Why emotions need to labor—Influencing factors and dilemmas in the emotional labor of Chinese English teachers teaching online

Profiles of teachers' emotional labour during COVID-19 and the consequences on mental health: A comparison between online and offline teaching

BACKGROUND

Despite increasing attention on emotional labor in teacher well-being research, person-centered studies are relatively scarce, particularly concerning the emotional labor of online teaching during COVID-19 and its effects on teachers' non-work-related mental health.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to address these gaps by examining emotional labor profiles and their consequences on job satisfaction, depression, and anxiety among Chinese teachers involved in either online or offline teaching during October-December 2022.

METHODS

Two samples of teachers were analyzed altogether: one engaged in online teaching (N=605) and the other in offline teaching (N=394). Latent profile analysis was used to identify emotional labor profiles based on three strategies: surface acting, deep acting, and expression of naturally felt emotions.

RESULTS

A total of four subgroups of emotional workers were identified: natural expressors, actors, flexible regulators, and authentic regulators. Significant differences were found between online and offline teaching, with a higher proportion of actors and fewer flexible regulators in the online condition, suggesting that the screen acts as a barrier to authentic emotional display. Among the four classes, actors scored lowest on job satisfaction and highest on depression and anxiety, whereas authentic regulators were the most adaptive, especially in online settings.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the impact of online teaching on teachers' emotional labor profiles and mental health, with practical implications for optimizing online teaching environments and supporting teacher well-being.

A case study of College English teachers' emotional experiences in the blended teaching context

The current research on language teacher education has witnessed a surge in studies focusing on teacher emotions due to their recognized importance in teaching. However, limited efforts have been found to investigate the emotions of Chinese College English teachers in the blended teaching context. This qualitative case study aims to uncover the emotional experiences of four Chinese College English teachers and explore the causes of their emotions in the blended teaching context. Data for the study was primarily gathered through interviews and case documents. The findings indicate that teachers in Eastern China experienced more positive emotions than negative emotions in the blended teaching context, while teachers in Western China exhibited the reverse pattern. These emotions were caused by their continuous appraisal of the interaction between their personal goals and various ecological systems. The research findings underscore the crucial role of teacher emotion in blended teaching and provide implications for enhancing blended teaching practices.

Job burnout among teachers handling English as a foreign language in China: review and prospects

In recent years, job burnout of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in China has become prominent in the field of education and psychology, with the related research articles generally on the rise. Using the database of Web of Science (WOS) and the sub-database of Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database, this paper comprehensively reviews the current situation of research on job burnout of EFL teachers in China between 2020 and 2023, from the aspects of research methods, research focuses and research findings. The literature research results show that on the whole, the research on job burnout of EFL teachers in China is still in its infancy, and that the research level is still relatively low. Based on the systematic reviews of the collected studies, we can conclude that although there is no unanimous conclusion between demographic variables and job burnout severity of EFL teachers in China, we can intervene at both the teacher and school levels to alleviate job burnout of EFL teachers. This review paper analyzes some main problems existing in the current research, for example, lack of theoretical construction and guidance, too much concentration on some research topics, lack of diversified and interdisciplinary research methods, lack of longitudinal research, and potential directions for future research are also discussed in the paper.