Towards Innovative Research Approaches to Investigating the Role of Emotional Variables in Promoting Language Teachers’ and Learners’ Mental Health

Abstract

The adequacy of language education largely depends on the favorable and unfavorable emotions that teachers and students experience throughout the education process. Simply said, emotional factors play a key role in improving the quality of language teaching and learning. Furthermore, these emotional factors also promote the well-being of language teachers and learners and place them in a suitable mental condition. In view of the favorable impact of emotional factors on the mental health of language teachers and learners, many educational scholars around the world have studied these factors, their background, and their pedagogical consequences. Nonetheless, the majority of previous studies have employed traditional research methods in assessing these variables and their influences on language teachers' and learners' mental health. Because of the complex and dynamic quality of emotional factors, traditional research approaches often fail to evaluate these factors and their dynamic, non-linear connections with teachers' and learners' mental health and well-being. Accordingly, some novel research approaches are required to measure the dynamicity and complexity of emotional factors in language education settings. To address this call, the current state-of-the-art conceptual article seeks to provide new insights for investigating emotional factors and their potential impact on language teachers' and learners' mental states. This study also intends to offer a comprehensive list of emerging methods that take into account the complex and dynamic nature of emotional variables. Finally, the study outlines the potential implications of this review for educational researchers.