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

Renzhong Peng, Qiqin Hu and Bochra Kouider ()
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Renzhong Peng: School of Foreign Languages, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Qiqin Hu: School of Foreign Languages, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Bochra Kouider: Department of English, Abou Bekr Belkaid University, Tlemcen 13000, Algeria

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 18, 1-19

Abstract: The recent growth and sustainability in online education have led to a greater demand for language teachers to accept online teaching and a heightened focus on language teachers’ emotions in an online setting. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study attempted to investigate the relationship between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ acceptance of online teaching and their emotional labor in online teaching. A questionnaire was distributed to 338 EFL teachers working at 19 middle schools and 24 high schools in China, and 10 teachers were interviewed. Following a series of analyses of the data, a structural relationship model integrating acceptance of online teaching and online teaching emotional labor strategies was developed and tested. The results indicate that EFL teachers’ acceptance of online teaching significantly predicts three emotional labor strategies in online teaching. Specifically, EFL teachers’ acceptance of online teaching positively influences deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotions, while negatively affecting surface acting. The obtained results address important theoretical, methodological, and practical gaps by examining the interplay between acceptance of online teaching and emotional labor in the context of online language education, a dimension that previous studies have largely overlooked.

Keywords: EFL teachers; teachers’ acceptance of online teaching; emotional labor; online teaching environments; structural equation modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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