The Role of Job Satisfaction in Predicting Teacher Emotions: A Study on English Language Teachers

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating teacher job satisfaction as a predictor of teacher emotions. To this end, in a mixed method study, data were collected via the Job Satisfaction Survey and Teacher Emotions Inventory from 2,013 English language teachers across Turkey in addition to qualitative data collected from 145 teachers. By conducting statistical correlation and regression analysis, the findings revealed that job satisfaction correlated positively with teacher emotions, including negative ones. Also, contrary to the common understanding, it was found that job satisfaction is a predictor of negative emotions in terms of sadness, anger, and fear, indicating that schools as the workplace of teachers cause interplay of emotions under similar conditions. Negative emotions, particularly the fear dimension, exhibit a bidirectional feature in motivating teachers to a certain extent, thus increasing job satisfaction. It is concluded that job satisfaction involves not only positive but negative emotions, too since they are experienced in a temporal way.