt to develop and validate a conceptually meaningful and psychometrically sound instrument to capture language teacher emotion regulation strategies at workplace. This study is composed of three phases. In the first phase, based on a comprehensive consideration of the existing literature and the results of a semi-structured interview, a six-component model of the language teacher emotion regulation was designed. In the second phase, the results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and reliability estimates confirmed the validity and reliability of the instrument. The results of CFA refined the final version of the instrument. The Language Teacher Emotion Regulation Inventory (LTERI) includes 27 items with six dimensions on a 5-point Likert scale. Each dimension assesses a discrete language teacher emotion regulation strategy at workplace: situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, reappraisal, suppression, and seeking social support. In the third phase, the validated instrument, LTERI was utilized across two different milieus of language teaching in Iran, namely school and university. To do so, an independent samples t-test was applied. As the findings of this phase demonstrated, there is a statistically significant difference between English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in the two contexts regarding the employed emotion regulation strategies in their professional lives. The implications of the current study can open new perspectives in educational psychology and teacher well-being. Furthermore, the Language Teacher Emotion Regulation Inventory (LTERI) contributes to the field of teacher education by filling the measurement lacuna and advancing quantitative studies in this regard. More significantly, the implications of this study may uncover new prospects for effective teaching and learning, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which can provoke various emotional demands for both teachers and learners.

Adaptação cultural de um instrumento para avaliar as emoções do professor (TEQ)

O estudo das emoções dos professores tem vindo a ganhar destaque, sendo atualmente reconhecido como uma dimensão essencial do trabalho docente. Contudo, apesar de ter vindo a ganhar relevância na área educacional, verifica-se uma lacuna de instrumentos quantitativos válidos para mensurar as emoções discretas do professor. Este estudo teve como objetivo traduzir para português e adaptar o Teacher Emotion Questionnaire (TEQ) para a cultura brasileira. Foram envolvidos, 51 participantes, dos quais quatro tradutores, sete especialistas, 40 professores, e ainda as pesquisadoras e autora principal do TEQ original. O presente estudo metodológico de adaptação cultural contou com as seguintes etapas: (1) traduções; (2) síntese das versões traduzidas; (3) comitê de especialistas; (4) avaliação pelo público-alvo; (5) tradução reversa; (6) estudo-piloto. As etapas tradução e síntese foram realizadas adequadamente, tendo sido introduzidas algumas alterações após a apreciação pelos especialistas e público-alvo. O estudo piloto mostrou que o instrumento adaptado é de fácil compreensão e preenchimento. Por fim, após alguns ajustes, a adaptação cultural foi aprovada pela autora principal do TEQ original. O presente estudo realizou o primeiro passo para disponibilizar um instrumento confiável e válido sobre as emoções dos professores. O próximo passo será a exploração das propriedades psicométricas do TEQ - Versão brasileira.