An Investigation Into Chinese EFL Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Stress as Predictors of Engagement and Emotional Exhaustion

Abstract

Given the role of stress and self-efficacy on educators in the process of language learning and teaching, it is postulated that further elements such as teachers’ emotional exhaustion and work engagement had a remarkable role in the educational process both for teachers and learners; however, the predictor role of self-efficacy and stress remains uninvestigated and much ambiguity still exists about the relation between. A total of 295 male and female Chinese EFL teachers who were teaching English in 21 provinces kindly accepted to attend this study. They were asked to fill out four questionnaires, including the teacher self-efficacy scale, work engagement scale, teacher stress scale, and teachers’ emotional exhaustion scale. For the first question of the study, Pearson coefficient of correlation was used while for the second one, a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was run. The results of the study demonstrated a positive relationship between teachers’ work engagement and self-efficacy, while a negative correlation exists between overall work engagement and stress, emotional exhaustion and work engagement, and emotional exhaustion and work engagement. Moreover, there is no significant correlation between self-efficacy and stress. The findings of the study also signified that both self-efficacy and stress meaningfully predict students’ emotional exhaustion and work engagement. In conclusion, some implications and suggestions have been presented for language teaching stakeholders in language learning situations.