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Emotions in the Teaching/Learning Process

Gayane Shmavonyan
State Engineering University of Armenia

Lili Karapetyan
Yerevan State University

E motions play a great role in our daily life, as well as in the teaching processwhich is closely connected with the emotional sphere of life since teaching is an
emotional practice involving emotional understanding, as well as emotional labor. Being
in the centre of the teaching process, emotions should be paid due attention to in the lan-
guage classroom since they lead to a better understanding of classroom interactions and
more satisfying educational experiences for both language teachers and students.1

The paper explores the role and significance of students’ and teachers’ emotions in
language teaching and learning, as well as the emotional factors that influence the teach-
ing/learning process.

It would be reasonable to first turn to the issue of emotional intelligence (EI), which
refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest
that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an
inborn characteristic. Since 1990, Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer have been the lead-
ing researchers on emotional intelligence. In their influential article “Emotional
Intelligence”(1990), they defined emotional intelligence as “the subset of social intelli-
gence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions,
to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and
actions.”

Salovey and Mayer proposed a model that identified four different factors of emo-
tional intelligence:
1. Perceiving Emotions: The first step in understanding emotions is to accurately per-

ceive them. In many cases, this might involve understanding nonverbal signals such
as body language and facial expressions.

2. Reasoning with Emotions: The next step involves using emotions to promote think-
ing and cognitive activity. Emotions help prioritize what we pay attention and react
to; we respond emotionally to things that pay our attention.

3. Understanding Emotions: The emotions that we perceive can carry a wide variety
of meanings. If someone is expressing angry emotions, the observer must interpret
the cause of their anger and what it might mean. 

4. Managing Emotions: The ability to manage emotions effectively is a key part of
emotional intelligence. Regulating emotions, responding appropriately and respond-
ing to the emotions of others are all important aspects of emotional management.
According to Salovey and Mayer, the above mentioned four branches of the model

are “arranged from more basic psychological processes to higher, more psychologically
integrated processes.”

“Your EQ is the level of your ability to understand other people, what motivates them

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and how to work cooperatively with them,” says Howard Gardner (2007), the influential
Harvard theorist. For most people, emotional intelligence (EQ) is more important than the
common intelligence (IQ) in attaining success in their lives and careers. As individuals our
own success and the success of the profession today depend on our ability to read other
people’s signals and react appropriately to them. Therefore, each one of us must develop
the emotional intelligence skills required to better understand, empathize and negotiate
with other people. Otherwise, success will elude us in our lives and careers.

Salovey and Mayer proposed a model that identified four different factors of emo-
tional intelligence (Salovey, Mayer 1990):
1. Self-awareness. The ability to recognize an emotion as it “happens” is the key to the

EQ. Developing self-awareness requires tuning in to true feelings. If emotions are
evaluated, they can be managed. The major elements of self-awareness are:

• Emotional awareness, i.e. the ability to recognize one’s own emotions and their
effects.

• Self-confidence, i.e. the sureness about one’s self-worth and capabilities. 
2. Self-regulation. People often have little control over themselves when they experi-

ence emotions. They can, however, have some say in how long an emotion will last
by using a number of techniques to alleviate negative emotions such as anger, anxi-
ety or depression. A few of these techniques include recasting a situation in a more
positive light, taking a long walk and meditation or prayer. Self-regulation involves:

• Self-control: managing disruptive impulses. 
• Trustworthiness: maintaining standards of honesty and integrity. 
• Conscientiousness: taking responsibility for your own performance. 
• Adaptability: handling change with flexibility. 
• Innovation: being open to new ideas. 
3. Motivation. Motivation for any achievement requires clear goals and a positive attitude.

Although one may have a predisposition to either a positive or a negative attitude, he/she
can with effort and practice learn to think more positively. If one catches negative
thoughts as they occur, he/she can reframe them in more positive terms—which will help
to achieve one’s goals. Motivation is made up of the following components:

• Achievement drive: the constant striving to improve or to meet a standard of excel-
lence. 

• Commitment: aligning with the goals of the group or organization. 
• Initiative: being ready to act on opportunities. 
• Optimism: pursuing goals persistently despite obstacles and setbacks. 
4. Empathy. The more skillful one is at discerning the feelings behind others’ signal,

the better he/she can control the signals he/she sends. An empathetic person excels at:
• Developing themselves: sensing progress and bolstering the abilities. 
• Leveraging diversity: cultivating opportunities through diverse people. 
• Reading a group’s emotional currents and power relationships. 
• Understanding others: discerning the feelings behind the needs and wants of others. 
5. Social skills. The development of good interpersonal skills is tantamount to success

in life and career. In today’s cyberculture all professionals can have immediate access

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to technical knowledge via computers. Thus, skills are even more important now
because one must possess a high EQ to better understand, empathize and negotiate
with others. Among the most useful skills are:

• Influence: achieving effective persuasion tactics. 
• Communication: sending clear messages. 
• Leadership: inspiring and guiding groups and people. 
• Initiating or managing change. 
• Understanding, negotiating and resolving disagreements. 
• Collaboration and cooperation: working with others toward shared goals. 

The EQ theory suggests that success in education requires both academic ability and
equivalent social skills. In education it applies to the institution, teachers and students
through promoting academic success while reducing anxiety and negative feelings during
the learning process. Thus, emotional intelligence should be dealt with from three perspec-
tives: the teacher’s, the learner’s and that of the educational institution. At an institutional
level, the emphasis is on creating an environment conducive to raising students’ EQ, much
of which involves creating a sense of identity, safety and value. In this way, institutions
and teachers are responsible for fostering students’ attachment to the educational estab-
lishment, facilitating the formation of friendships, reducingstress, creating a free-and-easy
learning environment, and so on. In a communicative language teaching classroom sup-
port and co-operation between learners is essential. Despite this, language learners are
often reluctant to co-operate, as a result of repressed fear, anxiety and anger rather than
linguistic inability, and are unlikely to learn much in a student-centered classroom. 

Emotions are undoubtedly connected with good (professional) teaching, which
involves positive emotions. It is not just a matter of knowing one’s subject perfectly,
being efficient or learning all the techniques. Good teachers are emotional, passionate
beings who connect with their students creatively, with great enjoyment and enthusiasm.
The teaching process must be started with knowledge and feeling about the students, with
understanding about what would be likely to excite them. Good teachers must have
enthusiasm about ideas, topics, materials, methods used in the teaching process. The feel-
ing of freedom and improvisation are also significant factors. Teachers must talk about
their ideas, practice and experiences of planning with their colleagues.

Thus, the teacher needs to focus on areas of language used to express emotions, and
on classroom techniques which will reduce tension and produce better group dynamics.
Emotional intelligence can best be developed through some confidence-building activi-
ties promoting communication in the classroom:
• The variety of activities allows for different approaches and varied learning styles.
• Warm-up activities help students to get to know each other better.
• Discussion encourages the sharing of opinions and knowledge.
• Role-plays related to real-life situations help students reveal themselves.
• Group work activities promote cooperation among learners.
• Giving feedback to students’ performance gives them an opportunity to change.
• Assessment allows the positive aspects of the students’ performance to be assessed

and rewarded.

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Being “emotionally intelligent” is completely different from having a cheerful emo-
tional character. Emotional Intelligence, if it is worth anything, does not point towards
the world of pleasantness and success. It helps young people get ready to cope well with
the full rainbow of emotions that inevitably accompany the vicissitudes of life.
Furthering Emotional Intelligence is an honorable ambition for any lecturer, but a hard
one to fulfill.

The most difficult task for the teacher in teaching the language of emotions is per-
suading learners to state their feelings directly. The language teacher should encourage
learners to use the simple language of emotions in terms of functions. So the students
should be taught expressions labeling feelings (I feel, I am impatient/angry/frightened),
expressing empathy (I understand/accept/realize), suggestion (I/you had bet-
ter/could/might), positive feelings (I’d feel better if, I am delighted), stating wants and
needs (I/you need/want/would like to), etc.

There is also language to be avoided, mainly to do with the functions of giving com-
mands and strong advice (I/you should/ought to), obligation (I/you must/have to) and
blaming (you’re wrong/you’re to blame).

Being emotionally literate – able to talk fluently about emotions – is very different
from being emotionally sensitive.

Helping young people develop their emotional vocabulary is a worthwhile thing to do
but it may not contribute a great deal to their all-round Emotional Intelligence. By all
means young people should be offered opportunities to explore their feelings. Many cul-
tures do not see it as a good thing for a person to disclose the inner life, especially to peo-
ple they do not know very well. Research shows that talking about emotions in a soul-
less way can do young people more harm than good. How you deal with your own emo-
tions in front of a class, and how open you are about your emotional ups and downs,
probably have greater impact (for good or ill) on students’ development than set-piece
discussions and activities. A lecturer who announces cheerfully I’m in a bad mood today,
so you’d better watch out… and such models may be a better Emotional Intelligence edu-
cator than one who insists on an earnest discussion, packed with unacknowledged mor-
alizing messages, about an earlier playground dispute. 

As far as possible, teachers should respond to young people’s emotions in a way that
acknowledges them without being emotionally reactive, keeping in mind that everyone
has their limits of tolerance.

According to Andy Hargreaves (1998), the main points how emotions are represent-
ed in teacher’s relationship with their students are the following:

1. Teaching is an emotion practice,
2. Teaching and learning involve emotional understanding,
3. Teaching is a form of emotional labor,
4. Teacher’s emotions are inseparable from their moral purposes and their ability to

achieve those purposes.
The conclusion is: lecturers need to take care that conversations aimed at developing

emotional literacy genuinely allow students to engage and express their emotions, not
just talk about them. “Anyone can become angry, that is easy. But to be angry with the

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right person to the right degree, at the right time for the right purpose and in the right
way, that is not easy” (Aristotle).

Notes:

1. The Latin origin of the word emotion is emovere, meaning to move out, to stir up.
When people are emotional they are moved by their feelings. In her paper “Positive
Affect” Alice Isen (2000) claims that positive affect has a powerful and facilitating
effect on thinking, creativity, decision making and risk taking. Positive emotions can
bring about significant changes in behavior and thinking.

References:

1. Cherry, K. (2005) Whatis Emotional Intelligence, Definitions, History, and Measures
of Emotional Intelligence. About.com Guide.

2. Gardner, H. (2007) What is Emotional Intelligence. Boston: BUP.
3. Hargreaves, A.  (1998) The Emotional Practice of Teaching. // International Centre

for Educational Change, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University
of Toronto. Vol.14. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: UTP. 

4. Isen, A. (2000) Positive Affect. // Handbook of Cognition and Affect. / Ed. by T. &
M.J. Power. New York: Wiley.

5. Oatley, K. & Jenkins, J.M. (1996) Understanding Emotions. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers.

6. Salovey, P.; Mayer, J. (1990) Emotional Intelligence. Yale: Yale University Press.

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