The role of resilience and perseverance of effort among Chinese EFL teachers’ work engagement

Jingfeng Qu; Mingzhe Wang; Yihang Xin

doi:10.30827/portalin.vi43.28309

Authors

Jingfeng Qu School of Foreign Languages, Henan University, China https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9198-3154
Mingzhe Wang Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland (Corresponding author) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6052-8454
Yihang Xin Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Lancaster University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5672-4452

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi43.28309

Keywords:

EFL teachers, Perseverance of effort, Resilience, Work engagement

Abstract

Teachers’ work engagement is associated with constructive results concerning work-associated well-being. Regarding the substantial power of teachers’ work engagement in academic domains, consideration has been paid to scrutinizing the predictors of this concept. Therefore, this paper makes an effort to examine the predictors of work engagement among English as foreign language (EFL) teachers by checking a model that takes into account their perseverance of effort, and resilience. To this end, 537 Chinese EFL teachers from diverse colleges participated in the study. A significant and direct association between work engagement and resilience along with perseverance was identified, with resilience serving as the best predictor for teachers' work engagement. Indeed, the values indicate that about 76 percent of changes in their work engagement can be predicted by their resilience; about 66 percent of changes in their work engagement can be predicted by their perseverance. Results from the study evince recommendations for the development of Positive Psychology and related issues in research and practice to help teachers and learners improve their work engagement by focusing on their resilience and perseverance of effort.

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Author Biographies

Jingfeng Qu, School of Foreign Languages, Henan University, China

Dr. Jingfeng Qu works as an associate professor in English Language and Literature at the School of Foreign Languages, Henan University, China. She obtained her MA degree in 2009 and Ph. D degree in 2014 in English Language and Literature from School of Foreign Languages at Henan University. She paid an academic visit to English Faculty in Cambridge University from 2018 to 2019. Her academic interests include EFL teaching and learning, EFL teachers’ professional development, as well as English literature and translation.

Mingzhe Wang, Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland (Corresponding author)

Mr. Mingzhe Wang currently studies at the University of Auckland as a full-time Ph.D. student. He obtained his MSc in Social and Organisational Psychology at the University of Exeter, UK. His current research interest focuses primarily on the possible interaction between metacognition, positive psychology, and English learners’ language learning achievements. Moreover, he also focuses on the research area of English teachers’ professional development. He is invited as a peer reviewer for Frontiers in Psychology (SSCI Q1), Sage Open, PLOS One, and International Journal of Mental Health Promotion.

Yihang Xin, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Lancaster University

Mr. Yihang Xin currently studies at Lancaster University as a full-time Master student. He received two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Wenzheng College of Soochow University and Northern Arizona University. His current research interests are in applied linguistics and the teaching of English as a foreign language.

References

FUNDING INFORMATION

The study reported in this paper represents a contribution to the research project (Grant No.: YJS2024AL0850), funded by the Postgraduate Education Reform and Quality Improvement Project of Henan Province, the Education Department Henan Province, China.

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