Developing and validating a scale to measure teachers’ emotional labor strategy in classrooms

Abstract

Teachers’ emotional labor is essential to teachers’ instructional quality, psychological health, and students’ learning effectiveness in classrooms. To assess how teachers manage their emotions to match the display rules of classrooms, this study developed and validated a self-report scale—the Teachers’ Emotional Labor Strategy in Classrooms (TELSC)—through three rounds of investigation with secondary school teachers. First, strategies and item statements were collected through existing scales, an open-ended questionnaire, and interviews. Second, the pilot study was conducted, and the results of content validity and exploratory factor analysis confirmed the 17-item formal scale with four dimensions: surface acting, deep acting, expression of naturally felt emotions, and emotion termination. The third round investigated 491 teachers and validated the scale: confirmatory factor analyses verified the four-factor structure; correlations among the four subscales and average variance extracted indicated good discriminant validity; correlations between subscales and emotional exhaustion, teacher efficacy, and years of teaching showed good criterion validity; and Cronbach’s α showed good reliability. Overall, the TELSC scale is an efficient instrument to measure the strategies that teachers use to manage their emotions in classrooms, and it can be applied to understand and improve teachers’ professional competence in teaching and emotional interaction.

Teachers’ Acceptance of Online Teaching and Emotional Labor in the EFL Context

“…The act of engaging in emotional labor allows instructors to effectively convey good feelings throughout their teaching practices [25,37], hence facilitating successful communication between teachers and students [38,39]. The scholarly examination of teachers' emotional labor has primarily focused on four main inquiries: (a) the effects of emotional labor, as explored by Yin (2009Yin ( , 2015 [27,40], Hülsheger et al (2010) [41], Lyndon et al (2021) [42], Yilmaz et al (2015) [43], and Yin et al (2013) [44], (b) the strategies employed by teachers to manage emotional labor, as investigated by Yin (2012) [30] and Beltman and Poulton (2019) [45], (c) the factors that influence teachers' emotional labor, as studied by Basim et al (2013) [46] and Thies and Kordts-Freudinger (2019) [47], and (d) the measurement of teachers' emotional labor strategies, as examined by Yin (2012) [30] and Ma et al (2023) [11]. In order to participate in emotional labor effectively, teachers use many ways to manage and regulate their emotions.…”

“…It was initially composed of 20 items but was later revised to include 18 items. In accordance with Ma et al (2023) [11], item statements within a questionnaire are achieved through diverse methodologies encompassing the integration of qualitative data as well as existing scales. The process of item derivation for the present questionnaire followed a sequential procedure, whereby qualitative data collection served as the initial phase, as previously detailed in the scholarly contribution by Aydın (2016) [52].…”

“…A literature review was conducted to establish a theoretical basis, including the concepts and features of teachers' emotional labor [25,26,40], as well as the analysis of teachers' emotional labor in online contexts [9,14]. Then we referred to the detailed information in the teacher emotional labor strategy scale [30], teachers' emotional labor strategy in classrooms [11], and student teachers' emotional labor strategy [53]. Items that fit the online setting were collected from these existing scales [11,30,53,54].…”

“…Emotional labor has an immediate and significant effect on the quality of instruction performed by instructors [8,9]. Teachers' emotional investment in their classrooms Sustainability 2023, 15, 13893 2 of 19 has a significant impact on their motivation, concentration, and overall instructional outcomes [8,10,11]. The ability of a teacher to control their emotions is essential for fostering a positive and engaging online learning environment [1], which increases student engagement and retention rates.…”

Authenticity: Effective emotional labor strategies on teaching efficacy of university teachers in China

“…Despite the growing recognition of teachers' emotional labor in recent years, research focusing on teaching-related emotional labor still needs to be completed. Previous studies have predominantly focused on analyzing the dimensions and magnitude of emotional labor [8,9], as well as antecedent variables such as work pressure [10], and outcome variables such as burnout [11,12], job satisfaction [13,14], and well-being [15]. However, these studies have mainly focused on individual teachers, leaving little knowledge about the relationship between teachers' emotional labor and teaching efficacy, a key performance indicator.…”