Understanding language teacher psychology: The key to classroom life

In this talk, I unpack the notion of language teacher psychology and argue why this is so central to understand and support, not only for the wellbeing of teachers themselves but also for their learners. We start by looking at what is already known in this field and what is not known, especially in respect to certain populations of language teachers and teacher educators.

Together we will reflect critically on why there has not been nearly as much work dedicated to understanding educators as there has been to looking at learner psychologies. I will report briefly on a range of empirical studies examining diverse aspects of teacher psychology such as socio-emotional competences, mindsets, pride, and wellbeing. We consider some of the challenges involved in researching these topics among language educators and we will also discuss some of the practical implications of the findings to date.

The talk ends with a wishlist agenda for future work in this field. 

About Professor Sarah Mercer:

Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, where she is Head of ELT Methodology. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of several books in this area. She has served as Principal Investigator on several funded projects, has worked on the editorial board of various journals, was co-editor of System for several years, is co-editor of Multilingual Matters' Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching book series, is currently vice-president of IAPLL, and is ambassador for IATEFL.