Your browser does not support the PubReader view.
Go to this page to see a list of supporting browsers.
The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 23, No. 0, pp.237-253
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 30 Jan 2023
Received 28 Feb 2023 Revised 24 Mar 2023 Accepted 26 Mar 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.23..202303.237

An Activity-Theoretic Analysis of Two Beginning EFL Teachers’ Emotional Labor Strategies and Their Pedagogical Responses: A Case Study

Youngmi Kim ; Tae-Young Kim
(1st author) Lecturer, Dept. of English Education, Chung-Ang University, Tel: 02-820-5391 ymkim209@gmail.com
(corresponding author) Professor, Dept. of English Education, Chung-Ang University, Tel: 02-820-5392 tykim@cau.ac.kr


© 2023 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates the emotional labor of beginning EFL teachers concerning their students. Two beginning teachers working at Korean junior high schools in the public sector were recruited for the study, and semi-structured interviews with each participant were the main data source. The transcription of interviews was analyzed using Activity Theory (Leont’ev 1978, Engestrӧm 1999), influenced by Vygotsky (1978), to capture the conflicts and resolutions from a comprehensive perspective. The results indicated that the participating teachers thought they were experiencing conflicts with the instructional instrument and the teaching community while performing emotional labor, and they experienced difficulty suppressing their feelings concerning students exhibiting problematic behavior. In addition, the conflicts in their activity system were resolved by changing their teaching practices, materials, and emotional response to the students. The results imply that beginning teachers should receive help through pre-and in-service training courses, the school, and the system.

Keywords:

efl teacher, emotional labor, efl teacher education, activity theory

References

  • Acheson, K. and R. Nelson. 2020. Utilising the emotional labour scale to analyse the form and extent of emotional labour among foreign language teachers in the US public school system. In C. Gkonou, J. Dewaele and J. King, eds., The Emotional Rollercoaster of Language Teaching 31-52. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. [https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788928342-007]
  • Acheson, K., J. Taylor and K. Luna. 2016. The burnout spiral: The emotion labor of five rural US foreign language teachers. The Modern Language Journal 100(2), 522-537. [https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12333]
  • Belt, A. and P. Belt. 2017. Teachers’ differing perceptions of classroom disturbances. Educational Research 59, 54-72. [https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2016.1262747]
  • Benesch, S. 2017. Emotions and English Language Teaching: Exploring Teachers’ Emotion Labor. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. [https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315736181]
  • Brinkmann, S. and S. Kvale. 2015. Interviews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Interviewing, 3rd ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Burić, I. and A. C. Frenzel. 2019. Teacher anger: New empirical insights using a multi-method approach. Teaching and Teacher Education 86, Article 102895. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102895]
  • Chang, M. L. 2009. An appraisal perspective of teacher burnout: Examining the emotional work of teachers. Educational Psychology Review 21(3), 193-218. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-009-9106-y]
  • Chang, M. L. 2013. Toward a theoretical model to understand teacher emotions and teacher burnout in the context of student misbehavior: Appraisal, regulation and coping. Motivation and Emotion 37, 799-817. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-012-9335-0]
  • Charmaz, K. 2014. Constructing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • 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. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.006]
  • Dewaele, J. M. and A. Wu. 2021. Predicting the emotional labor strategies of Chinese English Foreign Language teachers. System 103, 102-660. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102660]
  • Diefendorff, J. M., M. H.Croyle and R. H. Gosserand. 2005. The dimensionality and antecedents of emotional labor strategies. Journal of Vocational Behavior 66(2), 339-357. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2004.02.001]
  • Engeström, Y. 1999. Activity theory and individual and social transformation. In Y. Engeström, R. Miettinen, and R.-L. Punamäki, eds., Perspectives on Activity Theory 19-38. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812774.003]
  • Engeström. Y. 2000. Activity theory as a framework for analyzing and redesigning work, Ergonomics 43(7), 960-974. [https://doi.org/10.1080/001401300409143]
  • Gkonou, C. and E. R. Miller. 2020. An exploration of language teacher reflection, emotion labor, and emotional capital. TESOL Quarterly 55(1), 134-155. [https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.580]
  • Hagenauer, G., T. Hascher and S. E. Volet. 2015. Teacher emotions in the classroom: Associations with students’ engagement, classroom discipline and the interpersonal teacher-student relationship. European Journal of Psychology of Education 30(4), 385-403. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-015-0250-0]
  • Hebson, G., J. Earnshaw and L. Marchington. 2007. Too emotional to be capable? The changing nature of emotion work in definitions of ‘capable teaching’. Journal of Education Policy 22, 675–694. [https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930701625312]
  • Hochschild, A. R. 1983. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  • Hwang, S.-A. and H. O. Choi. 2014. A study of elementary school teachers’ recognition about emotional labor and actual conditions through in-depth interviews. Korean Journal of Teacher Education 30(1), 59-91. [https://doi.org/10.14333/KJTE.2014.30.1.59]
  • Hwang, S.-S., H. S. Seo and T. Y. Kim. 2010. Korean English teachers’ disempowerment in English-only classes: A case study focusing on Korea- specific cultural aspects. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 18(1), 105-135.
  • Imai, Y. 2010. Emotions in SLA: New insights from collaborative learning for an EFL classroom. The Modern Language Journal 94(2), 278-292. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01021.x]
  • Johnson, K. E. 2009. Second Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  • Johnson, S. M. and S. E. Birkeland. 2003. Pursuing a “sense of success”: New teachers explain their career decisions. American Educational Research Journal 40(3), 581-617. [https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312040003581]
  • Kang, D. M. 2022. An elementary school EFL teacher’s emotional intelligence and emotional labor. Journal of Language, Identity & Education 21(1), 1-14. [https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2020.1777867]
  • Kaptelinin, V. 2005. The object of activity: Making sense of the sense-maker. Mind, Culture, and Activity 12(1), 4-18. [https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327884mca1201_2]
  • Kim, H. S. and T. Y. Kim. 2021. Impact of motivational languaging activities on novice English teachers’ motivation: An activity theory perspective. Porta Linguarum 36, 139-157. [https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.v0i36.15909]
  • Kim, Y. and T. Y. Kim. 2018. Korean EFL teachers’ emotional labor: An exploratory study. English Language Teaching 30(2), 21-41. [https://doi.org/10.17936/pkelt.2018.30.2.002]
  • King, J. 2015. “It’s time, put on the smile, It’s time!”: The emotional labour of second language teaching within a Japanese university. In C. Gkonou, D. Tatzl, and S. Mercer, eds., New Directions in Language Learning Psychology, 97-112. New York: Springer. [https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23491-5_7]
  • Lazarus, R. S. 1991. Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion. American Psychologist 46(8), 819-834. [https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.46.8.819]
  • Leont’ev, A. N. 1978. Activity, Consciousness, and Personality. Englewood Cliffs, CA: Prentice-Hall.
  • Näring, G., P. Vlerick and B. Van de Ven. 2012. Emotion work and emotional exhaustion in teachers: The job and individual perspective. Educational Studies 38(1), 63-72. [https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2011.567026]
  • Schutz, P. A. and R. E. Pekrun. 2007. Emotion in Education. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  • Seidman, I. 2013. Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences. New York, NY: Teachers College.
  • Strauss, A. and J. Corbin. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Suprayogi, M. N., M. Valcke and R. Godwin. 2017. Teachers and their implementation of differentiated instruction in the classroom. Teaching and Teacher Education 67, 291-301. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.020]
  • Tomlinson, C. A., C. Brighton, H. Hertberg, C. M. Callahan, T. R. Moon, K. Brimijoin and T. Reynolds. 2003. Differentiating instruction in response to student readiness, interest, and learning profile in academically diverse classrooms: A review of literature. Journal for the Education of the Gifted 27(2-3), 119-145. [https://doi.org/10.1177/016235320302700203]
  • Vygotsky, L. S. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Wertsch, J. V. 1998. Mind as Action. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195117530.001.0001]
  • Yin, H. B., J. C. K. Lee and Z. H. Zhang. 2013. Exploring the relationship among teachers’ emotional intelligence, emotional labor strategies and teaching satisfaction. Teaching and Teacher Education 35, 137-145. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.06.006]
  • Zembylas, M. 2002. “Structures of feeling” in curriculum and teaching: Theorizing the emotional rules. Educational Theory 52(2), 187-208. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2002.00187.x]