Emotional facet of language teaching: emotion regulation and emotional labor strategies as predictors of teacher burnout

Abstract

This study attempted to scrutinize the multidimensional nature of teacher emotion. Three emotion-associated constructs, namely, emotion regulation, emotional labor strategies, and burnout were studied within a single framework. In particular, it was hypothesized that English as a foreign language teachers’ emotion regulation and emotional labor strategies influence teacher burnout. The results yielded via structural equation modeling substantiated the negative role of these constructs in burnout. The emotion regulation was measured via the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire developed by Gross and John. The scale comprises two subscales: cognitive reappraisal (an antecedent-focused factor aimed at changing the way a situation is construed so as to decrease its emotional impact) and expressive suppression (a response-focused element targeted at inhibiting the outward signs of inner feelings). Emotional labor strategies were assessed through the Teacher Emotional Labor Strategy Scale designed by Yin. This test consists of three parts: surface acting (which refers to strategy in which people hinder and cover their felt emotions or fake unfelt feeling for the aim of showing the appropriate emotions needed for their profession), deep acting (which refers to the kind of strategy in which individuals try to change their felt emotions with the aid of some cognitive techniques, such as distraction so as the appropriate emotion occurs), and natural acting (which refers to the instance when individuals simultaneously experience and present the appropriate emotion for their job). Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory comprising three subscales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.