An Emotional Geography Model of EFL Teachers’ Transitional Emotions from Real to Online Classes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language Teaching, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

2 M.A. in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language Teaching, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

10.22077/ali.2025.8787.1079

Abstract

Emotions are important in the educational processes, influencing teachers' interactions while trying to teach in real and online classes. Therefore, this study investigated the transitional emotions experienced by English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers as they shifted from real/in-person classroom settings to online teaching, using an emotional geography model. Moreover, we aimed to explore the emotion regulation strategies that they used during their transitioning. Following a descriptive narrative design, we probed the transitional emotions of 10 Iranian EFL teachers while transitioning from real to online classrooms. The findings of the thematic analysis showed five key themes. First, physical geography may enhance cognitive change, resulting in positive emotions. Second, issues with the internet negatively impact classroom quality, leading to negative emotions. Third, situational modifications may help teachers adapt and meet their instructional needs amidst online challenges. Fourth, attentional deployment may serve as a strategy for improving professional geography. Lastly, situation selection and response modulation may aid in the development of moral and socio-cultural geography. These themes illustrate the interconnection between emotion regulation strategies and geographical models of emotions, highlighting their importance in transitioning from real to online teaching. Therefore, we concluded that emotion regulation strategies were helpful in solving the challenges that EFL teachers faced concerning their transitional emotions.

Keywords


Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C., Irvine, C. K. S., & Walker, D. (2018). Introduction to research in education. Cengage Learning.
Beck, J. S. (2020). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond. Guilford Publications.
Benesch, C. (2012). An empirical analysis of the gender gap in news consumption. Journal of Media Economics, 25(3), 147-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/08997764.2012.700976
Benesch, S. (2018). Emotions as agency: Feeling rules, emotion labor, and English language teachers’ decision-making. System, 79,60-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.03.015
Bennett, P., Phelps, C., Brain, K., Hood, K., & Gray, J. (2007). A randomized controlled trial of a brief self-help coping intervention designed to reduce distress when awaiting genetic risk information. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 63(1), 59-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.01.016
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). Anxious nations. States.
Bhabha, H. K. (2012). The location of culture. Routledge.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Bruggeman, B., Garone, A., Struyven, K., Pynoo, B., & Tondeur, J. (2022). Exploring university teachers’ online education during COVID-19: Tensions between enthusiasm and stress. Computers and Education Open, 3, 100095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2022.100095
Clandinin, D. J. (2006). Narrative inquiry: A methodology for studying lived experience. Research Studies in Music Education, 27(1), 44-54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X060270010301
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 Education27(1), 235-242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.006
Crewe, B., Warr, J., Bennett, P., & Smith, A. (2014). The emotional geography of prison life. Theoretical Criminology, 18(1), 56-74. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480613497778
Denzin, N. K. (1984). On understanding emotion. Transaction Publishers.
Derakhshan, A., Wang, Y., & Ghiasvand, F. (2024). “I never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion”: Unveiling EFL teachers’ perspectives about emotions in assessment. Applied Linguistics Review15(6), 2659-2684. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2023-0089
Edmonds, W. A., & Kennedy, T. D. (2017). An applied guide to research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Sage Publications.
Farouk, S. (2012). What can the self-conscious emotion of guilt tell us about primary school teachers’ moral purpose and the relationships they have with their pupils?. Teachers and Teaching, 18(4), 491-507. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2012.696049
Frenzel, A. C., Daniels, L., & Burić, I. (2021). Teacher emotions in the classroom and their implications for students. Educational Psychologist56(4), 250-264. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2021.1985501
Gong, S., Chai, X., Duan, T., Zhong, L., & Jiao, Y. (2013). Chinese teachers’ emotion regulation goals and strategies. Psychology, 4(11), 870. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/psych.2013.411125
Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotional regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 95.
Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271-299. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.271
Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781
Gross, J. J., & Levenson, R. W. (1997). Hiding feelings: the acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106(1), 95-103. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.106.1.95
Haj Seyed Javadi, Y. S., & Meihami, H. (2024). An ecological perspective into the role of case-based instruction in developing EFL student-teachers’ agency. English Teaching: Practice & Critique23(4), 405-427. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-04-2024-0059
Hargreaves, A. (2000). Mixed emotions: Teachers’ perceptions of their interactions with students. Teaching and Teacher Education16(8), 811-826. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00028-7
Hargreaves, A. (2001). The emotional geographies of teachers’ relations with colleagues. International Journal of Educational Research, 35(5), 503-527. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-0355(02)00006-X
Hargreaves, A. (2005). Educational change takes ages: Life, career and generational factors in teachers’ emotional responses to educational change. Teaching and Teacher Education21(8), 967-983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2005.06.007
Kaplan-Rakowski, Y., R., Yang, J., Conan, J., Kinard, W., & Daughrity, L. (2021). Examining K-12 teachers’ feelings, experiences, and perspectives regarding online teaching during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational Technology Research and Development, 69, 2589-2613. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-021-10008-5
Kober, H., & Bolling, D. (2014). Emotion regulation in substance use disorders. In J. Gross (Ed), Handbook of Emotion Regulation (pp. 428-46). Guilford Publications.
Lee, J. C. K., & Yin, H. B. (2011). Teachers’ emotions and professional identity in curriculum reform: A Chinese perspective. Journal of Educational Change12, 25-46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-010-9149-3
Makhwathana, R. M., Mudzielwana, N. P., Mulovhedzi, S. A., & Mudau, T. J. (2017). Effects of teachers’ emotions in teaching and learning in the foundation phase. Journal of Psychology, 8(1), 28-35.
Meihami, H. (2025). Situated learning in CALL teacher preparation programs: an ecological perspective to student-teachers’ agency. Computer Assisted Language Learning38(1-2), 235-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2023.2173614
Meihami, H., & Esmaili, S. (2024). TAFL and TEFL teachers’ emotional vulnerability and emotion regulation strategies in online classes. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcherhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-023-00804-3
Mendzheritskaya, J., & Hansen, M. (2019). The role of emotions in higher education teaching and learning processes. Studies in Higher Education, 44(10), 1709-1711. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1665306
Moje, E. B., Ciechanowski, K. M., Kramer, K., Ellis, L., Carrillo, R., & Collazo, T. (2004). Working toward third space in content area literacy: An examination of everyday funds of knowledge and discourse. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(1), 38-70. https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.39.1.4
Naylor, D., & Nyanjom, J. (2021). Educators’ emotions involved in the transition to online teaching in higher education. Higher Education Research & Development40(6), 1236-1250. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1811645
Ngo, T. C. T. (2021, January). EFL teachers’ emotion regulation in response to online-teaching at Van Lang University. In Proceedings of the AsiaCALL International Conference (Vol. 533, pp. 80-87). https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210226.010
Nias, J. (1996). Thinking about feeling: The emotions in teaching. Cambridge Journal of Education, 26(3), 293-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764960260301
Park, S., & Ryu, J. (2019). Exploring preservice teachers’ emotional experiences in an immersive virtual teaching simulation through facial expression recognition. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 35(6), 521-533. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2018.1469710
Paul, J., & Jefferson, F. (2019). A comparative analysis of student performance in an online vs. face-to-face environmental science course from 2009 to 2016. Frontiers in Computer Science, 1, 7-17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2019.00007
Pham, L. T. T., & Phan, A. N. Q. (2023). “Let’s accept it”: Vietnamese university language teachers’ emotion in online synchronous teaching in response to COVID-19. Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 40(1), 115-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/20590776.2021.2000321
Richards, J. C. (2022). Exploring emotions in language teaching. RELC Journal, 53(1), 225-239. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220927531
Richards, J. M., & Gross, J. J. (2000). Emotion regulation and memory: the cognitive costs of keeping one's cool. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(3), 410.
Rubin, J. C. (2020). Third spaces and tensions: Teacher experiences in an international professional development program. Teaching and Teacher Education, 95, 103141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103141
Schutz, P. A., & Lanehart, S. L. (2002). Emotions in education. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 67-68. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3702_1
Schutz, P. A., Hong, J. Y., Cross, D. I., & Osbon, J. N. (2006). Reflections on investigating emotions among educational contexts. Educational Psychology Review18(4), 343-360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9030-3
Smorti, A. (2011). Autobiographical memory and autobiographical narrative: What is the relationship? Narrative Inquiry21(2), 303-310. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.21.2.08smo
Sutton, R. E. (2004). Emotional regulation goals and strategies of teachers. Social Psychology of Education, 7(4), 379-398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-004-4229-y
Tafazoli, D., & Meihami, H. (2023). Narrative inquiry for CALL teacher preparation programs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: Language teachers’ technological needs and suggestions. Journal of Computers in Education10(1), 163-187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-022-00227-x
Tajabadi, H., & Meihami, H. (2024). “The more, the merrier; the more ideas, the better feeling”: Examining the role of creativity in regulating emotions among EFL teachers. Open Education Studies6(1), 20240007. https://doi.org/10.1515/edu-2024-0007
Thompson, R. A. (2008).  Early attachment and later development: Familiar questions, new answers.  In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment (2nd Ed.) (pp. 348-365). Guilford.
Webb, T. L., Miles, E., & Sheeran, P. (2012). Dealing with feeling: a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of strategies derived from the process model of emotion regulation. Psychological Bulletin, 138(4), 775.
Yang, X., & Du, J. (2024). The effect of teacher self-efficacy, online pedagogical and content knowledge, and emotion regulation on teacher digital burnout: a mediation model. BMC Psychology12(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01540-z
Zembylas, M. (2007). Emotional ecology: The intersection of emotional knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(4), 355-367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.12.002