Teacher Well-Being in English Language Teaching: An Ecological Approach

This edited volume brings the important topic of teacher well-being to the fore, presenting a range of high quality and cutting-edge contributions that illuminate, advance and educate readers on the challenges and criticality of achieving teacher well-being in English language teaching (ELT). Taking Sarah Mercer’s call for action to make teacher well-being a priority in the ELT field, and adopting an ecological perspective reflective of the stance that teacher well-being is a societal duty and not a personal responsibility, the contributors present theoretically and methodologically innovative research studies from all around the world. The term ‘teacher’ is used to refer to those who deliver English instruction in a variety of formal and informal educational settings and at different levels including K-12 schools, adult education, higher education, teacher education programs, and in community organizations. Chapters offer clear implications for research and practice, and explore effective practices and interventions that can contribute to the improvement of teacher well-being overall. Addressing a profession which is not only characterized as being filled with high levels of stress, but delving into specific challenges around ELT in particular, the authors crucially speak to themes around the additional emotional investment and labor which come with being an English language teacher. As such, it will appeal to academics and researchers in the field of English language teaching, including scholar-practitioners, and teacher educators.

Luis Javier Pentón Herrera currently serves as Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland, in the Department of Modern Languages and The Institute of Applied Linguistics. His current research focuses on social-emotional learning (SEL), emotions, and well-being in language and literacy education, Indigenous students from Latin America, immigrant and refugee education, and autoethnography and storytelling.

Gilda Martínez-Alba is the Assistant Dean at the College of Education at Towson University, Maryland, USA. Her research interests include English language teacher wellness, asset-based literacy instruction for multilingual learners, and social-emotional learning.

Ethan Trinh is a Vietnamese immigrant, activist, feminist, writer, queer researcher, and teacher educator pursuing their doctorate at the Middle and Secondary Education Department, Georgia State University, USA. Their research interests are autoethnography, storytelling, queer studies, and new materialism in English language teaching.