System 95 (2020) 102375

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System
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/system

Attending to learners’ affective needs: Teachers’ knowledge

and practices
Pariwat Thararuedee a, Rosemary Wette b, *
a
Department of Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai Songkhla 90110, Thailand
b
Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching, School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019,
Auckland 1142, New Zealand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: While the importance of both teacher knowledge and affect in successful second language
Received 15 April 2020 (L2) learning is recognized, relatively little research has explored how teachers draw on
Received in revised form 21 September their professional knowledge to implement classroom instruction that focuses on learners’
2020
affective needs, particularly with regard to the teaching in English in foreign language
Accepted 22 September 2020
Available online 25 September 2020
(EFL) contexts. This study therefore examined why and how four tertiary-level English
teachers in Thailand attended to and addressed affective issues in their classrooms. Data
collected through observations (OB) and stimulated recall (SR) interviews revealed that
Keywords:
Teachers’ professional knowledge
teachers took responsibility for meeting learners’ affective needs, guided by the principles
Teaching practices of promoting English language learning, fostering supportive classroom relations, and
Affect cultivating moral values, all of which were found to underpin a variety of classroom
Motivation practices. It is hoped that gains in our appreciation of the affective dimension of language
Humanistic approaches teaching from this study will contribute to a more complete understanding of second
language teaching, and add to existing knowledge on this important topic.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Although teacher characteristics and instructional methods have long been considered important in L2 instruction, it is
only in the past few decades that recognition has been given to the primary importance of teachers’ professional knowledge
(Connelly et al., 1997). These understandings are not simply theoretical knowledge applied to practical situations, but a broad
type of cognition that draws on training, subject knowledge, principles and experience, and is influenced by interactions with
students, colleagues, professional development input and experience (Borg, 2015; Gatbonton, 2008).
One component of teachers’ professional knowledge is concerned with student affect, defined as “aspects of emotion,
feeling, mood or attitude which can condition behaviour” (Arnold & Brown, 1999 p. 1). Affect is crucial to the language
learning process, since learners are sentient individuals who feel a range of emotions in response to learning and teaching.
Affect can lead students to engage in, avoid, or abandon learning opportunities. Its importance is heightened by the fact that
certain aspects of language learning are inherently threatening and anxiety-creating for all learners; for example, the risk of
making mistakes, and the inability to express oneself accurately and with authority (Ellis, 2012), and these can negatively
affect language learning motivation and outcomes. Teachers’ ability to induce learners’ productive affective responses is

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: pariwat.t@email.psu.ac.th (P. Thararuedee), r.wette@auckland.ac.nz, r.wette@auckland.ac.nz (R. Wette).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102375
0346-251X/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
P. Thararuedee, R. Wette System 95 (2020) 102375

therefore an indispensable teaching skill. However, despite its importance, the affective dimension of (language) teaching has
received less attention in research and scholarship than the cognitive dimension (Meyer & Turner, 2007; Pavlenko, 2013;
Rosiek, 2003; Swain, 2013). White (2018) and others have called for additional research into how second language teachers
scaffold positive emotions and deter potentially uncomfortable emotions, in order to create positive classroom experiences
for learners. In order to contribute to understanding of this topic, the current study explored the professional knowledge of
four teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) as to why and how they attended to the affective needs of young adult
learners in a tertiary context in Thailand.

2. Literature review

This section reviews scholarly advice offered to language teachers about how to meet learners’ affective needs, and
literature on teachers’ understanding of the affective dimension of (second language) learning.

2.1. Scholarly advice to teachers

Classroom teachers are typically provided with advice and information through scholarly texts, which are used in both
pre- and in-service training. In these texts, it is accepted that learners’ initial affect has the capacity to change, and is open to
teachers’ influences (Dornyei, 2001; Ellis, 2012; Lamb, 2017; MacIntyre et al., 2016; Williams & Burden, 1997). Language
teachers are advised to nurture learners’ positive affect in the belief that it facilitates language learning, while discouraging
negative affect that may be at odds with language learning (e.g. Arnold, 2019; Arnold & Brown, 1999; Dewaele, 2012;
Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Pavlenko, 2013). However, negative affect is not necessarily unproductive, and the difference
between facilitative and debilitative anxiety has been noted (Brown, 2007; Ellis, 2012; Swain, 2013). Teachers are recom-
mended to make use of the former, since a certain amount of anxiety may be beneficial, with risk-taking learners more likely
to seek challenges (Brown, 2007). Moreover, the relationship between affect and cognition is closely connected and reciprocal
(Arnold, 2019; Brown, 2007; Swain, 2013). While the question of whether negative affect causes poor language performance
or vice versa remains unanswered, teachers are advised to take both into account, and anxiety should be thought of as both a
cause and a consequence of difficulties with communication in the L2 (Brown, 2007; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014).
Affect has been shown to be shaped by social contexts, and teachers are advised to be sensitive to learners’ cultural beliefs
and individual variations, since different cultures may have different beliefs about; for example, respect, deference to the
teacher, and politeness (Arnold & Brown, 1999; Brown, 2007; Richards, 2015; Tudor, 2001). Another recommendation is that
teachers should develop caring, empathetic teacher-student and peer relations so that learners are more willing to take risks
and become less anxious (Brown, 2007; Do €rnyei, 2001; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Lamb, 2017; Wright, 2005).
Regarding language teaching methodology and practices, the significance of affect and relational dimension has long been
advocated in humanistic approaches to language teaching; however, their advocacy of fostering of moral values and the
growth of human potential is not universally accepted by scholars and language teachers. Wright (2005) describes this moral
objective as a “strong” version of affect in educational practice, as opposed to a “weak” version that aims to create optimal
emotional conditions for effective learning and teaching. Arnold (2019) and Ellis (2012) add that students’ active participation
in communication can be strongly influenced by their affective states and the affective environment in which the commu-
nication occurs. This link between learners’ emotions and their receptivity to instruction suggests that learners with certain
characteristics such as high confidence and willingness to communicate may benefit more from communicative approaches
(CLT) than those who remain reticent.

2.2. Affective considerations in teachers’ professional knowledge and practices

A number of studies have found that language teachers attempted to foster a positive emotional climate to engage and
encourage learners. Based on his extensive knowledge and research experience, Richards (1996) identified the maxim of
involvement which may prompt a teacher to depart from the teaching plan to maintain learners’ interest and the maxim of
encouragement, which prioritizes a relaxed classroom atmosphere through informal teacher-student relations and cooper-
ative peer interactions. As a result of her research in language classrooms, Senior (2006) claimed that teachers regarded a
supportive classroom environment and group cohesion as key factors determining the quality of a language class. A study of
seven teachers of adults learning English as a second language (Wette, 2010) found that teachers noticed when affective
concerns arose during lessons, and made on-the-spot changes in their plans to maintain a positive class atmosphere, as well
as the flow of instruction. Throughout their courses, teachers sought feedback from students about their affective needs in
order to foster positive attitudes and teacher-student relations. These studies provide evidence that language teachers
actually pay close attention to teacher-class relations and learners’ emotions as well as their cognitive needs. A small number
of survey studies have gathered information from language teachers in the EFL contexts of Hungary, Taiwan, and South Korea
to ascertain their views on the relative importance of different motivational strategies (Cheng & Do € rnyei, 2007; Do
€ rnyei &
Csizer, 1998; Guilloteaux & Do€rnyei, 2008). Interestingly, appropriate behaviour by the teacher towards students (in other
words, the relational dimension) was highly regarded by all teachers, together with the need to present tasks in a motivating
way and to foster learners’ self-confidence.

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P. Thararuedee, R. Wette System 95 (2020) 102375

Table 1
Participant profile.

Participant Sex Age Nationality Languages Degree Experience

Chomkwan F Early 30s Thai Thai (L1) MA 7 yrs
English
Reza M Late 20s Thai Malay (L1) MA 2 yrs
Thai
English
Dara M Late 30s Cambodian Cambodia (L1) MA 14 yrs
English
Ramgopal M Late 30s Indian Aphung (L1) MA 16 yrs
Tangkhul Muripuri
Hindi
English

One view of affect and its role in teaching and learning held by several researchers (e.g. Meyer & Turner, 2007; Rosiek,
2003) is that teachers’ knowledge about and attendance to the affective dimension should be regarded a distinct type of
professional knowledge called “emotional scaffolding”, which Rosiek (2003) defines as “teachers’ pedagogical use of anal-
ogies, metaphors and narratives to influence students’ emotional responses to specific aspects of subject matter in a way that
promote learning” (p.402). From interviews with more than forty teachers from different subject areas, Rosiek found that
teachers took learners’ emotional needs into account when teaching content subjects and provided instruction in ways that
enlivened content emotionally for learners. Meyer and Turner (2007) defined emotional scaffolding more broadly as “tem-
porary but reliable teacher-initiated interactions that support students’ positive emotional experiences to achieve a variety of
classroom goals” (p.244). Their research showed that teachers supported learners’ emotions by establishing positive class-
room relations and emphasizing learning goals that enhanced academic achievement and autonomy. From these studies, we
have learned that teachers scaffold learners’ emotions and use them to support cognitive learning goals and that cognitive
and affective dimensions of teaching and learning are therefore intertwined.

2.3. The current study

To the best of our knowledge, very few if any of the studies to date that have explored teachers’ practices related to the
affective dimension have taken place in non-western contexts such as Thailand, where cultural beliefs and customs are likely
to be different from those that characterize language classrooms in English-speaking and other western contexts. The present
study therefore explored why and how four EFL teachers in a Thai tertiary context attended to learners’ affective needs. The
research questions guiding this study were:

1) What professional knowledge do language teachers have about attending to learners’ affective needs?
2) What teaching practices are guided by their knowledge of learners’ affective needs?

3. Methodology

The research questions that guided this study required “capture [of] rich and complex details” (Do € rnyei, 2007, p. 38), and
therefore a qualitative research design was adopted. We collected data from observations and interviews that were coded as
€ rnyei, 2007; Miles et al., 2014). Multiple case studies were employed with the aim of
text for analysis and interpretation (Do
gathering detailed information about each teacher’s knowledge and classroom practices with regard to the topic of interest
(Dornyei, 2007) which, for this study, was their understanding of and attention to affective considerations in their classrooms.

3.1. Participants & context

The study took place in two public universities in southern Thailand. Participating teachers were four non-native speakers
of English (NNS), recruited through a maximum variation sampling strategy so that the perspectives of teachers with different
backgrounds and experiences could be captured and commonalities across a diverse group could be identified (Do €rnyei,
2007; Miles et al., 2014). Table 1 provides information about participants’ personal details, qualifications and experience.
They differed in their first language, teaching experience and whether they were local or expatriate NNS teachers. Their MA
degrees were all in second language teaching except for Ramgopal, whose degree was in Education. All names are
pseudonyms.

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P. Thararuedee, R. Wette System 95 (2020) 102375

3.2. Instruments and data collection

Data were collected through multiple observations, supported by interviews that elicited principles and knowledge un-
derpinning teachers’ observed practices. Three to five video-recorded observations of lessons with prescribed syllabus1 were
conducted with each participant. These provided direct evidence of participants’ actual practices, and allowed the study to go
beyond perception-based data (Borg, 2015; Do € rnyei, 2007). Each observed lesson lasted between one to 2 h. To deter any
reactive effects, a camera was placed behind a chair at the back of the class, which means it was largely hidden from the view
of students and teacher. To assist teachers to recall their interactive thoughts and pedagogical decisions, the 3e5 stimulated
recall interviews (SRI) of 30e50 min each were conducted immediately after observations, except for two instances where
participants were not available and interviews had to be postponed until the following day. However, these two instances
were still within the 48-h limit that scholars recommend (Gass & Mackey, 2000).
Participants watched video recordings of their lessons and commented on teaching practices in response to prompts that
elicited their reflections (See Appendix A). The teaching episodes that the participants reflected on were largely self-selected;
that is, participants could pause or skip sections of the video to talk about teaching episodes of their choice. They were not
directly asked to comment on the importance of affect in their teaching, in order to minimize the risk of sensitizing them to
the interests of the study and eliciting presentational responses. Interviews with Chomkwan and Reza were conducted in Thai
as they felt more comfortable communicating in this language, while English was the preferred language of Ramgopal and
Dara.
The decision to use SR interviews was guided by the view that teachers’ professional knowledge may be better captured
through their reflection on actual, naturally occurring practices (Basturkmen, 2012; Basturkmen et al., 2004; Borg, 2015). As
Borg (2015) contends, “data based on and elicited in relation to observed classroom events may better capture … [teachers’]
practically eoriented cognition which inform teachers’ actual instructional practices” (p.159).

3.2.1. Data analysis

Thematic analysis was adopted because of its theoretical flexibility (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Mann, 2016; Roulston, 2010).
The analytical approach was primarily inductive and comparative (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In the data preparation stage, all
interviews were transcribed in full. For observational data, the researcher (Thararuedee) wrote narrative summaries (Barron
& Engle, 2007) for the main events in all observed lessons, and transcribed portions to note the teachers’ words that convey
their professional knowledge. In the data analysis stage, interview transcripts were read several times in order for the
researcher to become thoroughly familiar with the data set (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Transcripts were coded openly rather than
using pre-existing codes. Coding was completed both manually and using NVivo 11 software. One set of codes specifically
related to teachers’ affective concerns. Affective terms used by participants were highlighted, and the content of interview
extracts in which these terms embedded was examined. Initial codes were then collated into potential themes that captured
recurring patterns across the data set (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Coded interview excerpts were
repeatedly examined and compared with observation data. Practices identified in interviews and narrative summaries were
coded under the same node in NVivo 11 to preserve connections between teachers’ professional knowledge with regard to
students’ affect and observed practices.

4. Findings

Findings revealed that teachers were mindful of learners’ affective needs, and that they initiated interactions to support
positive emotional experiences and attitudes to learning the L2 to promote instructional goals that fit the definition of
emotional scaffolding by Meyer and Turner (2007). Thematic coding of data related to their professional knowledge revealed
three main principles underpinning interview statements and observed teaching practices. The first was to scaffold or support
English language learning by ensuring that instruction was entertaining, relevant to students’ lives and supported their ac-
ademic achievement to the fullest extent possible. The second principle related to achieving empathetic classroom relations,
cohesiveness in the class group, and growth in students’ sense of self-efficacy. The objective of the third principle was moral
and ethical education, which included the ability to manage negative emotions. It needs to be noted that the principles and
professional knowledge supporting specific teaching practices could not be observed directly, but were elicited through
stimulated recall interviews. Interviews also revealed that a single practice could be supported by principles related to
students’ cognitive and/or affective needs. This section integrates teachers’ interview statements and information from
observed classroom practices to show how specific practices were guided by teachers’ professional knowledge and principles.

4.1. Principles and practices fostering affect to promote English language learning

All participants believed that learners’ affect could both promote and impede L2 learning. They were of the opinion that
affect could influence engagement and participation, as can be seen in instances where negative emotions such as timidity

1
For all but one of the courses, the syllabi and textbook used were prescribed by a central team of teachers responsible for designing the courses.
Ramgopal used his own teaching materials.

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P. Thararuedee, R. Wette System 95 (2020) 102375

and fear were identified as reasons for students’ reluctance to participate in speaking activities. For instance, Chomkwan
stated that “because of shyness, some students are not confident to answer” (SR1). In contrast, positive emotional states
described as “interested”, “fun” and “motivated” were believed to enhance students’ engagement, participation and, ulti-
mately, their ability to learn. Moreover, statements by all participants indicated that they perceived a close reciprocal rela-
tionship between affect and cognition. For example, citing Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis (Krashen, 1982), Dara
expressed the view that people learn better if they feel happy, motivated and ready to accept new ideas (SR1), and three
teachers (Chomkwan, Reza and Dara) noted that if a lesson was incomprehensible to learners, it would have negative effect on
learners’ motivation.
Participants not only considered attention to affect to be important for effective L2 learning, but acted in accordance with
this principle. A number of their teaching practices aimed to scaffold positive affect while minimizing negative emotions in
order to promote L2 learning. They can be grouped into six teaching strategies: ensuring variety, devising fun tasks and
materials, using humour, preventing negativity, fostering success, maximizing relevance, and using the L1.

4.1.1. Ensuring variety

All participants were of the opinion that variety promoted positive feelings such as surprise, interest, and excitement.
Teachers were observed to use two main strategies in this regard: ensuring a variety of practices, and allowing students to
make some lesson-related decisions independently. Regarding the first, all participants highlighted the need to alter routines
and practices from time to time. In one example, Ramgopal asked students to change their group leaders so they could work
with different classmates, and alternate the roles of leader and group member (OB2; OB4). All teachers used different ac-
tivities to ensure variety. For example, Dara used a range of warm-up activities ranging from having students ask questions
about a book under discussion (OB1), teaching conversational moves (OB2) to a listening comprehension task (OB4). Ram-
gopal praised the textbook for its integrated-skill content, since he believed that students would get bored if only one or two
skills were taught (OB1; SR1). Another strategy to promote variety involved giving students independent choices when
possible, such as when Chomkwan asked students to devise their own role-play situations for the function of apologizing
(OB3) to ensure a variety of situations would be covered and that there would be some novel content for the class audience
(SR3). Ramgopal allowed students free choice of any cultural value as a presentation topic for the same reasons (OB4).

4.1.2. Devising fun tasks and materials

All participants considered that certain tasks and materials were particularly effective in scaffolding positive feelings and a
good classroom atmosphere, and included them in their lessons. For example, Ramgopal organized the whole class to sing
and act out a song (OB2) which, he believed, would help students become more relaxed, motivated and interested (SR2).
Chomkwan arranged for students to watch the animated feature “Rio” (OB3; OB4), and commented that students laughed
about and were emotionally engaged with the movie (SR3). Dara, Reza and Chomkwan included some game-like activities
including a crossword activity that let students practice vocabulary, and a memory game where students sat in group and
took turns in coming up with job-related vocabulary without repeating what others had said. Chomkwan was disappointed
when she realised that her self-produced black and white photocopied teaching materials were not as attractive to students
as materials in colour (OB3; SR3), and Dara used a variety of colours in the text to make his PowerPoint presentations more
visually appealing (OB1-OB5).

4.1.3. Using humour

Ramgopal, Dara and Chomkwan believed that humour could help boost students’ attention, induce emotions such as fun,
happiness, and interest, discourage boredom, and create a relaxed atmosphere. Dara intentionally added humour to taught
content by using incongruous examples such as “Do not close your eyes when you sneeze” to teach how to state a rule (OB4).
For the most part, teachers improvised humour in response to lesson content. For instance, Ramgopal explained that he
mimicked gestures of the comedy character “Mr. Bean” in response to a listening track mentioning this comedy character
(OB3) in order to make students laugh. Dara often described the final pair in a matching task as “homework” (since there was
only one possibility for the last pair, and the answer was therefore self-evident) (OB4; OB5). Chomkwan used humorous puns,
which could potentially serve as mnemonic devices. For instance, she stated that “I see. ไม่ใช่ ICU อยู่ในโรงพยาบาล <Not
ICU/I see you in a hospital>” (OB4). The accents of non-Thai teachers were another source of humour. With their limited
proficiency in Thai (a foreign language for both teachers), Ramgopal (OB1) and Dara (OB2) sprinkled Thai words into their
lessons, knowing that since their accents were humorous to their Thai students, and that this would provoke laughter that
would create a more relaxed atmosphere.

4.1.4. Preventing negativity

All participants tried to avoid negative affective responses from students, and devised instruction to address them when
they occurred. For example, Dara and Chomkwan stated that known vocabulary should not be repeatedly practised, since it
could lead to boredom. While Chomkwan reflected that she quickly checked which words were unknown to students and
spent more time teaching these items (OB2; SR2), Dara added more unknown words to “spice up” all the observed lessons.
When teaching content that he thought students would not find interesting, Reza offered reassuring words:
“ไม่ต้องทำหน้าเบื่อ จะคุยนิดเดียวเอง เรื่องแกรมม่าร์ <Don’t make a bored face. I will teach grammar only briefly>” to
acknowledge their attitude towards grammar instruction, and to keep students engaged (OB1; SR1).

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P. Thararuedee, R. Wette System 95 (2020) 102375

All participants gave students explicit encouragement when necessary to counteract negative feelings. For instance, before
a group presentation task, Ramgopal stated that “… it doesn’t matter whether you do well or not, it matters how you
participate. Don’t worry. Be happy” (OB2). He then explained that he wanted students to “do their best with ease [and in a]
relaxed manner” (SR2). For the same reason, Reza reflected that he sometimes prioritized intelligibility over accuracy (OB2),
since lower expectations “console desperate students” who invariably made errors of some kind when they spoke in English
(SR2). Ramgopal was observed to be aware of and comment on students’ emotional states during speaking activities more
often than others by saying “Relax, okay?” and “Don’t be afraid, okay?”

4.1.5. Fostering success

The four participants attempted to prevent negative affective responses from students by trying to ensure that learning
tasks were within their capabilities so that students were more likely to experience a sense of achievement. For one task, Reza
used pictures to elicit known vocabulary, but did not instigate a communicative discussion (OB2) because this may have been
beyond students’ L2 capabilities (SR2). He reported probing for more detailed answers to listening comprehension questions
from proficient students, but not from those who were less proficient (SR1). He also reported glossing over students’ incorrect
pronunciation of English words in order to not reduce students’ confidence (SR1). Ramgopal asked students to make a video
clip at home using pantomime to convey a cultural value (which they would then answer questions about in class) rather than
requiring them to make a speech in English (OB4) in order to reduce the demands on students’ proficiency (SR4). Chomkwan
highlighted the fact that conversation models boosted students’ willingness to participate since these speaking patterns
scaffolded their own dialogues (OB1; SR1).

4.1.6. Maximizing relevance

Teachers also attempted to make lesson content relevant to students’ lives. Chomkwan began teaching a language function
by eliciting its purposes and situations of use (OB4) because “if an expression is too distant from their lives and they don’t see
its purposes: no purpose, no motivation to learn” (SR4). Ramgopal explained that he did not teach grammar in depth in his
listening and speaking class (OB1) because he believed that students’ main priority was to learn English for basic interper-
sonal communication (SR1). Dara added lexical items including “play truant” and “unrequited love” to sentence examples
(OB2). He believed that this made the lesson more interesting, because these expressions reflected students’ real-life situ-
ations and were therefore more appropriate. These expressions could also provoke laughter and make learning more fun
(SR2). With regard to the coursebook unit topic People We Admire (Stempleski, 2006), both Ramgopal (OB3) and Dara (OB2)
reflected that they tended to exclude content about world historical figures in the belief that students could not relate to the
names listed, and instead asked students to discuss their own heroes.

4.1.7. Using the L1

The practices of Reza and Dara demonstrated how the L1 was used to provide reassuring familiarity for students that
would help them to connect emotionally with taught content. Reza reported translating conversation models for pair-work
speaking practice to ensure that students knew their meanings and found it easier to connect emotionally to the utterances
(OB2; SR2). Knowing that there were Cambodian loan words in Thai, Dara translated target English vocabulary by uttering
Cambodian words (his L1) to see if they accidently corresponded to Thai words in the students’ L1 (OB1; OB2; OB4). He
believed that drawing students’ attention to similarities between the two languages might be interesting and surprising for
students, and therefore help to keep them engaged with the lesson (SR4).

4.1.8. Managing potentially uncomfortable emotions

It was clear from interview statements and observed practices that teachers viewed positive affect as having beneficial
effects on L2 learning receptivity and engagement; however, negative emotions such as mild tension or anxiety were believed
to also be useful. Reza maintained that “… when we learn, we need to come out of comfort zones”, although he was also aware
that “people have different characteristics” and that “some still need to preserve their comfort zone”. Reza expressed the view
that learning involves an emotional struggle and potential loss of face that many learners are anxious to avoid. He therefore
tried to “strike the balance between preserving and pushing them out of comfort zones” (SR1). Teachers’ practices also
provided evidence in support of their belief that some mild pressure was likely to promote participation and learning. For
instance, all four participants were of the opinion that calling on individual students to contribute could make them more
alert and motivate them to make more of an effort to try to communicate in English. Teachers’ criticism of students’ lack of
participation was another way of encouraging students to contribute to the lesson, and was used by Dara (OB1) and Ramgopal
(OB4).

4.2. Principles and practices to foster positive classroom relations

4.2.1. Teacher-student and student-student relations

Reza, Dara and Ramgopal were of the opinion that local culture played an influential role in creating a marked social
distance and status difference between teachers and students. For example, Reza was critical of the fact that “we [Thai

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teachers] are infamous for creating the barrier between teachers and the students; teachers are on a pedestal” (SR1). All
participants reported trying to reduce this social distance in order to lessen unproductive emotions such as anxiety, fear and
resentment of the teacher. For example, Chomkwan noted that studying with a teacher that she liked was more enjoyable,
and she believed that if the teacher was serious all the time, students might not dare to answer because they were afraid of
being reprimanded (SR1). Ramgopal believed that if students were frightened of the teacher, they might forget everything
after they left the classroom (SR1). Dara reflected that many students came to study with him and recommended his courses
to their friends because they found him and his lessons a source of fun and humour (SR3). These statements suggest that
teachers all believed in the importance of a relaxed, supportive classroom atmosphere to maximise students’ enjoyment and
motivation that would in turn have a positive effect on students’ learning.
The way participants discussed the topic of classroom relations shows that they felt they had a duty of care, broadly
defined as the teacher’s concerns about the emotional and interpersonal well-being of students (Wright, 2005). For instance,
Reza stated that “I expect students to succeed. It is not like I give them an exercise and expect them to fail and feel satisfied”
(SR1). He believed that the teacher should never take pleasure or satisfaction from seeing students struggle with assigned
work. Both Chomkwan and Ramgopal reported being careful not to hurt students’ feelings when they gave feedback.
Chomkwan pointed out the need to maintain a positive self-image among peers could discourage students from answering,
since those who knew the answer might not want to appear to boast and run the risk of creating peer envy, while weaker ones
were afraid of being wrong and appearing unintelligent (SR1). However, teachers also believed in the importance of their
other role as authority and manager of instruction. For instance, Chomkwan maintained that if she did not maintain some
distance from students and regarded by them as a friend, class management would be more difficult (SR4). In contrast to
other teachers, Reza regarded himself as a novice teacher, and therefore believed he needed to maintain his status and au-
thority as a teacher in order to gain students’ respect (SR1).
Equally important in teachers’ thinking and classroom practices were student-student relations, since all participants
appreciated the importance of building group cohesiveness. Both Chomkwan and Ramgopal commented that peer support
helped to create a positive classroom atmosphere and motivation. For instance, Chomkwan believed that if there were some
confident, outgoing students in the classroom, the atmosphere would be more interesting and motivating (SR2). She also
cited negative past experiences such as being teased by friends as a potential source of language anxiety (SR4). Ramgopal
added that positive peer relations helped deter “negative competition where they [students] may hate each other [and]
where there could be jealousy” (SR2).
The principles of fostering classroom relations underpinned a number of teaching practices which can be grouped into
four strategies: using learning activities that promote peer interactions, maintaining students’ positive self-image, small-talk
and teasing, and drawing on shared languages and cultures. These will be outlined in the following paragraphs.

4.2.2. Learning activities to promote peer interactions

Participants described a number of practices intended to scaffold positive peer interactions. Dara assigned classroom
seating by randomly placing name cards onto chairs to oblige students to work with a range of classmates (OB1; OB2; OB3;
OB5), and Chomkan’s request for students to interview six classmates with different majors had a similar aim (OB1). She
added that this was more interesting and informative than interviewing familiar peers from the same subject area (SR1).
Ramgopal believed that students felt at ease when speaking with their friends rather than with him (SR1), and therefore
asked students to practise in pairs before calling on them to contribute in whole class sessions (OB1). Reza asked students to
work in pairs to exchange known vocabulary at the beginning of lessons to promote peer interactions (OB1; OB2). Ramgopal
used group presentations in the belief that this would be less threatening for students than individual presentations (OB2;
OB4; SR2).

4.2.3. Maintaining students’ positive self-image

Chomkwan and Ramgopal pointed out the need to allow students to maintain a positive self-image before peers.
Chomkwan believed that some capable students might be unwilling to answer because they did not want to appear conceited.
She therefore regularly called on students from this group in the belief that this provided them an excuse to speak in front of
the class. She added that weak students might be silent because “they are afraid to be wrong and to look bad. They might get
teased or feel that they are incompetent” (SR1). To address this tendency, she first asked for contributions from willing
volunteers before calling on other students (OB2), thus giving them time to prepare (OB4) and providing support in term of
patterns so that students had models to guide their speaking practice (OB1-OB4). Other participants were observed to include
similar practices. Both Chomkwan (SR2) and Ramgopal (SR4) reported exercising tact and caution when correcting students’
errors because error correction could negatively affect students’ sense of self-efficacy.

4.2.4. Small-talk and teasing

Participants acknowledged the need to overcome status differences and bridge the social distance between teacher and
students and, for this reason, small-talk was a feature of the classroom practices of all teachers. For example, the observed
lessons regularly began with a simple greeting, and Reza reflected that this could reduce student anxiety (SR2). When
Chomkwan met the students in her class for the first time, she introduced herself, and expressed an interest in getting to
know them as individuals (OB1). She reflected that this helped to relax students, and gave them a chance to observe her
teaching style (SR1). Conversational exchanges sometimes took the form of light-hearted teasing, and Chomkwan, Reza and

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Dara agreed that this was helpful for creating a relaxed classroom atmosphere as well as conveying the impression of a
friendly, supportive teacher. For example, when Dara woke up a student who was sleeping during a lesson, she teased her by
remarking that the student must have been to a party the previous night, since “parties” was the topic being discussed by the
class at that moment (OB2).

4.2.5. Drawing on shared languages and cultures

Teachers’ practices showed that they believed shared languages could be used to bond with students. Aware that English-
only policy could be threatening for some students, both Ramgopal and Dara used students’ L1 to minimize negative re-
sponses to their English-only policy. They both sprinkled Thai words into their speech when they were giving instruction to
students in the belief that this could make students feel less afraid of the teacher, more relaxed, and more likely to be willing
to communicate. Chomkwan allowed students to speak Thai among themselves when off-task, because “it feels weird if Thai
people speak English to one another” (SR1). Ramgopal exemplified how local cultures were drawn on to foster teacher-
student relations when he enacted the Wai2 (OB1; OB4; OB5) as a sign of respect towards students.

4.3. Principles and practices of fostering moral values

Morality is linked to emotions in that some emotions contribute to moral behaviours, and also because moral education
involves learning to feel the “right emotion to the right degree at the right time” (De Sousa, 2001, p.110). Ramgopal stated
explicitly that scaffolding positive moral values was his mission as well as the foundation of his teaching. He reported that in
every lesson he tried to look for some “ethical values” he could impart to make students know that they needed to be a “good
person” or a “better person” (SR4). For example, he began a lesson about Vietnam by having students sing and act out a song
about love, and told them that Vietnam once lost love because of the Vietnam war (OB2). He revealed the reason he chose this
topic because “I need to remind them so they think they feel it could happen to us … so they will sympathize. They have love,
you see. Care and the nature of being so lovely to others” (SR2). Love, sympathy and care were promoted by the teacher in
order to foster pro-social behaviours and to deter immoral behaviours such as killing. Ramgopal also promoted self-belief.
Prompted by the textbook mentioning a movie about Gandhi, Ramgopal recounted how Gandhi overcome his shyness and
fear of public speaking to become a great orator and a national leader. He ended the story by encouraging students to
overcome their language anxiety and practice like Gandhi (OB3), which corresponds to one aim of moral education, which is
management of emotions, particularly negative emotions. As these two examples show, fostering moral values and pro-
moting affect are also intertwined.

5. Discussion and concluding comments

The study has provided detailed evidence about how a group of teachers conceptualized English language teaching and
learning as, in part, a relational and affect-related undertaking. They considered it their responsibility to scaffold learners’
emotional responses to English language learning, drawing on three guiding principles: fostering affect to promote language
learning, fostering supportive classroom relations, and fostering moral values: principles that underpinned a variety of
teaching practices in their classrooms.
The study confirms the findings of previous research (e.g. Richards, 1996; Senior, 2006; Wette, 2010) that language
teachers are not exclusively concerned with conveying curriculum content, but in fact devote considerable attention to the
affective dimension of language teaching and learning. Their professional responsibilities include predicting and responding
to learners’ affective as well as cognitive responses to language instruction. They do not just passively observe but actively
facilitate the development of learners’ productive attitudes and feelings in various ways. They act in the belief that they can
shape learners’ affective responses to some extent, and that this is a worthwhile instructional goal. Given the prominence of
teachers’ affective concerns in the practices and expressed principles of these teachers, the study supports the argument that
a comprehensive understanding of (language) teachers and teaching is possible only if teachers’ own conceptions of learning
as an affective undertaking are taken into consideration. The study also showed that a single practice can have both cognition-
related and affect related goals; for example, use of students’ L1 enhances their understanding of the content and also
provides them with emotional support. This research therefore provides support for the views of scholars (e.g. Meyer &
Turner, 2007; Pavlenko, 2013:; Rosiek, 2003; Swain, 2013) who highlight the limitations of conceptions of L2 teaching and
learning that focus predominantly on cognitive processes and outcomes of teaching at the expense of those related to af-
fective considerations.
The findings of this study suggest that there is considerable overlap in teachers’ thinking about students’ emotions and the
content of the curriculum they are teaching. They confirm Rosiek’s conclusion (2003) that teachers’ affective concerns shape
the design and the delivery of instructional content although, unlike the Rosiek study, analogies, metaphors and narrative
were not found to be central to the practices of these teachers. In line with Meyer and Turner (2007), the study also found that
teachers’ emotional scaffolding practices were aimed at facilitating other classroom goals such as (cognitive) learning, active
participation, and classroom management, which reflects a “soft” version of affect in educational practice (Wright, 2005).

2
Wai is a Thai form of greeting in which the palms are pressed together in a prayer-like fashion, together with a slight head bow.

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However, one teacher in our study (Ramgopal) also fostered moral values and emotional states as an end goal, which shaped
content and learning goals, indicating a “strong” version of affect in educational practice (Wright, 2005). We would therefore
argue for the inclusion of both weak and strong versions of affect in explorations of the emotional support provided by
teachers.
Some principles and practices of teachers in this study provide confirmation of scholarly advice and research, which
suggests that our findings have some transferability; for example, the recommendation (Arnold & Brown, 1999; Dewaele,
2012:; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Pavlenko, 2013) that positive affect is more productive and desirable than negative
emotions. Study findings also confirm the view (Brown, 2007; Ellis, 2012; Swain, 2013) that negative emotions may have
some uses in promoting learning. Participants also acknowledged the importance of positive classroom relations in sustaining
a productive classroom atmosphere for effective learning and teaching: a principle that is strongly represented in the
scholarly literature (e.g. Brown, 2007; Do € rnyei, 2001; Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014; Lamb, 2017; Wright, 2005). It is evident
from our study that teachers believe that learners’ active involvement in communication in English is influenced by their
affective state and by the classroom environment, and this is supported by views expressed in Arnold (2019) and Ellis (2012).
One teacher (Ramgopal) demonstrated humanistic principles by including attention to fostering moral values, with aims that
echoed the goal stated by Arnold and Brown (1999) of trying to “educate learners to live more satisfying lives and to be
responsible members of society” (p.3).
However, in implementing these principles and practices, these teachers also paid attention to the local social and cultural
context of Thailand, and adjusted their instruction accordingly. For example, they were aware of how Thai culture shapes
classroom relations, and how Thai sociocultural communication practices shape students’ language use. They were also
sensitive to learners’ cultural beliefs regarding politeness and respect (Arnold & Brown, 1999; Brown, 2007; Richards, 2015;
Tudor, 2001). In this way, both the professional knowledge concerning learner’s affect and the practices of these teachers
accommodated the local context.
The main strength of this study is that it includes attention to observed instructional practices and to their espoused
principles as well as comments on their own practices through stimulated-recall interviews. It demonstrates that accom-
modating learners’ affective needs in actual classroom lessons is a complex and not entirely straightforward process, as
teachers try to balance consideration of a range of factors, including facilitative positive and negative affect and appropriate
teacher-student social distance. Participants primarily attended to learners’ affective needs in an implicit way by identifying
and predicting learners’ affective needs and concerns, and adjusting instruction as required. However, at times teaches made
explicit comments about learners’ affect when they wished to draw their attention to it.
The study acknowledges two limitations. Firstly, due to the small number of participants and contextualized nature of
teacher knowledge, its findings are not generalizable, although they may be transferable to similar teachers and settings.
Interviews, especially stimulated recall interviews, might also have prompted the teachers to invent some post-hoc ration-
alizations of their instructional behaviours (Basturkmen, 2012; Borg, 2015), although the first author (as researcher) was also
present in each of the lessons commented on, and able to query teachers’ comments in the light of what had been observed.
These limitations notwithstanding, it is hoped that the study has drawn attention to the prevalence and power of teachers’
affect-related practices, underpinned by their professional knowledge of English, language teaching and learning, their
students’ needs, and the context in which they work. It has raised awareness of an important but often overlooked component
of language teacher pre- and in-service training. Future research in different EFL contexts that specifically explores in-
teractions between teachers’ affect-related principles and practices would be worthwhile, and would provide valuable
support for, and extension of the findings of this study.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on drafts of this article.

Appendix B. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102375.

Appendix A. Sample questions for stimulated recall interviews

Questions asked about the following aspects of teaching practices:

Goals of a learning task/activity (e.g. what were you trying to achieve here? What skills or knowledge do you expect
students to have after they finish this activity? How important are such skills and knowledge?)
Methodology and methods governing a learning task/activity (e.g. Can you tell me your teaching procedures step-by-step?
Can you tell me the rationales behind each step? Do you prefer to teach this way? Is this your typical way of teaching?)
Interactions with students and other factors in the context and how the teachers assess students’ success of completing a
learning task/activity (e.g. How do you think the students perceive the task? Is there anything that you want to do in your
teaching but you cannot do? If so, can you tell me more about this?)
Teachers’ evaluation of their teaching of this episode (e.g. is there anything you like or do not like about this teaching
episode? Can you tell me more about this?)

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