Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching This edited volume brings the important topic of teacher well-being to the fore, presenting a range of high quality and cutting-edge contributions that illuminate, advance and educate readers on the challenges and criticality of achieving teacher well-being in English language teaching (ELT). Taking Sarah Mercer’s call for action to make teacher well-being a priority in the ELT field, and adopting an ecological perspective reflective of the stance that teacher well-being is a societal duty and not a personal responsibility, the contributors present theoretically and methodologically innovative research studies from all around the world. The term ‘teacher’ is used to refer to those who deliver English instruction in a variety of formal and informal educational settings and at different levels, including K–12 schools, adult education, higher education, teacher education programs, and in community organizations. Chapters offer clear implications for research and prac- tice, and explore effective practices and interventions that can contribute to the improvement of teacher well-being overall.
Addressing a profession that is not only characterized as being filled with high levels of stress but also delving into specific challenges around ELT in particular, the authors crucially speak to themes around the additional emotional investment and labor that come with being an English language teacher. As such, it will appeal to academics and researchers in the field of ELT, including scholar practitioners and teacher educators. Luis Javier Pentón Herrera currently serves as Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland, in the Department of Modern Languages and the Institute of Applied Linguistics. His current research focuses on social-emotional learning (SEL), identity, emotions, and well-being in language and literacy educa- tion, Indigenous students from Latin America, immigrant and refugee education, and autoethnography and storytelling.
Gilda Martínez-Alba is the Assistant Dean at the College of Education at Towson University, Maryland, USA. Her research interests include ELT wellness, asset- based literacy instruction for multilingual learners, and SEL. Ethan Trinh is a Vietnamese immigrant, activist, feminist, writer, queer researcher, and teacher educator pursuing their doctorate at the Middle and Secondary Education Department, Georgia State University, USA. Their research interests are autoethnography, storytelling, queer studies, and new materialism in ELT.
Routledge Research in Language Education The Routledge Research in Language Education series provides a platform for established and emerging scholars to present their latest research and discuss key issues in Language Education. This series welcomes books on all areas of language teaching and learning, including but not limited to language education policy and politics, multilingualism, literacy, L1, L2 or foreign language acquisition, curriculum, classroom practice, pedagogy, teaching materials, and language teacher education and development. Books in the series are not limited to the discussion of the teaching and learning of English only. Books in the series include: Complexity in Second Language Study Emotions Emergent Sense-making in Social Context Richard J.
Sampson Performed Culture in Action to Teach Chinese as a Foreign Language Integrating PCA into Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment Edited by Jianfen Wang and Junqing (Jessie) Jia Virtual Exchange for Intercultural Language Learning and Teaching Fostering Communication for the Digital Age Martine Derivry and Anthippi Potolia Technology in Second Language Writing Advances in Composing, Translation, Writing Pedagogy and Data-Driven Learning Edited by Jingjing Qin and Paul Stapleton Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching An Ecological Approach Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Gilda Martínez-Alba, and Ethan Trinh For more information about the series, please visit www.com/ Routledge-Research-in-Language-Education/book-series/RRLE Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching An Ecological Approach Edited by Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Gilda Martínez-Alba, and Ethan Trinh First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Gilda Martínez-Alba, and Ethan Trinh; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Gilda Martínez-Alba, and Ethan Trinh to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechani- cal, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Pentón Herrera, Luis Javier, editor. | Martinez-Alba, Gilda, editor. | Tính Trịnh, Ethan, editor. Title: Teacher well-being in English language teaching : an ecological approach / edited by Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Gilda Martínez- Alba, and Ethan Trinh.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Routledge research in language education | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022024035 (print) | LCCN 2022024036 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032324197 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032324203 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003314936 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: English teachers--Job stress. | English teachers--Job satisfaction.
| English language--Study and teaching--Psychological aspects. | English language--Study and teaching--Foreign speakers. Classification: LCC PE1128.0071--dc23/eng/20220721 LC record available at https://lccn.gov/2022024035 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.gov/2022024036 ISBN: 978-1-032-32419-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-32420-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-31493-6 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003314936 Typeset in Galliard by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive) Frontispiece image © Gilda Martínez-Alba Contents List of Contributors xi Introduction: Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching: An Ecological Introduction 1 LUIS JAVIER PENTÓN HERRERA, GILDA MARTÍNEZ-ALBA, AND ETHAN TRINH PART I Positioning Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching 11 1 Psychological Perspectives on Teachers’ Well-Being: Principles and Possibilities 13 ANTONIO AGUILAR-DIAZ 2 Situating Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching 29 GILDA MARTÍNEZ-ALBA, LUIS JAVIER PENTÓN HERRERA, AND ETHAN TRINH PART II Teacher Well-Being at the Microsystem 43 3 A Poetic Autoethnography of When Poetry Became My Synergistic Approach for Pedagogy and Andragogy 45 SAURABH ANAND viii Contents 4 ESL Teacher Well-Being in Sri Lanka: An Autoethnography 65 LAKMINI GRANT SIRIWARDANA 5 Radical (Collective) Self-Care: Reflections for the Activist TESOL Educator 81 ELISABETH L. CHAN PART III Teacher Well-Being at the Mesosystem 97 6 English Language Teacher Well-Being and Professional Identity Construction: A Self- Determination Theory Perspective 99 MOSTAFA NAZARI AND ISMAIL XODABANDE 7 Appreciative Inquiry as a Pathway to Language Teacher Well-Being 113 TAMMY GREGERSEN, SARAH MERCER, AND FAREEN ANGEL MERCHANT 8 Vicarious Trauma and the Unregulated Education of Preservice Adult Language Instructors 129 KATIE CROSSMAN 9 English Teacher Well-Being in the Face of the Pandemic: An Investigation in the Southeast of Nigeria 147 UGOCHI MBAGWU 10 Embedding Well-Being into Language Teacher Education and Professional Development: Starting the Conversation 159 AMEA WILBUR AND TASLIM DAMJI 11 Building Young Teacher Well-Being in Universities: A Case Study of the Teachers’ Development Center at SISU 175 YUSHAN ZHU Contents ix PART IV Teacher Well-Being at the Macrosystem 187 12 Language Teacher Candidates’ Emotion Labor: Transcending Circulating Language Ideologies 189 HAZEL VEGA AND CHRISTIAN FALLAS-ESCOBAR 13 What University-Level Institutions Are Doing to Promote Teacher Self-Care and Well-Being: Reflections from the Gulf 207 CHRISTINE COOMBE AND DOAA HAMAM 14 English Language Teaching Associations on Teacher Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond 223 GEORGIOS KORMPAS 15 Palestinian English Teachers’ Challenges for Well-Being and Excellence 235 ANWAR HUSSEIN-ABDEL RAZEQ PART V Final Thoughts and Ecological Pathway Forward 253 16 Concluding Thoughts on Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching: An Ecological Pathway Forward 255 ETHAN TRINH, GILDA MARTÍNEZ-ALBA, AND LUIS JAVIER PENTÓN HERRERA Index 264 Contributors Antonio Aguilar-Diaz is a member of the Bilingual Interest Group Leadership Team at the National Association of School Psychologists.
Saurabh Anand is a Rhetoric and Composition doctoral student at the University of Georgia and recipient of the 30 Under 30 honor by the International Literacy Association. Chan serves as Associate Professor of English as a Second Language (ESL) at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Virginia. Christine Coombe is an Associate Professor at Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s College. She served as President of the TESOL International Association from 2011 to 2012.
Katie Crossman is an instructor with an academic research focus in the School of Global Access at Bow Valley College in Calgary, Canada. Taslim Damji is an Instructor at Vancouver Community College and the University of the Fraser Valley. Christian Fallas-Escobar is Associate Faculty of Applied Linguistics at Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. He is currently completing a doc- toral program in Culture, Literacy, and Language at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Tammy Gregersen is Professor of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the English Department at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Doaa Hamam is a Lecturer at Higher Colleges of Technology. Her main research interests are academic writing, teaching with technology, and teacher education. Georgios Kormpas is the Director of Teaching and the Center for Executive Education at Al Yamamah University in Saudi Arabia.
Georgios is a doctoral researcher at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom researching communities of practice. xii Contributors Gilda Martínez-Alba is the Assistant Dean in the College of Education at Towson University in Towson, Maryland, USA. Ugochi Mbagwu serves as a Senior Lecturer in the department of English Language and Literature at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching Methodology at the University of Graz, Austria.
Fareen Angel Merchant is an early years educator at a K–12 school in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and serves as a research assistant at the American University of Sharjah. Mostafa Nazari is a PhD candidate of Applied Linguistics at Kharazmi University, and his scholarship has appeared in various journals, includ- ing the Journal of Teacher Education and RELC Journal. Luis Javier Pentón Herrera serves as Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw in the Department of Modern Languages and the Institute of Applied Linguistics, and as Coordinator of the Graduate TESOL Certificate at George Washington University. Anwar Hussein-Abdel Razeq serves as an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistic and Educational Leadership at Birzeit University and Director of the M.
program in Education. Lakmini Grant Siriwardana is a doctoral student in Second Languages Studies and an ESL instructor at the University of Cincinnati. Ethan Trinh is a critical teacher educator and a queer researcher at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. Hazel Vega is a PhD candidate in the Learning Sciences at Clemson University and faculty at the Universidad de Costa Rica.
Amea Wilbur is an Assistant Professor and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) Coordinator at the University of the Fraser Valley, Canada. Ismail Xodabande is a PhD candidate of Applied Linguistics at Kharazmi University, and his scholarship has appeared in various journals, includ- ing Computer Assisted Language Learning and Open Learning. Yushan Zhu serves as Assistant Professor at Sichuan International Studies University and as the Co-Director of Confucius Institute of Lomé University. Introduction: Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching An Ecological Introduction Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, Gilda Martínez- Alba, and Ethan Trinh Introduction Recent events such as pandemics, natural disasters, religious persecutions, forced migrations, war, and social and political unrest have affected chil- dren, youth, and adults all around the world.
These national and global events have intensified the prolonged stressors and challenges of teachers, leading to increased teacher burnout, high teacher attrition, and teacher shortages. Teacher stress and burnout have been present in the literature for nearly four decades, with recent publications pointing to the serious consequences these have for the health and performance of educators (Ansley et al., 2021; Iancu et al., 2018; Lashuel, 2020; Mercer, 2020; Pentón Herrera et al. More recently, uncertainty, demands, and rapid changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed many educators to the brink, compromising their mental, social, and emotional well-being.