EFL LECTURER’S NEGATIVE EMOTION REGULATION IN THE CLASSROOMS: A CASE STUDY AT A UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM

Abstract

EFL university teachers' emotions are directly influenced by students’ behaviours in the classroom. Thus,  practicing emotion regulation is considered to support teachers to achieve their professional objectives and effective teaching. In this case study, the negative emotions associated with classroom teaching experienced by an EFL university lecturer due to students’ behaviors were video recorded. Espisodes in which the lecturer expressed anger, irritation, disspointment and negative emotions were analyzed, followed by the recalled reflections by the EFL lecturer via stimulated recall interview and journal writing. The findings indicate the EFL lecturer's negative emotions came from student-related factors such as lack of discipline or engagement in the lessons. For emotion regulation, it was found that the lecturer applied cognitive awareness in applying the attention direction strategy and the appraisal strategy to address the negative emotions while teaching. From the findings, implications are put forward for EFL lecturers to regulate their negative emotions for better English language teaching.