A Lenz into the predictive power of language teacher emotion regulation and self-evaluation on L2 grit, teaching style preferences, and work engagement: a case of Chinese EFL instructors

Abstract

An individual’s capacity to successfully control their emotional experiences and react to them requires them to engage in a number of processes, including those that are physiological, behavioral, and cognitive. When educators engage in self-evaluation, they investigate and assess the quality of their professional work. These two teacher-related conceptions have the potential to open up valuable perspectives in the course of the professional pursuits of teachers. Even though earlier research has shown their significance, the potential implications of these factors on the resiliency and teaching style preferences of language instructors have not been emphasized. As a result, the purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a language teacher’s ability to regulate their emotions while carrying out self-evaluation procedures may accurately predict their level of resilience as well as their preferred method of instruction. To accomplish this, 399 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers were asked to reflect on their experiences by responding to the following related questionnaires: The Language Teacher Emotion Regulation Inventory (LTERI), The Core of Self-evaluation Questionnaire (CSEQ), the L2-teacher Grit Scale (L2TGS), Grasha Teaching Style Inventory (TSI) and the Engaged Teacher Scale (ETS). The results demonstrated that those EFL teachers who maintained healthy emotional control were grittier and more engaged. They also tended to teach in a manner focused on the students. The pedagogical implications of this research are discussed further in depth.