Exploring the Interplay Between Teachers’ Daily Emotional Labor and Daily Perceived Student Engagement through Network Analysis

• In Event: New Opportunities in Motivation and Emotion Research Through Advanced Statistics

Abstract

Perspectives: Teachers’ emotional labor, the effort to manage emotions in the classroom, is a crucial aspect of their professional lives. Navigating the emotional complexity of classrooms requires teachers to genuinely express positive emotions like happiness and enthusiasm, while also strategically faking desired emotions and hiding undesired ones based on situational demands. Understanding the intricacies of teachers’ emotional labor and its connection to student engagement requires a comprehensive examination of their daily emotional fluctuations and perceptions of student behaviors.

Objectives: By exploring both the temporal (sequential) and contemporaneous (simultaneous) networks of teachers’ daily emotional labor (genuinely expressing and faking happiness and enthusiasm) and their daily perceptions of student engagement (effort, frustration, and boredom), the research seeks to uncover underlying patterns regarding: (1) How teachers’ emotional labor and perceived student engagement on one day affect each other on subsequent days. (2) The immediate/simultaneous relationships between teachers’ emotional labor and perceived student engagement on any given assessment day (after accounting for temporal effects).

Method: The study involved 446 Canadian teachers who participated in a 10-day data collection focusing on their emotional labor strategies and perceptions of student engagement. To ensure robust analysis, only teachers who participated for at least six days were included. Data analysis used the mlVAR package in R to estimate both temporal and contemporaneous networks of teachers’ daily emotional labor and their daily observations of student engagement.

Results: Findings from the temporal network indicated that faking happiness on a day increased the likelihood of teachers faking enthusiasm the following day. A cyclical relationship was then observed: (1) faking enthusiasm on a day increased student effort on the next day, which further led to decreased boredom and frustration; (2) improved student effort on a day reinforced teachers’ genuine expression of happiness the next day; (3) genuine expression of happiness on a day led to genuine expression of enthusiasm the next day; (4) genuine expression of enthusiasm on a day then even further reinforces faking enthusiasm the next day (Table 1, Figure 1).
In the contemporaneous network, strong positive links were found between genuine and faked enthusiasm with happiness. Additionally, a strong negative connection was observed between student boredom and effort. Teachers’ genuine expression of happiness was positively linked to perceived student effort and negatively associated with student boredom. The results showed moderate variability in relationships between faked and genuine emotions and teachers’ perceptions of student engagement, highlighting individual emotional experiences and student engagement differences (Table 2, Figure 2).

Scientific Significance: This study provides insights into the complex interplay between teachers’ daily emotional labor and daily perceived student engagement, shedding light on both the sequential and reciprocal relationships between these constructs: teachers’ emotional labor might influence their perceived student engagement, which, in turn, impacts their adoption of subsequent emotional labor strategies. Integrating network analysis as a methodological approach further enhances our understanding of the interconnectedness and interactions between teachers’ emotional labor, perceived student engagement, and the strategies teachers employ in the classroom, offering valuable insights for targeted support and intervention strategies.

Authors

• Hui Wang, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Shan Li, Lehigh University