Emotions and motivation to teach english at a brazilian public school

• Ano de defesa: 2016
• Autor(a) principal: Andrade, Nilce Carla
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Palavras-chave em Português: Professores de inglês; Inglês - Estudo e ensino; Escolas públicas; Emoções; Motivação (Educação); Lingüística, Letras e Artes
• Link de acesso: http://www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/9772

Since the last decade of the 20th century, scholars have shed light on what motivates teachers in different phases of their careers, in various teaching and learning contexts (DÖRNYEI and USHIODA, 2011; BUTLER, 2014; ALEXANDER, GROSSNICKLE and LIST, 2014; TSUTSUMI, 2014). Alexander, Grossnickle and List (2014) assert that inquiry on teacher motivation is a fertile ground to be deeply explored. Similarly, research on emotions in the educational context is valuable as they can help us better understand the nature, conditions and consequences of the teaching/learning process (HARGREAVES, 2000). However, research on the relationship of both concepts is still scant in Applied Linguistics. Based on studies on teacher motivation (DÖRNYEI e USHIODA, 2011; DÖRNYEI e KUBANYIOVA, 2014; RICHARDSON, KARABENICK, e WATT, 2014) and teacher emotions (ZEMBYLAS, 2002a, 2002b, 2003, 2005; HARGREAVES, 1998, 2000; SUTTON e WHEATLEY, 2003), this study aimed at investigating and understanding an English teacher’s emotions and motivation to teach at a Brazilian public school context, as well as the relationships between these concepts. In order to achieve these aims, the following research questions guided the study: (1) What motivates the teacher to teach English? (2) Which emotions emerge in her teaching? (3) Is there a relationship between her emotions and her motivation to teach English? If so, how does it happen? Two semi-structured questionnaires, a written narrative, a semi-structured interview, classroom observations, field notes, audio recordings, and the teacher’s journal were used as data collection instruments. Data were analyzed according to standards of qualitative research (HOLLIDAY, 2002, PATTON, 2002). Results have suggested that teacher’s main motivation to teach English are her students. Additionally, she experienced antagonistic emotions on a daily basis in the classroom - positive emotions such as empathy, joy and surprise, and negative emotions such as frustration, anger and sadness. These emotions are related to motivation in interactive, dynamic and also dissonant ways. Implications for teacher education were discussed, as well as for research on teacher motivation and emotions in language teaching.