AUTHOR=Wang Yan , He Lin , Wang Qing-Yi 

TITLE=The predictive power of teaching self-efficacy and emotion regulation on work engagement for EFL teachers in higher education

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1446257

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1446257

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=IntroductionThe study aims to explore the role of emotion regulation and teaching self-efficacy in predicting work engagement among Chinese English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers in the higher education sector.MethodsA quantitative approach was employed to conduct this research. Three validated questionnaires were distributed to Chinese college EFL teachers with diverse experiences and academic backgrounds. A total of 495 teachers completed the questionnaires. The questionnaires assessed emotion regulation, teaching self-efficacy, and work engagement. Correlational analyses were initially performed to examine the relationships among these variables. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to further investigate the predictive power of teaching self-efficacy and emotion regulation on work engagement.ResultsThe correlational analyses showed a strong association between emotion regulation, teaching self-efficacy, and work engagement. The results of the structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that teaching self-efficacy significantly and favorably predicted work engagement among Chinese college EFL teachers. In contrast, emotion regulation did not show obvious contributing power towards work engagement in Chinese higher education EFL context.DiscussionThe findings reflect unique features of Chinese college EFL teachers’ work engagement and provide useful implications for college EFL teachers and educational authorities in that it is suggested more time and energy should be invested in facilitating teachers with their psychological and emotional well-being along with pedagogical concerns.