A Case Study Of The Emotional Labor Of Novice English Teachers In Secondary Schools

Since the mid-1990s,research into teacher emotion has increased and teachers’emotional labor has gained recognition.According to previous studies,teaching is an emotional endeavor and teachers are emotional laborers.They perform different emotional labor strategies in response to emotional rules embedded in their workplace to display required emotions.Secondary school English teachers are under intense work pressure and the novice teachers are confronted with reality shock,which results in more complex emotional experiences and more emotional labor.Emotional labor greatly impacts teachers’ job satisfaction and teaching efficiency.However,a few studies focus on their emotional labor.Thus,the present study aims to explore the emotional labor strategies and emotional rules of three novice English teachers in secondary schools in China.Adopting a qualitative case study method,the present study collected data from semi-structured interviews and case documents.Major research findings are summarized as follows.Firstly,surface acting was the most frequently used emotional labor strategy,followed by genuinely expressing and finally deep acting.Under these three categories,three secondary novice English teachers conducted seven specific emotional labor strategies,including pretending,restraining,refocusing,reframing,separating,releasing,and outpouring.They used these strategies to express desired emotions in the interaction with students,parents,colleagues,and school administrators.Their changes of strategies reflected the changes in the power relations wherein they were rooted.Secondly,five emotional rules governing the participants’ use of emotional labor strategies were revealed,including obedience to authority,using emotions to facilitate teaching,working in harmony with peers,having caring ethics,and establishing teacher’s authority.These rules reflected traditional Chinese cultural values and influenced teachers’emotional expressions by defining the appropriate emotions and inappropriate ones.Based on the above research findings,the role of power relations in the use of emotional labor strategies of novice English teachers in secondary schools and the influence of traditional Chinese cultural values on emotional rules are discussed.Implications,limitations of this study,and room for future research are also presented.