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

Abstract

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