The relationship between mathematics teacher emotions and classroom practice : a mixed methods study in senior secondary schools of China (Guangdong province)

Abstract

Although teacher emotions have increasingly attracted the attention of general educational researchers in the past two decades, mathematics teacher emotions are often ignored by research in mathematics education. The present study adopts a mixed-methods approach and a socio-psychological perspective to investigate senior secondary mathematics teachers’ emotions during teaching and the relationship between the emotions and classroom practice, in the context of mathematics curriculum reform in China. First, a 43-item questionnaire survey was conducted with 221 mathematics teachers in Guangdong province, to examine the statistical relationships between two approaches to teaching (direct instruction and inquiry-based instruction) and four types of emotions (enjoyment, satisfaction, anger, and anxiety). Confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling were used for data analysis. Next, a case study was employed to explore senior secondary school mathematics teachers’ emotions during teaching, the links between the emotions and classroom practice, and factors influencing the emotions. Data sources include classroom observation, classroom videotapes, video-stimulated semi-structured interviews, and relevant documents. The qualitative data were analyzed mainly using thematic analysis and content analysis. This study reveals that senior secondary school mathematics teachers experience various emotions during their teaching, with positive emotions arising more frequently than negative emotions. Three characteristics of mathematics teacher emotions during teaching are found. First, an emotional process encompasses three stages: perceptions, appraisals, and emotional responses. Particularly, teacher appraisals involve nine appraisal dimensions, with goal/need conduciveness, causal attribution, and discrepancy from expectations as core appraisal dimensions. Second, teacher emotions in an emotional teaching episode often follow a complex, hierarchical, continuous, and cumulative process. Finally, teacher emotions in multiple mathematics lessons change, from more negative at the beginning of a new semester, to more positive at the middle of the semester. This study also unfolds that mathematics teachers’ emotions are interactive with classroom practice. The survey uncovers that direct and inquiry-based instruction can predict mathematics teachers’ enjoyment, satisfaction, anger, and anxiety in different ways. Their satisfaction also significantly and positively predicts inquiry-based instruction. The case study reveals that teacher emotions during mathematics teaching are mainly triggered by the teacher’s instruction and teacher-student interactions, with the latter being the dominate factor. Both direct and inquiry-based instruction result in positive and negative emotions, with the latter eliciting positive emotions more frequently and negative emotions less frequently than the former. Teacher emotions also influence classroom practice in three ways: (1) stimulating reflections and attributions; (2) confirming or adjusting follow-up teaching; and (3) influencing teaching efficiency. In addition, six main personal factors (e.g., pedagogical content knowledge) and six main external factors (e.g., other teachers’ identities, Chinese culture) are identified to influence mathematics teacher emotions during teaching. The main significance of this study lies in enriching research on and methodologies of teacher emotions. This study substantiates and theorizes the dynamic process of mathematics teacher emotions and the teaching–emotion relationships. A Chinese teacher emotion scale, an analytical framework, and some coding schemes are proposed, providing useful tools for relevant future research. This study also provides some insights on mathematics teachers, teacher educators, and policy makers.