Understanding emotional and social intelligence among English language teachers

Emotions and social relationships are at the centre of all human behaviour. Teaching in particular requires the careful handling of students? and teachers? own emotions as well as the sensitive promotion of positive social relationships between the teacher and students and among students. These emotional and social competences are key components of effective classroom management and teacher competences. However, there has been surprisingly little research on how these competences function in actual classrooms and how best they can be fostered. Language teaching in particular depends on these competences given the intercultural, social and interpersonal character of communication in a foreign language. In what follows, we review the literature on emotional intelligence (EI) and social intelligence (SI) within psychology and education, and argue for the relevance and importance of both constructs specifically within English language teaching (ELT). We report on the findings of a mixed-methods empirical study on the EI and SI of English language teachers across the globe, and then examine in more detail the beliefs and practices of highly emotionally and socially intelligent teachers in the UK and Austria. We conclude the paper by reflecting on the implications of the findings for language teaching and language teacher education

Caring and emotional labour: Language teachers’ engagement with anxious learners in private language school classrooms

This study examines how a group of eight teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Greece discuss their efforts to address their students’ language anxiety (LA). We found that in most cases, these teachers’ efforts are motivated by an ethic of care (Noddings, 1988, 2005, 2013) in which they seek to construct positive relationships with students in order to help mitigate their students’ LA. Though desirable, such efforts often result in ‘emotional labour’ as teachers suppress their own negative emotions while attending to those of their students. Adopting a dialogical perspective to teacher engagement with anxious learners, we analyse the affective or emotional labour that language teachers often undertake in responding to their students’ displays of LA. Drawing on positioning theory, we explore these concepts through analysing these language teachers’ interview accounts, produced in response to questions related to their students’ LA

Do ESL/EFL teachers´ emotional intelligence, teaching experience, proficiency and gender affect their classroom practice?

Emotions are a key part of language education for all stakeholders. Yet, to date, learner emotions have been studied more frequently than those of teachers. In this chapter, we argue that it is crucial to investigate teachers’ management of their own emotions and examine any possible links with their classroom practices. We use the metaphor of teachers being like orchestra conductors, attuned to -and regulating- the emotions in the classroom. Using an online questionnaire, we collected quantitative feedback concerning classroom behaviours from 513 ESL/EFL teachers from around the world. Independent variables included Trait emotional intelligence (EI), years of teaching experience, general English proficiency and gender. Statistical analyses revealed that Trait EI and teaching experience were positively linked with levels of self-reported creativity, classroom management, and pedagogical skills and negatively linked with predictability. Level of English proficiency was only positively linked to self-reported creativity and gender had no effect. Reflecting on the implication of these findings suggests that training in emotional competences could improve the effectiveness of (trainee) teachers' classroom practices and, ultimately, also their professional well-being

Teaching with Heart and Soul

In this chapter, we argue that emotional (EI) and social intelligence (SI) are core competencies for language teachers. EI and SI refer to an individual’s abilities in understanding and managing their own emotions as well as their interpersonal relationships. Both competencies are especially important for language teachers given the inherently interpersonal and communicative nature of contemporary foreign language learning and teaching. Nevertheless, they are rarely addressed in teacher training programmes and are notably absent from the research landscape with respect to SLA. We report on the results of a survey on the EI and SI of 890 EFL teachers from across the globe. The survey consisted of items which measured both trait and educational-context-specific EI and SI. The results revealed a strong positive correlation between trait EI and SI and educational-context-specific EI and SI. Female teachers were found to score slightly higher on both constructs than male teachers. In addition, a significant positive correlation was found between levels of EI and SI and teaching experience. Multiple regression analyses also showed that gender and teaching experience made the greatest contribution to teachers’ trait EI and SI. We conclude our chapter by reflecting on the practical implications suggesting that EI and SI are skills that should be incorporated into pre-service and in-service teacher training courses

Introduction to the emotional rollercoaster of language teaching

Book synopsis: This book focuses on the emotional complexity of language teaching and how the diverse emotions that teachers experience while teaching are shaped and function. The book is based on the premise that teaching is not just about the transmission of academic knowledge but also about inspiring students, building rapport with them, creating relationships based on empathy and trust, being patient and most importantly controlling one's own emotions and being able to influence students' emotions in a positive way. The book covers a range of emotion-related topics on both positive and negative emotions which are relevant to language teaching including emotional labour, burnout, emotion regulation, resilience, emotional intelligence and wellbeing among others. These topics are studied within a wide range of contexts such as teacher education programmes, tertiary education, CLIL and action research settings, and primary and secondary schools across different countries. The book will appeal to any student, researcher, teacher or policymaker who is interested in research on the psychological aspects of foreign language teaching

Teacher perspectives on language learning psychology

Research into the psychology of language learning has grown exponentially in the last decade, yet, teacher perspectives on the field have been surprisingly absent from this body of research. The present study was designed to address this gap. Drawing on a survey with 311 foreign language teachers working at different school levels in 3 European countries, and on individual, semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers, the study focuses on the psychological aspects of language learning which teachers felt were particularly important in their own settings. In particular, teachers’ beliefs, experiences and teaching strategies were explored. The data also revealed strong interconnections between language learning psychology constructs, differences across contexts, and a perceived link between learner and teacher psychology

The effect of perception of teacher characteristics on Spanish EFL Learners’ anxiety and enjoyment

The present study explores the relationship between Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) and a number of teacher-centered variables within the Spanish classroom context. Participants were 210 former and current EFL learners from all over Spain who filled out an online questionnaire with Likert scale items. A moderate negative relationship emerged between FLE and FLCA. Participants who had a L1 user of English as teacher reported more FLE and less FLCA than those with a foreign language user of English. Teacher characteristics predicted close to 20% of variance in FLE but only 8% of variance in FLCA. The strongest positive predictor of FLE was teacher’s friendliness while teacher’s foreign accent was a weaker negative predictor. Teacher-centered variables predicted much less variance for FLCA. Participants experienced more FLCA with younger teachers, very strict teachers and teachers who did not use the FL much in class. The findings confirm earlier research that FLE seems to be more dependent on the teachers’ pedagogical skills than FLCA (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2019a; Dewaele et al., 2018)

Is teacher happiness contagious? A study of the link between perceptions of language teacher happiness and student attitudes

There remains a dearth of research on the effects of student perception of teacher happiness and the ramifications of those perceptions on student feelings and attitudes. Using an online questionnaire, data were collected from 129 adult students of ESL/EFL across the world who were enrolled in formal English classes of intermediate to advanced level proficiency. Participants were asked about their perception of various aspects of their teachers’ happiness, and about their own attitudes and motivation to learn English. Statistical analyses revealed that student perception of teacher happiness was significantly (and positively) linked with students’ Overall attitude and motivation, as well as students’ Attitude towards the teacher. This is interpreted as an illustration of the process of positive emotional contagion between teachers and students. Pedagogical implications of the results are discussed