17 Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz SSLLT 13 (1). 2023. 17-38 https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.32358 http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/ssllt Let’s get positive: How foreign language teaching enjoyment can create a positive feedback loop Shanshan Yang Fudan University, China https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5335-9736 shanshanyang@fudan.edu.cn Mostafa Azari Noughabi Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7052-4753 mostafaazari2015@gmail.com Elouise Botes University of Vienna, Austria https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4952-8386 elouise.botes@univie.ac.at Jean-Marc Dewaele Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8480-0977 j.dewaele@bbk.ac.uk Abstract Research on learners’ foreign language emotions has revealed the existence of a positive feedback loop where increased enjoyment leads to better per- formance which, in turn, strengthens learners’ enjoyment and boosts overall happiness. The current study follows this avenue focusing on teachers’ foreign language teaching enjoyment (FLTE) and its relationships with engagement, mindfulness, and burnout. The participants, who were 496 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers from Iran, completed four electronic surveys. The pro- posed mediation model based on data collected from EFL teachers indicated Shanshan Yang, Mostafa Azari Noughabi, Elouise Botes, Jean-Marc Dewaele 18 that FLTE partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and en- gagement as well as their burnout. The results revealed that mindful EFL teachers who enjoy the profession are more likely to experience higher levels of work engagement and job satisfaction, thus creating a positive feedback loop. In addition, the findings suggest the importance of positive emotions in EFL teachers’ psychological flourishing based on the tenets of positive psy- chology. Finally, implications and suggestions for further research are offered. Keywords: foreign language teaching enjoyment (FLTE); mindfulness; engage- ment; burnout; EFL teachers 1. Introduction Since the introduction of positive psychology into applied linguistics in the early 2010s, the field has witnessed an explosion of interest in the effects of positive and negative emotions on both language learners and their teachers (Dewaele et al., 2019). Negative emotions such as anxiety have a dampening effect on learners’ motivation, performance and progress in learning a foreign language (FL; Botes, Dewaele et al., 2020). On the other hand, positive emotions like en- joyment have a positive effect on learners’ willingness to communicate in the FL and on their achievement in FL learning (Botes et al., 2022). Overall, previous research has found that emotions tend to affect behavior and performance, which in turn tend to affect emotions. In other words, causality has tended to be bi-directional (Botes, Greiff et al., 2020). Interestingly, emotions have been linked to both learner-internal and learner-external variables which, depending on the context, were both affected by and actively affecting learner emotions (Li, 2020). As a result, feedback loops have emerged which could be negative, where boredom and anxiety silenced students and led to poor performance, which further exacerbated boredom and anxiety and could lead to disengage- ment, demotivation and even poorer performance over time. The feedback loop has also been to run the other way, with enjoyment neutralizing the deleterious effects of negative emotions, leading to better performance, which in turn trig- gers higher enjoyment, increased engagement, stronger motivation and even better performance over time (Dewaele et al., 2022; Dewaele & Li, 2021; Dewaele & Proietti Ergün, 2020; Yang, Azari Noughabi et al., 2022). FL teachers are also in the grip of positive and negative emotions standing in front of their students. The difference between teachers’ emotions and those of students is that teacher emotions can affect the whole class through a process of emotional con- tagion: happy and enthusiastic teachers will have students who enjoy themselves, are happier, more engaged and more motivated, while unhappy, disengaged teachers Let’s get positive: How foreign language teaching enjoyment can create a positive feedback loop 19 will have to resort to emotional labor strategies which are effortful, not neces- sarily successful and will lead to teacher burnout (Dewaele & Li, 2021; Dewaele & Wu, 2021; Gkonou et al., 2020; Moskowitz & Dewaele, 2021). It is thus crucial for teachers to initiate a positive feedback loop, in which we expect teacher en- joyment to be a potential trigger. We also know that positive emotions predict and reinforce prosocial behavior (which would be beneficial for FL learners), which in turn leads to more positive emotions (Aknin et al., 2018). It could be argued that teachers’ positive emotions are linked with positive personality traits coupled with working in positive institutions (Budzińska & Majchrzak, 2021) and ultimately shape their well-being and flourishing (Budzińska & Majchrzak, 2021; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). Therefore, it is of vital im- portance to boost teachers’ positive emotions at work to develop their psycho- logical health and the ability to radiate positivity in the classroom. Mindfulness, conceptualized as the dynamic process of regulating emo- tions to help concentrate on the present while ignoring the past or future con- cerns (Li, 2021), can support teachers’ psychological flourishing and professional engagement (Moyano et al., 2021; Ramasubramanian, 2017). Previous research has indicated that teachers’ mindfulness buffers against the negative stressors such as burnout (Skinner & Beers, 2016). Additionally, mindfulness has been shown to protect teachers against the negative influence of stress on their class- room supportiveness (Molloy Elreda et al., 2019). Mindful teachers can cope with professional hurdles resiliently and achieve higher levels of well-being, sat- isfaction, and engagement (Skinner & Beers, 2016). Moreover, mindfulness in- creases teachers’ emotional competence (Garner et al., 2018), suggesting that mindful teachers are more likely to experience positive emotions. Concurrently, teachers with high levels of foreign language teaching enjoyment (FLTE), con- ceptualized as an important positive emotion including social and personal en- joyment coupled with students’ appreciation, are associated with more resili- ence and well-being (Proietti Ergün & Dewaele, 2021). A recent study by De- rakhshan et al. (2022) also showed that gritty, resilient, and happy Iranian EFL teachers were more likely to report high levels of FLTE. Therefore, two possible outcomes of mindfulness can be higher work engagement and lower burnout (Moyano et al., 2021; Skinner & Beers, 2016). In addition, it is hypothesized that the influence of mindfulness on engagement and satisfaction might be medi- ated by positive emotions (Garland et al., 2015). Despite the significance of mindfulness in the positive psychology of teachers, it has been studied to a lesser extent within the domain of FL educa- tion compared to other positive psychological variables (Li, 2021). It remains un- clear, to the best knowledge of the researchers, whether mindfulness might be connected with FLTE. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the role Shanshan Yang, Mostafa Azari Noughabi, Elouise Botes, Jean-Marc Dewaele 20 of FLTE in mediating the associations between mindfulness, engagement, and burnout among EFL teachers. 2. Literature review 2.1. Teacher mindfulness Interest in mindfulness and possible pedagogical interventions to boost it has grown exponentially in recent years (Brown et al., 2007; Zeilhofer, 2020). Mind- fulness, commonly defined as the ability to pay attention to the present mo- ment intentionally without judging experiences (Kabat-Zinn, 1994), represents a promising avenue for human flourishing (Seligman, 2011). According to Taylor et al. (2021), attentive awareness, receptive attitude, and intentionality are the primary tenets of mindfulness. However, such domain-general measurement of mindfulness has notable limitations with respect to the study of teacher mind- fulness because the act of teaching inherently involves interactions with stu- dents (Rickert et al., 2020). In response, Frank et al. (2016) proposed that, in addition to intrapersonal mindfulness, teacher mindfulness should also include interpersonal mindfulness, referring to an open inclination and attitude with ac- ceptance and receptiveness in teacher-student interactions (Moyano et al., 2021). Morgan and Katz (2021) distinguished between trait mindfulness and state mind- fulness. While the former stands for “what a person carries with them throughout their life, regardless of knowing about mindfulness or not,” the latter is “the feel- ing of mindfulness in the moment” (p. 4). In this study, teacher mindfulness is operationalized as EFL teachers’ trait of regulating emotions with respect to both intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions to concentrate on the present while ignoring the past or future concerns (Frank et al., 2016; Li, 2021). Several studies have demonstrated the role of mindfulness in reducing negative functioning and enhancing positive outcomes in several important life domains (e.g., Brown et al., 2007). In FL education, empirical evidence has linked mindfulness and its practices to students’ academic achievement (Zeilhofer, 2020) and learning mindset as well as mental health (Morgan & Katz, 2021). Mindfulness-based interventions for teachers have also shown promise in en- hancing mindfulness skills to decrease teacher stress and burnout (Taylor et al., 2021), promoting teachers’ social-emotional competencies (de Carvalho et al., 2021), and enhancing teacher well-being and performance (Hwang et al., 2017). However, existing research on mindfulness in educational settings has focused on students, leaving teacher mindfulness, particularly FL teachers’ mindfulness underrepresented (Moyano et al., 2021). Overall, the evidence for the pre- sumed positive contributions of mindfulness in pedagogical contexts is limited Let’s get positive: How foreign language teaching enjoyment can create a positive feedback loop 21 (Malinowski & Lim, 2015). To address this gap in the literature, the current study investigated the relationship between trait mindfulness, teacher burnout, and work engagement as well as the potential mediating effect of the positive emo- tion of FLTE on this relationship. 2.2. Linking to burnout and work engagement Teacher burnout, which refers to teachers’ experiences of emotional exhaus- tion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment, is an issue of global concern. As teaching requires immense personal and emotional invest- ment, the prevalence of teacher burnout is high in the profession (Moyano et al., 2021). Burnout usually is accompanied by a diminution of one’s emotional resources to cope with stressors, cynical, irritable feelings, negative attitudes toward work, and decreased self-efficacy and/or productivity (Maslach & Jack- son, 1981; Taylor et al., 2021). Therefore, teacher burnout might not only ad- versely affect teacher well-being and teaching effectiveness but also student en- gagement and learning (Roeser et al., 2013). In this context, research on malle- able factors that can reduce teacher burnout is desirable and much needed. In tune with positive psychology, recent years have witnessed a shift of research focus from what is wrong to what goes right in life. Hence, attention has been extended beyond teacher burnout to include the more desirable dimensions of work-related health outcomes, that is, work engagement (Seligman & Csikszent- mihalyi, 2014). Work engagement refers to teachers’ cognitive, emotional, and social involvement in teaching and students’ learning processes (Klassen et al., 2013). High levels of work engagement potentially bring about varied favorable outcomes for both individuals and organizations (Azari Noughabi, Amirian et al., 2022; Azari Noughabi, Ghonsooly et al., 2022; Yang, Shu et al., 2022). The burn- out-engagement continuum has been extensively studied in organizational psy- chology (Maslach & Leiter, 1997), and the negative connection between burn- out and engagement also extends to FL education (Faskhodi & Siyyari, 2018). It is hence vital to understand what leads to an increase in work engagement and a decrease in teacher burnout in FL education. Recent research examining individual differences in trait mindfulness sug- gests that mindfulness is associated with lower levels of emotional burnout (Skinner & Beers, 2016) and higher levels of engagement (Moyano et al., 2021; Roeser et al., 2013). The construct is therefore of immediate relevance to our concern with enhancing engagement and reducing burnout. The role of mindful- ness can be explained by the job demands-resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). When teachers perceive that the quality and quantity of the demands in the workplace exceed the quality and quantity of available resources, teacher Shanshan Yang, Mostafa Azari Noughabi, Elouise Botes, Jean-Marc Dewaele 22 burnout emerges. Job or personal resources are accordingly needed to alleviate teacher burnout in the highly demanding teaching contexts. Mindfulness has been suggested as one of these personal resources (Moyano et al., 2021; Taylor & Millear, 2016). When job and personal resources become more prominent and gain their motivational potential, work engagement is likely to be enhanced as teachers become motivated to actively learn and develop their skills. As high work engagement in itself can have detrimental effects, for example affecting work-life balance or teacher health, we considered it in conjunction with posi- tive emotions, which have been implicated in promoting work engagement and well-being (Azari Noughabi, Yang et al., 2022; Greenier et al., 2021; Malinowski & Lim, 2015; Yang, Shu et al., 2022). 2.3. Positive emotions as a mediator To elucidate the hypothesized relationship between mindfulness, teacher burn- out, and work engagement, it is important to consider other variables that po- tentially contribute to this relationship. Brown et al. (2007) presented clear evi- dence that mindfulness related to positive emotional experiences. Likewise, Garland et al. (2015) argued that in taxing contexts mindfulness potentially aug- ments eudaimonic meaning making to elicit positive emotions. Malinowski and Lim (2015) further illustrated that mindfulness wielded its positive effect on work engagement by increasing positive emotions, which on their own and in combination with mindfulness enhanced work engagement. Fredrickson (2009) notes that experiencing positive emotions in a 3-to-1 ratio to negative emotions can help an individual gain higher levels of resilience and well-being. Rusu and Colomeischi (2020) believe that teachers with a higher ratio of positive to neg- ative emotions are more likely to have higher levels of engagement and subjec- tive well-being. According to the broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson, 2001), the increase in positive emotions would lead to the broadening of one’s thought-action repertoire which, in turn, would trigger the application of in- creased personal resources such as those needed by FL teachers to cope with demands. As such, teachers’ mindfulness triggers positive emotions which help them bounce back quickly from and adapt to the challenging contextual de- mands (Ramasubramanian, 2017), which is likely to protect teachers from burn- out. Taken together, positive emotions can be conceptualized as an important construct in mediating the relationship between mindfulness, work engage- ment and burnout (Gloria & Steinhardt, 2017). Enjoyment is considered as the most salient positive emotion in the teach- ing context (Frenzel et al., 2016), which can be reciprocally transmitted among the teacher and students (Dewaele & Li, 2021; Moskowitz & Dewaele, 2021). Learners’ Let’s get positive: How foreign language teaching enjoyment can create a positive feedback loop 23 foreign language enjoyment (FLE) has been compared to the fuel of the FL learning process (Botes et al., 2021; Dewaele & Li, 2021; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). FLE has been found to be positively linked to personality traits such as cultural empathy (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2019), grit (MacIntyre & Khajavy, 2021), and emotional in- telligence. Li (2020) found that trait emotional intelligence was partially mediated by FLE to have a positive effect on FL achievement. FL learners with high trait emo- tional intelligence have been shown to report higher enjoyment both in the L1 class and the FL class (Resnik & Dewaele, 2020, 2021). Trait emotional intelligence of EFL teachers has also been found to be positively linked to more positive atti- tudes towards students (Dewaele & Mercer, 2018) and to higher levels of self-re- ported creativity, classroom management, and pedagogical skills and lower levels of predictability (Dewaele et al., 2018). Teachers’ FLTE has only recently begun to draw the attention of researchers (Azari Noughabi, Yang, Shu et al., 2022; Proietti Ergün & Dewaele, 2021). Proietti Ergün & Dewaele (2021) adapted the 9-item short FLE scale by Botes et al. (2021) to reflect teacher enjoyment instead of learner enjoyment. The items in the first two subdimensions, personal and social enjoyment, did not need any change but the word “teacher” was substituted with “students” in the items of the third subdimension, teacher appreciation. The authors found that two positive per- sonality traits, resilience and well-being, were significant positive predictors of FLTE, with small-to-medium effect sizes. Using the newly developed FLTE scale, Derakhshan et al. (2022) focused on the effects of resilience, well-being, and L2 grit on the FLTE of 450 Iranian EFL teachers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that teachers’ L2 grit, resilience and well-being significantly shaped their FLTE. The authors concluded that gritty, resilient, and happy teachers are more likely to enjoy the emotional rollercoaster in the FL classroom. Given the recent appearance of the concept of FLTE, its relationship with individuals’ burnout and engagement has not yet been investigated. According to Slišković et al. (2019), the relations of positive emotions to teacher burnout and engagement need to be further explored. As language teaching is particu- larly emotionally demanding due to its strong emphasis on interpersonal rela- tions and the integration of identities (Talbot & Mercer, 2018), it is significant to explore whether mindfulness could be linked to enjoyment and -by extension- to work engagement (Azari Noughabi, Yang, Shu et al., 2022) and teacher burn- out (Frenzel et al., 2016). Based on the studies discussed above and theoretical considerations, we hy- pothesize that trait mindfulness will be negatively related to teacher burnout and positively linked to work engagement. Furthermore, we predict that this relation- ship is mediated by FLTE and fits in a positive feedback loop. Higher mindfulness would be related to more enjoyment, a broadened thought-action repertoire, and Shanshan Yang, Mostafa Azari Noughabi, Elouise Botes, Jean-Marc Dewaele 24 consequently more personal resources for enhanced work engagement and reduced burnout. Using SEM, we explored the following two research questions: 1. To what extent, if any, does FLTE mediate the relationship between mindfulness and teacher engagement? 2. To what extent, if any, does FLTE mediate the relationship between mindfulness and teacher burnout? 3. Method 3.1. Participants A total of 496 EFL teachers in Iran were recruited using snowball sampling and authors’ contacts. Teachers were asked to complete an online questionnaire in December 2021, with a total of N = 496 teachers completing the survey. A total of N = 321 female and N = 175 male teachers participated. The average age of participants was 26.94 years (SD = 7.18) with an average of 5.06 years (SD = 5.07) of teaching experience. The majority of participants were teaching high school students (N = 163), followed by secondary school students (N = 112), elementary school students (N = 95), higher education students (N = 73), and other students (N = 53). All teachers were Iranian citizens and were teaching English as a foreign language. The majority of participants were employed by private language insti- tutes (N = 351), followed by public schools (N = 97), and universities (N = 48). All teachers had a tertiary degree, with the majority holding a Bachelor of Arts (N = 260), followed by a graduate-level degree (N = 190).1 3.2. Instruments 3.2.1. Mindfulness Mindfulness of EFL teachers was measured by the Mindfulness in Teaching Scale (Frank et al., 2016), a two-dimensional measure examining intrapersonal mind- fulness (“When I am teaching, I find myself doing things without paying atten- tion” – reverse scored; α = .89; ω = .89) and interpersonal mindfulness (“I am aware of how my moods affect the way I treat my students;” α = .78; ω = .78). Fourteen items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” The total scale demonstrated an acceptable inter- nal consistency of Cronbach’s α = .88 and McDonald’s ω = .88. 1 N = 46 teachers indicated that they had an additional ‘other’ qualification beyond a Bachelor’s Degree. Let’s get positive: How foreign language teaching enjoyment can create a positive feedback loop 25 3.2.2. Foreign language teaching enjoyment The Foreign Language Teaching Enjoyment Scale (Proietti Ergün & Dewaele, 2021), which was adapted from the student-oriented short-form foreign lan- guage enjoyment scale (Botes et al., 2021), was used. The nine-item scale meas- ured FLTE through three factors, namely personal enjoyment (“I enjoy it;” α = .74; ω = .74), student appreciation in the FL classroom (“The students in the EFL class are stimulating;” α = .75; ω = .75), and social enjoyment (“We form a tight group in the EFL class;” α = .74; ω = .74). Items were measured on a five-point Likert scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” The total scale had an acceptable internal consistency (α = .88; ω = .87). 3.2.3. Teacher engagement Teaching engagement was measured by the multidimensional Engaged Teacher Scale (Klassen et al., 2013). The scale measures teacher engagement through four subscales, namely cognitive engagement (α = .83; ω = .83), emotional en- gagement (α = .88; ω = .87), social engagement with students (α = .81; ω = .81), and social engagement with colleagues (α = .86; ω = .86). A total of 16 items were measured on a seven-point Likert scale from “never” to “always.” Internal consistency of the total scale was high (α = .85; ω = .85). 3.2.4. Teacher burnout The Teacher Burnout subscale of the greater Teacher Immunity Scale (Hiver, 2017) was used. The five items were responded to on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree,” with items such as “At school, I feel burned out from my work.” The scale had an acceptable internal consistency (α = .85; ω = .85). 3.3. Data analysis Descriptive analysis, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and scale internal con- sistencies (Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega) were calculated in JASP version 0.16 (JASP Team, 2022). Average scores were calculated for each meas- urement instrument in order to create a single observed score per variable.2 As 2 Therefore, even though some of the variables utilized in this study are designed as having subscales (e.g., FLTE, which has three subscales), we utilized a single average score represent- ing the variable. In doing so, we assume a higher-order factor overarching the subscales (see Botes et al., 2021), which we then capture as an observed variable. As such, no subscales are individually included in the analyses, but only an average score of the total measure. Shanshan Yang, Mostafa Azari Noughabi, Elouise Botes, Jean-Marc Dewaele 26 mediation can be considered part of the structural equation modeling family (Kline, 2015), the mediation model was analyzed in R as a path analysis model via the Lavaan package (Rosseel, 2012). A mediation model was fitted with mindfulness as the predictor variable, FLTE as the mediator, and both teacher en- gagement and teacher burnout as outcome variables. The mediation model was estimated with a maximum likelihood estimator and a bias-corrected bootstrap (Biesanz et al., 2010). The theoretical mediation model is depicted in Figure 1. For mediation to occur, the following requirements needed to be met: 1. The predictor (mindfulness) had a statistically significant effect on the outcome variables of teacher engagement and teacher burnout. 2. The predictor (mindfulness) had a statistically significant effect on the mediator (FLTE) – thus path a is not zero. 3. The mediator (FLTE) had a statistically significant effect on the outcome variables of teacher engagement and teacher burnout – thus paths b1 and b2 are not zero. 4. Full mediation occurs if the mediator (FLTE) is completely responsible for the relationships between the predictor (mindfulness) and outcome vari- ables (teacher engagement and burnout) – thus paths c1 and c2 are zero. Mindfulness FLTE Teacher engagement Teacher burnout c1 c2 a b1 b2 Figure 1 Theoretical mediation model The direct (c1; c2), indirect (a + b1; a + b2), and total effects were examined. Mediation occurred if the indirect effect estimate was statistically significant. In addition, the 95% confidence interval of the indirect effect estimate needed to not contain zero (Baron & Kenny, 1986). The additional threshold regarding the confidence interval was added as small coefficients can be statistically signifi- cant in small samples (Kline, 2015). Furthermore, if the direct effects (c1; c1) were reduced to zero when the mediator was taken into account, the model was Let’s get positive: How foreign language teaching enjoyment can create a positive feedback loop 27 determined to be fully mediated by the mediator (FLTE). If both the direct and indirect effects were statistically significant, a partial mediation was declared.3 4. Results 4.1. Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients The descriptive statistics of each of the four variables can be found in Table 1, along with the skewness and kurtosis of each variable. Teacher engagement was found to be skewed left, with a heavy-tailed distribution (Field, 2013). The distribution of the data of teacher engagement may hint at possible ceiling effects in the measure. Table 1 Descriptive statistics and normality distribution Variable M SD min max skewness kurtosis FLTE 4.14 .61 1.56 5.00 -1.105 1.001 Burnout 2.60 1.03 1.00 5.80 .676 .370 Engagement 5.89 .84 1.88 7.00 -1.44 2.527 Mindfulness 3.95 .61 2.09 5.00 -.702 -.425 The Pearson correlation coefficients between all variables are presented in correlation matrix in Table 2. All correlations were moderate to large; however, no correlation was large enough to generate multicollinearity concerns (r > .80; Field, 2013). This was an especially encouraging finding, as collinearity between variables in the mediation model can reduce the power of the coefficient tests (Kline, 2015). Table 2 Correlation matrix variable 1 2 3 4 1. FLTE - -.451** .608** .488** 2. Burnout - -.328** -.621** 3. Engagement - .542** 4. Mindfulness - Note. **p < .001 4.2. Mediation model Due to the non-normal distribution of teacher engagement, a bias-corrected bootstrap was applied to the mediation model (Biesanz et al., 2010). 3 It should be noted that even though the mediation was examined through a path analysis, no model fit was analyzed or reported. The partial mediation model tested is saturated (df = 0), and as such model fit cannot be interpreted (Kline, 2015). As such, only the path coefficients, direct effects, indirect effects, and total effects are interpreted in order to determine if a partial mediation has occurred. Shanshan Yang, Mostafa Azari Noughabi, Elouise Botes, Jean-Marc Dewaele 28 The indirect effects of the mediation model were found to be statistically sig- nificant (see Table 3). FLTE therefore mediated the relationship between mindful- ness and teacher engagement (β = .304; p < .001) and teacher burnout (β = -.161; p < .001). As shown in Table 3, the 95% confidence interval of the indirect effects did not contain zero for both teacher engagement (CI [.214; .403]) and teacher burnout (CI [-.254; -.082]), further confirming the presence of a mediation effect. Table 3 Mediation model results estimate SE z-value p-value 95% confidence interval lower higher Direct effects Mindfulness → Burnout -.893 .067 -13.39 <.001 -1.060 -.726 Mindfulness → Engagement .446 .053 8.43 <.001 .324 .581 Indirect effects Mindfulness → FLTE → Burnout -.161 .035 -4.6 <.001 -.254 -.082 Mindfulness → FLTE → Engagement .304 .036 8.56 <.001 .214 .403 Total effects Mindfulness → Burnout -1.054 .060 -17.67 <.001 -1.171 -.932 Mindfulness → Engagement .750 .052 14.36 <.001 .605 .882 Note. SE = standard error Furthermore, large direct effects were found between mindfulness and teacher engagement (β =.446; p < .001) and between mindfulness and teacher burnout (β =-.893; p < .001). As direct effects were still statistically significant, FLTE only partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and teacher engage- ment and burnout. The full mediation model is visually depicted in Figure 2. Mindfulness FLTE Teacher engagement Teacher burnout .45** -.89** .49** .61** -.33** .06* Figure 2 Mediation model (**p < .001 *p < .01) 5. Discussion We started the introduction by pointing out that there was every reason to be- lieve that FLTE fitted in the positive feedback loop for teachers just as FLE is Let’s get positive: How foreign language teaching enjoyment can create a positive feedback loop 29 prominent in positive feedback loops for FL learners (Botes, Dewaele et al., 2020). Assuming that FLTE would be influenced by positive personality traits (in this case trait mindfulness) and ultimately directly or indirectly shape FL teachers’ well-being and flourishing (in this case teacher burnout and work engagement), we adopted a mediation model, using SEM to find out if FLTE mediated the re- lationship between mindfulness and teacher engagement, and if FLTE mediated the relationship between mindfulness and teacher burnout. Both hypotheses were confirmed. FLTE emerged as the central element in the positive feedback loop. In line with previous studies (e.g., de Carvalho et al., 2021), the findings revealed that teachers with higher levels of mindfulness, in other words, those who regulated their emotions on both intrapersonal and interpersonal dimen- sions really well, were more likely to focus on the moment and enjoy their time in the classroom. Their open inclination, accepting attitudes and receptiveness towards students allowed them to deal efficiently with challenges (Frank et al., 2016; Li, 2021; Moyano et al., 2021). King et al. (2020) explained that the ability to control one’s emotions and read the emotions of others is one of the require- ments for obtaining a black belt in martial arts. Similarly, mindful teachers can read the emotional temperature of the classroom and intervene without hesi- tation if the temperature drops too far or goes too high. Being mindful also means having the emotional resources to engage in decisive prosocial behavior, such as spotting students in distress and coming to their rescue, or countering students trying to sabotage the class and undermine the teacher’s authority (Ak- nin et al., 2018). Mindful teachers can also suppress occasional feelings of anger and frustration but stand their ground with calm authority and a straight face. This feeling of being in emotional control is required to actually enjoy the expe- rience of teaching. It also has beneficial longer-term consequences as the repeated enjoyment in the classroom is likely to lead to increased work engagement (Klassen et al., 2013; Azari Noughabi, Amirian et al., 2022). This could include reading up on teaching methods, attendance of training seminars or professional conferences, interactions with colleagues about best classroom practices, and attempts to introduce novel methods and tasks in the classroom. This investment is likely to bear fruit with higher quality teaching delivered with an authentic smile, result- ing in happier and higher-performing students (Dewaele & Li, 2021; Moskowitz & Dewaele, 2021; Roeser et al., 2013; Zeilhofer, 2020). This could have a positive ripple effect across the institution allowing everybody to flourish (Budzińska & Majchrzak, 2021; Azari Noughabi, Amirian et al., 2022; Seligman, 2011). More- over, higher levels of both mindfulness and FLTE are likely to broaden teachers’ thought-action repertoire, enriching their personal resources to cope with mul- tiple professional demands (Fredrickson, 2001; Ramasubramanian, 2017). This is in line with previous studies which indicated the ties between FLTE and EFL teachers’ Shanshan Yang, Mostafa Azari Noughabi, Elouise Botes, Jean-Marc Dewaele 30 resilience (Derakhshan et al., 2022). Mindfulness, combined with high FLTE and in- creased engagement, boosts teachers’ social-emotional competencies, resilience, grit, well-being and performance and is the best antidote against burnout (de Car- valho et al., 2021; Derakhshan et al., 2022; Hwang et al., 2017; Kazemkhah Hasanki- adeh & Azari Noughabi, 2022; Proietti Ergün & Dewaele, 2021; Taylor et al., 2016, 2021). Rather than engaging in draining emotional labor strategies to keep smiling despite not feeling happy (Gkonou et al., 2020), mindful teachers can be bold, play- ful, humorous and supportive: the very things that boost FL learners’ FLE (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2019) and by extension their performance (Botes et al., 2022). This study is not without limitations. Mediation rests on the assumption that all directionality stipulated in the model is correct (Kline, 2015). As such, the present mediation model does not preclude the possibility of some relationships being re- ciprocal amongst the variables. For example, it is entirely possible that feedback loops or bidirectionality exist between FLTE and burnout. Accordingly, there is a need for longitudinal studies to establish this. Also, the present study is cross-sectional and as such no temporal design elements required for true causal results were included in the study (Kline, 2015). Therefore, despite the theoretical literature on positive psychology, engagement, and burnout, this study does not provide definitive evi- dence regarding the causality between the predictor and outcome variables. 6. Conclusion The current study provided much needed evidence for the positive effect of mindfulness in pedagogical contexts and more specifically in FL contexts. It showed that mindfulness, like emotional intelligence, is a desirable personality trait for teachers. Mindful teachers experience more enjoyment in their FL class- room because of their ability to regulate their own emotions and, by extension, those of their students. It means that mindful teachers are probably also more relaxed, alert and positive, which allows them to initiate a positive feedback loop in themselves and their students. Teachers who feel good about their own performance will radiate positivity which students will pick up, boosting their own enjoyment and motivation, resulting in better performance which will fur- ther increase their enjoyment. Our analyses also revealed that teachers’ FLTE has longer-term consequences for their behavior and well-being. Teachers who notice students’ positive mood, increased effort and quick progress increase the engagement in their work. They may reflect on ways to raise the challenge in the classroom while keeping it in balance with the students’ increasing skills. Finally, awareness of their professional success can act as a shield against the in- evitable stressors and thus stave off the dreaded burnout. 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