Language Teacher Emotion in Relationships: A Multiple Case Study

Abstract

This chapter explores language teachers’ emotions through a multiple case study of three novice EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers working in a secondary school in the People’s Republic of China. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with the teachers, it examines their accounts of emotional experiences in relations with students, colleagues, parents and administrators. Following Hargreaves’ framework of emotional geographies (2001a Emotional geographies of teaching. Teach Coll Rec 103:1056–1080), the chapter discusses the five dimensions of teachers’ emotional geographies with others. It is argued that political distance, as decided by social hierarchy, sets the emotional rules for teachers’ interactions with others; moral distance, usually shared with colleagues but not with parents and students, could be narrowed by care, tolerance and communicative strategies; and that physical closeness could be achieved by means of virtual communication. The findings highlight the recognition of social hierarchy in understanding teacher emotion, the importance of interactive strategies in improving their professional relationships, and the urgent need of care for teachers’ emotions in the workplace.