The Impact of Emotions on the Well-Being of the English Preparatory Program Instructors

• Main Authors: Buse ARAL, Enisa MEDE
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bülent Ecevit University 2018-12-01
• Series: Yükseköğretim ve Bilim Dergisi
• Subjects: Emotions; Emotional well-being; English language preparatory program; EFL instructors
• Online Access: http://higheredu-sci.beun.edu.tr/pdf.php3?id=1854
• ISSN: 2146-5959; 2146-5967

The purpose of this research study is to find out the impact of emotions on the well-being of the English Language Preparatory Program instructors working in private (non-profit, foundation) universities in İstanbul, Turkey. Specifically, this mixed method study aims to investigate the emotional well-being (positive and negative emotions) of the instructors, to explore to what extent year of experience affects their emotions, and lastly, to find out the reflections of the participating instructors leading to change in their emotions. The quantitative data were obtained through a Teacher Emotion Inventory (TEI) Scale (Chen, 2016) administered to 66 EFL instructors from five different English Language Preparatory Programs (ELPPs) in İstanbul while the qualitative data including instructors’ opinions about their feelings were gathered from teachers’ reflections written by 28 participating instructors. The findings of the study showed that participants mostly experience positive emotions. Moreover, it was also found that the years of experience had a positive impact only on the participants’ emotions of joy. However, there were also other remarkable factors affecting instructors’ emotions and emotional well-being regarding their students, personal life and institutions. Based on the findings, recommendations to foster positive emotions in preparatory programs were provided in the study.