EFL Primary School Teaching Placement and Emotional Management

Early childhood is a crucial period for the development of social and emotional competencies. Researchers point out that teachers need to have a high level of social and emotional competencies to enhance these competencies in their students but the number of programs to promote these competencies in pre-service teachers is small. The objective of this study was to design, conduct and evaluate an intervention to promote social and emotional competencies in pre-service early childhood education teachers. The study used a non-randomized pre-test, post-test intervention-control design. The intervention included competencies such as emotional awareness and understanding, emotional management, social competence and responsible decision making. Results showed that the level of social and emotional competencies increased after the program, although statistically significant differences between the intervention and control group were found only in some dimensions. It is recommended to include similar programs in pre-service and in-service teacher education in general.

In this article, we presented the results of an experimental study on the opinions of teachers regarding the emotional development of personality for well-being in the educational environment. Emotional development constitutes a significant psychological dimension for creating and maintaining well-being in modern school. Thus, the teachers identified through the online filling of a complex questionnaire, which is the impact of the emotional development of the educational actors on the well-being in school, highlighted which are the major emotional problems of the students, by age categories. Lack of emotional support from parents, shyness, fears, management of emotions; school stress - are considered the most common emotional problems observed by teachers in primary school students. In secondary school students, the following emotional problems were established: lack of emotional support from parents, management of emotions, emotional crises, disappointment. Management of emotions, emotional crises, disappointment, depressive states, and feelings of loneliness are determined as the most common emotional problems of high school students, according to the teachers. Students ‚ emotional problems are impediments to well-being in the classroom and in school. A constructive solution would be the implementation in schools of programs for the development of socio-emotional competencies of educational actors. Psychological studies attest to the essential role of the teacher in influencing the emotional state of the students, as well as the attribution of the teacher in regulating and balancing their emotions. At the same time, the teachers mentioned the professional training preferences for psychological subjects that contribute to the creation of well-being in educational institutions. The obtained results confirm that the teachers show a special interest in topics related to attitudes and values, the behavioral field, but also for topics that include more psychological fields. It is useful to state that the source of multiple behavioral problems can be difficulties in the emotional sphere or deficiencies in the emotional development of students.

This study explores the relationship between emotion management and life skills among postgraduate students, focusing on significant differences based on gender and specialization. A sample of 300 postgraduate students was selected through stratified random sampling. To achieve the study’s objectives, two scales were developed: an Emotion Management Scale and a Life Skills Scale, each containing 30 items evaluated using a five-point Likert scale (Always-Often-Sometimes-Rarely-Never). The statistical tools utilized included Chi-square tests, Cronbach’s alpha, one-sample T-tests, two-sample T-tests, and ANOVA, all processed via SPSS software (Abu Saleh & Awad, 2012) [1]. Key findings include 1. Postgraduate students demonstrate high levels of emotion management and life skills. 2. Male students scored higher in emotion management compared to females. 3. No significant differences were found in emotion management or life skills based on specialization. 4. No statistically significant gender differences were noted in life skills. 5. A positive correlation exists between emotion management and life skills. Chapter 1: Introduction The rapid advancements in various aspects of life have created an imperative for individuals to acquire extensive knowledge and develop skills to navigate social, academic, and professional challenges effectively. Emotion management and life skills are critical components of personal and social development, enabling individuals to build meaningful relationships, achieve personal goals, and overcome difficulties. Among university students, particularly postgraduates, the ability to manage emotions significantly impacts academic performance and social integration. Theoretical and empirical research has highlighted the role of emotional intelligence in shaping personality and influencing various life domains. For example, Zahran (1977) emphasized the role of emotions in shaping individual behavior, identifying stress, impulsivity, and sensitivity as common emotional challenges for students. Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory further highlights the interplay between cognitive and emotional skills, arguing that high cognitive abilities alone do not guarantee success without emotional competence (Gardner, 1996, p. 45) [22]. Problem Statement Many university students struggle to manage their emotions effectively, leading to poor academic performance and social difficulties. This study addresses the following question: What is the relationship between emotion management and life skills among postgraduate students?

There is strong empirical evidence on the benefits of emotional competencies, self-esteem, and resilience for well-being in the youth and adult populations. However, little research has been conducted to identify protective factors for well-being among emerging adults in rural areas of Costa Rica, which are particularly vulnerable. This study aims to examine the relationships between emotional competencies and dimensions of psychological well-being, as well as the mediating role of self-esteem and resilience in Costa Rican university students. The sample consisted of 328 students aged 18 to 30 years (M = 21.31, SD = 3.28), of whom 47.90% were women. This study utilized Ryff's Psychological Well-being Scale, the Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire, Rosenberg's General Self-esteem Scale, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The results indicated that emotional competencies, particularly emotion management and regulation, have direct positive effects on psychological well-being. Additionally, self-esteem played a mediating role, showing indirect effects between emotional competencies and the dimensions of psychological well-being. Resilience had a less pronounced mediating role than self-esteem in terms of effect size and the number of significant relationships. Moreover, negative effects were identified between emotional perception and understanding and certain well-being dimensions, such as positive relationships and environmental mastery. The findings provide evidence that emotional competencies, self-esteem, and resilience are key factors in promoting psychological well-being among emerging adults in rural areas of Costa Rica. These results highlight the importance of fostering emotional skills and strengthening self-esteem, particularly in emerging adults from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

In the context of higher education, over 100 universities have signed international declarations and have committed to embed sustainability within their operations, outreach, education and research. However, despite the declaration of good intentions and policy developments at the national, regional and international level, little has been achieved in terms of embedding education for sustainable development holistically in the curriculum. To date, a number of research studies have focused on the perceptions and views of university students in relation to sustainable development knowledge, skills and competencies; however, few studies have focused on student teachers’ perceptions of education for sustainable development. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and views of a group of thirty-two student teachers in relation to education for sustainable development competencies. The research instrument used was a questionnaire. This study provides evidence on the education for sustainable development (ESD) competencies that student teachers would prioritize in a school project related to ESD: acquisition of knowledge and practical skills related to nature and natural sciences, to the detriment of other types of learning, such as the promotion of ethical values, positive attitudes towards sustainability and the management of emotions among their future primary school students. Existing ESD theoretical frameworks need to become more alive and integrated within the existing teacher education curriculum to promote the awareness and development of ESD competencies amongst student teachers.

Foreign language teacher education has been having a shift from a transmissive into a transformative and progressive perspective with which pre-service teachers (student teachers) have become more aware of their own learning, growth and progress since the beginnings of the 2000s, in particular. What transformative teacher education is designed for today is that a prospective teacher is to be aware of how they are learning to teach by themselves. Transformative teacher education focusses mainly on pre-service teachers’ awareness of how they are becoming a teacher and what is happening throughout their becoming since they can transfer all of that experience into their own future careers and their prospective students’ lives. With the integration of technology, we, teacher educators, have more opportunities today, to witness our student teachers’ (pre-service education teachers’) awareness situation and their stories of becoming teachers. Digital portfolios which provide them to save all of their written work as a digital copy throughout months, even years, help us be constant witnesses of their professional growth and development throughout the years they attend the faculty of education. This also gives way to make our evaluation from many different perspectives: we can see how they prepare their paper work as lesson plans, worksheets, reports, checklist and so on and besides, we can read their digital journals where they write their thoughts, opinions, ideas and feelings about their own practices, experience and learning, which would make their becoming stories a very humanistic cooperation and collaboration work. This paper intends to present a longitudinal research on the digital portfolio of pre-service (student) teachers of FLTE in a state university, İstanbul, Turkey for two years from 2015 to 2017. During their final years (year 4), approximately 120 student teachers kept a digital portfolio in which they saved their lesson plans, observation checklists, and teaching reports about and in a practicum course at the faculty and the practicum in primary and secondary schools in İstanbul. This paper evaluated the process and outcomes of these portfolios in terms of their contributions to the student teachers’ professional developments regarding pre-service teachers’ reported reflections. The results showed that the digital portfolios, especially their digital journals provided quite positive outcomes relevant to their awareness on their professional development.

The article presents the essential characteristics of the concept “emotional competence” as a component of the educational psychologist’s professional competence. The article explains the importance of the emotional abilities (empathy, reflection, self-regulation and control feelings and emotions of other people) in the personal structure of the educational psychologist. Specificity of educational psychologist’s professional activity is that he must confront his professional challenges and manage his emotional state. The foreign analogue of the concept “emotional competence” is “emotional intelligence”. Based on the analysis of conjugate concepts of “emotional ability”, “emotional intelligence” there is provided a definition of “emotional competence”. The article reveals various scientific approaches to this concept, highlighting their structural components. As part of emotional competence there are four basic components and their functions: self-regulation (impulse control and management of emotions, expression of emotions, blocking negative emotional states); regulation of relationships (social skills, ability to build relationships with others); reflection (self-awareness, rational understanding of emotions, and identifying one’s own motivation); empathy (emotional and cognitive decentering). The article presents the results of ascertaining and controlling stages of research in experimental and control groups. The qualitative interpretation of the results obtained with the use of statistical methods of data processing is given.

This qualitative study investigates the impacts of teachers’ emotional controls on students’ motivation in Vietnamese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms, focusing on the perspectives of nine Vietnamese EFL teachers across various career stages. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of emotional intelligence and emotional labor, the research aims to explore how teachers’ management of their emotions influences the motivational dynamics within the classroom. Through semi-structured interviews, the study identifies three main themes: emotional scaffolding for motivational enhancement, creating an atmosphere of safety and trust through emotional regulation, and strategic emotional engagement for enhanced learning interest. These themes highlight the nuanced ways in which teachers employ emotional controls to foster a supportive and engaging learning environment, demonstrating the delicate balance between facilitating and hindering student motivation through emotional expression and management. The findings suggest that effective emotional management strategies can significantly impact student motivation in EFL settings.

The article justifies the feasibility of attributing knowledge and emotional intelligence to the objects of administration in the management system. It characterizes the main functions of knowledge and emotions, which gives rise to determining their place in the system of general management functions. The work indicates that knowledge and emotional intelligence give new meaning to managerial and organizational activity, becoming both the subject's resource and management object. It develops the theoretical approach to displaying the contentfunctional form of manifestation of the knowledge and emotions' components in the general and personnel management systems. The article systematizes personnel management challenges that need to be addressed using emotional intelligence in managerial practice. It highlights and argues that knowledge and emotional management are concrete and entirely autonomous functions in the system of general management functions, however, they share some common characteristics which qualitatively deepen their semantic content. The study compiles common characteristics of knowledge and emotional management and extracts specific challenges of each. It notes that the common denominator of knowledge management and emotional management is the human factor that prejudges both the unity of the aim of achieving the competitive advantage and succeeding and the choice of motivational methods regarding the interest which is the best incentive for each individual. Therefore, the higher management task is to find the common interest that would correspond to the organizational mission and facilitate the fulfillment of every person's needs and wishes. The article points out that not only the stimulative factor but also self-management are important as the high level of awareness of the need for individual development and acquisition of professional and emotional competency. Consequently, the interaction of both factors leads to the synergetic effect of accumulating intellectual and social capital. The article indicates that in the context of emotional management, emotional activity is, in the first place, aimed at the optimization of an organization's emotional atmosphere, which is one of the manager's responsibilities and one of the main competencies. It marks the important role of emotional management in the knowledge community due to the combination of group intelligence, collective thinking and organizational knowledge, and the combination of human intellectual and emotional maturity.

Introduction: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the role of emotional intelligence in educational settings. This is particularly relevant in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching, where educators not only teach a language but also navigate cultural and emotional barriers. The concept of emotional maturity, as a component of emotional intelligence, has gained attention for its potential influence on teaching effectiveness and student outcomes. Therefore, the current qualitative study aimed to investigate Vietnamese EFL teachers’ insights into the nuanced relationship between teachers’ emotional competencies and their ability to engage students in the learning process. Methodology: To gather data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Vietnamese EFL teachers at varying stages of their careers, including novice, mid-career, and near-retirement stages. The study employed thematic analysis to identify and interpret patterns within the data, focusing on the impact of teachers' emotional maturity on student engagement. Results: The thematic analysis yielded three major themes. The first one was the significance of emotional regulation in promoting behavioral engagement in students. The second theme was the role of empathy as a key factor in fostering emotional engagement, and the third theme involved the influence of emotional support in enhancing cognitive engagement. These findings underscore the crucial role of teachers’ emotional competencies in facilitating different types of student engagement. Conclusion: The study concludes that emotional regulation, empathy, and emotional support are pivotal in enhancing behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement in students, respectively. It highlights the need for teacher training programs to include emotional intelligence training and emphasizes the importance of supporting teachers’ emotional well-being in educational institutions. The research offers valuable insights into the intersection of teacher emotional maturity and student engagement, presenting significant implications for educational practices and policies.

Background: The development of the emotional intelligence of leaders has become an exceptionally popular enterprise. However, the empirical research conducted by practitioners to date does not provide convincing evidence of the effectiveness of emotional intelligence development interventions. Robust and informative research on the effectiveness of coaching to develop the emotional intelligence of leaders is lacking.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine, describe and evaluate the impact of a theoretically substantiated coaching intervention on the emotional and social intelligence competencies of leaders in a financial services company.Setting: The setting of the study is a financial services company in South Africa.Methods: A mixed method approach using a quantitative and qualitative research design was considered appropriate. The quantitative research method consisted of a quasi-experimental design using a non-equivalent pre- and post test control group to measure the impact of the coaching intervention on a sample of 30 leaders. The Bar-On EQ-i scale was selected as a reliable and valid measure of emotional and social intelligence competencies. Wilcoxon’s statistic was calculated to determine the statistical significance of score differences between the experimental (N = 30) and control (N = 30) groups. The qualitative research method was comprised of semi-structured interviews with six of the leaders and their supervisors.Results: The statistical results indicated that coaching significantly impacted the emotional and social intelligence competencies of leaders in terms of their overall emotional quotient (EQ), intrapersonal competency, interpersonal skills, stress management, self-regard and empathy. The semi-structured interviews provided rich descriptive themes and evaluations that corroborated the quantitative findings.Conclusion: This research provided convincing empirical evidence of the positive impact of a long-term, spaced and goal-focused coaching intervention on the emotional and social intelligence competencies of leaders in a financial services institution. The finding suggests that a theoretically well substantiated coaching intervention and a robust empirical study can be effective in demonstrating the impact of coaching on the emotional and social intelligence competencies of leaders. However, the implications of the limitations pointed out in this study could have influenced the findings, and future research aimed at improving relevant research models should take these into account.

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) imposes substantial economic and social burdens globally. The management of CHB involves intricate monitoring and adherence challenges, particularly in regions like China, where a high prevalence of CHB intersects with health care resource limitations. This study explores the potential of ChatGPT-3.5, an emerging artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, to address these complexities. With notable capabilities in medical education and practice, ChatGPT-3.5's role is examined in managing CHB, particularly in regions with distinct health care landscapes. This study aimed to uncover insights into ChatGPT-3.5's potential and limitations in delivering personalized medical consultation assistance for CHB patients across diverse linguistic contexts. Questions sourced from published guidelines, online CHB communities, and search engines in English and Chinese were refined, translated, and compiled into 96 inquiries. Subsequently, these questions were presented to both ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4.0 in independent dialogues. The responses were then evaluated by senior physicians, focusing on informativeness, emotional management, consistency across repeated inquiries, and cautionary statements regarding medical advice. Additionally, a true-or-false questionnaire was employed to further discern the variance in information accuracy for closed questions between ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4.0. Over half of the responses (228/370, 61.6%) from ChatGPT-3.5 were considered comprehensive. In contrast, ChatGPT-4.0 exhibited a higher percentage at 74.5% (172/222; P<.001). Notably, superior performance was evident in English, particularly in terms of informativeness and consistency across repeated queries. However, deficiencies were identified in emotional management guidance, with only 3.2% (6/186) in ChatGPT-3.5 and 8.1% (15/154) in ChatGPT-4.0 (P=.04). ChatGPT-3.5 included a disclaimer in 10.8% (24/222) of responses, while ChatGPT-4.0 included a disclaimer in 13.1% (29/222) of responses (P=.46). When responding to true-or-false questions, ChatGPT-4.0 achieved an accuracy rate of 93.3% (168/180), significantly surpassing ChatGPT-3.5's accuracy rate of 65.0% (117/180) (P<.001). In this study, ChatGPT demonstrated basic capabilities as a medical consultation assistant for CHB management. The choice of working language for ChatGPT-3.5 was considered a potential factor influencing its performance, particularly in the use of terminology and colloquial language, and this potentially affects its applicability within specific target populations. However, as an updated model, ChatGPT-4.0 exhibits improved information processing capabilities, overcoming the language impact on information accuracy. This suggests that the implications of model advancement on applications need to be considered when selecting large language models as medical consultation assistants. Given that both models performed inadequately in emotional guidance management, this study highlights the importance of providing specific language training and emotional management strategies when deploying ChatGPT for medical purposes. Furthermore, the tendency of these models to use disclaimers in conversations should be further investigated to understand the impact on patients' experiences in practical applications.

Emotion research in teaching and education more generally is a well-developed field of inquiry, offering suggestions for initial teacher education course development and practical suggestions for improving the working lives of teachers and schoolchildren. In contrast, emotion research in teacher education is an emergent and expanding area of inquiry. Preservice teachers, or university teacher education students, have unique emotional demands given that their teacher identities may still be in formative stages and their school-based practicum may not present the full complement of emotional experiences that full-time teachers encounter daily and for extended periods of time. Some specific objectives of past research in teacher education include explorations of preservice teachers’ emotions; preparing preservice teachers for the emotional demands of the job; developing understandings about the interplay between teacher–student relationships or social bonds, emotions, and learning; and addressing the strong emotions associated with practicum for preservice teachers, school-based teacher educators, and university-based teacher educators. A diverse range of theories are available for investigating emotion in preservice teacher education. This range presents different ways of conceptualizing what emotions are considered to be, stemming from disciplines including sociology, philosophy, psychology, critical studies, cultural studies, anthropology, and neuroscience. In addition to canvassing theories and traditions, dominant approaches to the study of preservice teacher emotions are addressed including early investigations, which relied on single self-report research methods to the more complex and dynamic multimethod and multitheoretical studies that have emerged in recent years. Suggestions are made for fruitful future lines of inquiry of preservice teachers’ emotional experiences and needs. Teacher attrition and burnout, particularly in the early years, continue to be vexing international problems. Research into preservice teacher emotions and emotion management are two important areas of inquiry that could address the related problems of burnout and attrition. Emotion management is also linked to social bonds, and better understandings of these connections are needed in the context of preservice teachers’ experiences and learning during practicums and within university courses. A focus on enacted classroom and staffroom interactions offers great scope for novel research contributions. Better understandings of structural conditions affecting emotions and preservice teachers’ learning are needed that include the bridging of macrosocial structural factors influencing work conditions with microsocial interactions in classrooms, staffrooms, and during parent-teacher interactions. New research adopting contemporary theories of emotion and methods is needed to explore preservice teacher identities. Combining this focus with the aforementioned lines of investigation into burnout, attrition, social bonds, and connections between macrostructural and microinteractional aspects of teaching and learning presents a third line of novel research. Guiding questions to prompt these and other lines of investigation are offered.

Introduction: Although there is ambiguity about the elements of teacher knowledge, all researchers accept that being able to anticipate what errors can be made, the reasons for and the strategies to overcome these errors, in short, the knowledge of students is important for student achievement. In this study, knowledge of students refers to being aware of students’ possible errors and underlying reasons for these errors and knowing how to overcome these errors. Based on this consideration, the purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service elementary teachers’ knowledge of students on the subtraction topic. Methods: Considering the purpose, the data were collected from 118 pre-service elementary teachers who were enrolled in a four-year Elementary Teacher Education program via a task-based questionnaire related to the topic of subtraction and semi-structured interviews following the questionnaire. The task-based questionnaire included three completed incorrect subtraction tasks and was prepared considering the related literature and the elementary school mathematics curriculum of Turkey. Each task in the questionnaire contained a different type of error. The pre-service elementary teachers’ answers to the task-based questionnaire were categorized as correct, partially correct, wrong, or no answer by means of categorical analysis. The pre-service elementary teachers who gave correct and partially correct answers to the tasks were asked to participate in the second part of the study to learn their possible strategies to overcome the errors made in the tasks. Results: As a result of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the pre-service elementary teachers’ responses, it was found that their knowledge of students for subtraction is limited. Specifically, although the pre-service elementary teachers were partially able to identify the errors in the first and second task, they were not able to identify the error in the third task. Furthermore, they were better able to determine a more commonly occurring subtraction error compared to the uncommon ones. The pre-service elementary teachers could not identify the underlying reasons that led the students to the errors. They could not explain what conceptual knowledge related to the topic of subtraction the student lacked that resulted in the errors. As the pre-service teachers did not attain these reasons, they were not able to provide strategies to overcome these errors different than restating the rules or procedures to overcome students’ errors. Discussion: Only being able to identify the errors is not enough to make the instruction effective. Teachers also need to know and provide a rationale for why the errors happen and how to overcome them (Even &amp; Tirosh, 1995). Contrary to this statement, the pre-service elementary teachers in this study could not attempt to understand the students’ thinking or could not explain the reasons behind students’ errors with the notion of subtraction. Son (2013) emphasizes that pre-service teachers tend to explain the reasons for students’ errors as procedural. Similar to this emphasis, the pre-service teachers identified the errors as resulting from not applying procedures carefully or not enough knowing algorithms to find correct solutions. However, without addressing the reasons or focusing on procedures does not promote students’ understanding of the related topic (An, Kulm, &amp; Wu, 2004). The pre-service teachers’ difficulties in identifying the possible conceptual reasons may result from deficits in knowledge of students (Fennema &amp; Franke, 1992; Ball et al., 2008). Limitations: The findings were limited with the responses of the pre-service elementary teachers participating in this study. Moreover, the pre-service elementary teachers’ knowledge of students was investigated within the scope of subtraction. Conclusions: Although the pre-service elementary teachers could identify students’ errors on subtraction, they had difficulty in identifying the reasons and suggesting strategies to overcome the errors. Therefore, it can be concluded that the pre-service teachers’ knowledge of students for the topic of subtraction is limited. An implication of this is that teacher educators need to include error-analysis tasks to help pre-service teachers be aware of the importance of their knowledge of students.

With the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, preservice teachers have experienced an unprecedented situation and faced various kinds of issues due to uncertain learning and teaching environments. As a result, they felt insecure and disappointed about their teaching performance during student teaching. Self-efficacy to teach and pedagogical beliefs are crucial elements that influence preservice teachers’ teaching performance during student teaching and their professional development in the early stage. This study adopted a quantitative research method to examine the changes in the self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs of preservice teachers after student teaching during the initial teacher education stage in the Japanese context and how preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 133 preservice primary teachers in a university in Western Japan was recruited in this study. Two structured surveys were used to collect the data, and factor analyses and paired t-tests were fitted. This study verified the validity and internal consistency of two surveys in the Japanese context. The results showed that the Japanese preservice teachers’ self-efficacy made a steeper change after student teaching. Their pedagogical beliefs increased significantly, however, yielded a small effect. The results suggested that student teaching is an essential source of influence on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs. This study contributes to the meaningful application of theories developed in the West to Japan by highlighting the Japanese educational context. This study provides implications for effectively reinforcing preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs through developing deeper reflection skills, thus supporting them to overcome various challenges in their future teaching careers.