Teacher Self-efficacy and Emotional Regulation as Predictors of Teaching Stress: An Investigation of Iranian English Language Teachers

Abstract

As it has been revealed that characteristics of teachers and their psychological factors have a significant share of variance in affecting teacher performance, a bulk of empirical studies have been conducted to investigate factors related to teachers and their interrelationships. As an attempt to shed more light on the relationships among teacher psychological factors in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, this study examined the role of teacher self-efficacy and emotional regulation as predictors of teaching stress among Iranian EFL teachers. In so doing, a sample of 256 teachers completed three questionnaires measuring these constructs. Structural Equation Modeling was employed to test the hypothesized relationships among the variables. The findings revealed that emotional regulation accounted for 14.2% of the variance and teacher self-efficacy accounted for 22.1% of the variance in teaching stress. Although each of the two variables had a unique effect on teaching stress, teacher self-efficacy outweighed emotional regulation in predicting teaching stress. Finally, the practical implications of the results were discussed.