Skip to main content

A Methodological Review of L2 Teacher Emotion Research: Advances, Challenges and Future Directions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Emotions in Second Language Teaching

Abstract

While increasing evidence reveals that teacher emotion influences teacher cognition, well-being, and professional performance, teacher emotion is still an underexplored area in second language teacher education research. It is due partly to the dominance of traditional positivism in educational research, and partly to limited knowledge of research methodologies appropriate for teacher emotion research. To address the latter gap, this chapter clarifies and problematizes research methodological issues in teacher emotion research based upon an overview of empirical studies published in English up until 2016. A synthesis of research methodologies used in publications of teacher emotion in the field of second language teacher education reveals an overall reliance on qualitative research methods. To explore potentially useful methodologies, the review is extended to teacher emotion research in the field of general education, and the strengths and limitations of various methodologies are discussed. This chapter concludes with challenges for innovative research methodologies and corresponding requirements for researchers’ expertise.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Borg, M. G. (1990). Occupational stress in British educational setting. Educational Psychology, 10, 103–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what teachers think, know, believe and do. Language Teaching, 36, 81–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, D. W. (2004). Perceived emotional intelligence and self-efficacy among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1781–1795.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J. (2016). Understanding teacher emotions: The development of a teacher emotion inventory. Teaching and Teacher Education, 44, 68–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1995). Teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes: Secret, sacred, and cover stories. In D. J. Clandinin & F. M. Connelly (Eds.), Teachers’ professional knowledge landscape (pp. 3–15). New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowie, N. (2011). Emotions that experienced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers feel about their students, their colleagues and their work. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(1), 235–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crabtree, B., & Miller, W. (1999). Using codes and code manuals: A template organizing style of interpretation. In B. Crabtree & W. Miller (Eds.), Doing qualitative research (pp. 163–177). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darby, A. (2008). Teachers’ emotions in the reconstruction of professional self-understanding. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(5), 1160–1172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day, C., & Leith, R. (2001). Teachers’ and teacher educators’ lives: The role of emotion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 403–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao, X. (2008). Teachers’ professional vulnerability and cultural tradition: A Chinese paradox. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 154–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glomb, T. M., & Tews, M. J. (2004). Emotional labor: A conceptualization and scale development. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64, 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golombek, P. R., & Doran, M. (2014). Unifying cognition, emotion, and activity in language teacher professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 39(4), 102–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2, 271–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves, A. (1998). The emotional practice of teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14, 835–854.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves, A. (2000). Mixed emotions: Teachers’ perceptions of their interactions with students. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16(8), 811–826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves, A. (2001). Emotional geographies of teaching. Teachers College Record, 103, 1056–1080.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves, A. (2005). Educational change takes ages: Life, career and generational factors in teachers’ emotional responses to educational change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 967–983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horwitz, E. K. (1996). Even teachers get the blues: Recognizing and alleviating language teachers’ feelings of foreign language anxiety. Foreign Language Annuals, 29(3), 365–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isenbarger, L., & Zembylas, M. (2006). The emotional labour of caring in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 120–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79, 491–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, J., Vauras, M., Volet, S., & Wang, Y. (2016). Teachers’ emotions and emotion regulation strategies: Self- and students’ perceptions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 54, 22–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lasky, S. (2005). A sociocultural approach to understanding teacher identity, agency and professional vulnerability in a context of secondary school reform. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 899–916.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, E., & Lew, L. (2001). Diary studies: The voice of nonnative English speakers in a masters of arts program in teaching English to speakers of other languages. CATESOL Journal, 13, 135–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Y. (2016). The emotional geographies of language teaching. Teacher Development, 20(4), 482–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loh, C. E., & Liew, W. M. (2016). Voices from the ground: The emotional labour of English teachers’ work. Teaching and Teacher Education, 55, 267–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manning, P. K., & Cullum-Swam, B. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. SAGE: Newburry Park.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, M. B., & Huberman, M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An resource book. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moafian, F., & Ghanizadeh, A. (2009). The relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ emotional intelligence and their self-efficacy in language institutes. System, 37(4), 708–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, K. E. (2008). “You choose to care”: Teachers, emotions and professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 117–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Slate, J. R., Leech, N. L., & Collins, K. M. T. (2007). Introducing the mixed-analysis matrix: A general typology for conducting mixed analysis. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 1, 4–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parrott, W. (2001). Emotions in social psychology. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rastegar, M., & Memarpour, S. (2009). The relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy among Iranian EFL teachers. System, 37(4), 700–707.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reves, T., & Medgyes, P. (1994). The nonnative English speaking ESL/EFL teacher’s self-image: An international survey. System, 22(3), 353–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riessman, C. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarzer, R. (1993). Measurement of perceived self-efficacy. Berlin, Germany: Zentrale Universitats Druckerei der FU Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, M., & Datnow, A. (2005). Teachers’ sense making about comprehensive reform: The influence of emotions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 949–965.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Hall, L. E., Haggerty, D. J., Cooper, J. T., Golden, C. J., et al. (1998). Development and validation of a measure of Emotional Intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 25(2), 167–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schutz, P., & Zembylas, M. (2009). Advances in teacher emotion research: The impact on teachers’ lives. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, C., & Sutton, R. E. (2009). Emotions and change during professional development for teachers: A mixed methods study. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 3(2), 151–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidman, I. (1998). Interviewing as qualitative research (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shann, M. H. (1998). Professional commitment and satisfaction among teachers in urban middle schools. Journal of Educational Research, 92, 67–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, S. (2010). Revisiting the teachers’ lounge: Reflections on emotional experience and teacher identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 616–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57, 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song, J. (2016). Emotions and language teacher identity: Conflicts, vulnerability, and transformation. TESOL Quarterly, 50(3), 631–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1994). Grounded theory methodology: An overview. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 273–285). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, R. E. (2004). Emotional regulation goals and strategies of teachers. Social Psychology of Education, 7(4), 379–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, R. E., & Wheatley, K. F. (2003). Teachers’ emotions and teaching: A review of the literature and directions for future research. Educational Psychology Review, 15, 327–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taxer, J. L., & Frenze, A. C. (2015). Facets of teachers’ emotional lives: A quantitative investigation of teachers’ genuine, faked, and hidden emotions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 49, 78–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 783–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tum, D. O. (2015). Foreign language anxiety’s forgotten study: The case of the anxious preservice teacher. TESOL Quarterly, 49(4), 627–658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Veen, K., Sleegers, P., & Van de Ven, P. H. (2005). One teacher’s identity, emotions and commitment to change: A case study into the cognitive-affective processes of a secondary school teacher in the context of reforms. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(6), 917–934.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webster, L., & Mertova, P. (2007). Using narrative inquiry as a research method: An introduction to using critical event analysis in research on teaching and learning. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, Y. (2013). Teacher emotion in relationship: A multiple case study. In X. Zhu & K. Zeichner (Eds.), Preparing teachers for the 21st century (pp. 371–393). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zembylas, M., Charalambous, C., Charalambous, P., & Kendeou, P. (2011). Promoting peaceful coexistence in conflict-ridden cyprus: Teachers’ difficulties and emotions towards a new policy initiative. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 332–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yueting Xu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Xu, Y. (2018). A Methodological Review of L2 Teacher Emotion Research: Advances, Challenges and Future Directions. In: MartĂ­nez Agudo, J. (eds) Emotions in Second Language Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75438-3_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75438-3_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75437-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75438-3

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics