Expressing Emotions in Teaching: Inducement, Suppression, and Disclosure as Caring Profession

Is teaching emotional labor? Are teachers selling their own emotions in exchange for money? To examine these questions, this paper examines teach-ers ’ emotion expression in teaching. Most previous studies have assessed teach-ers ’ emotional experience using interviews, and have reported that because teachers manage their own emotions, teaching is emotional labor. However, these studies have not examined teachers ’ emotion expression mediated by their interaction with students. This paper uses multiple methods, combining obser-vations of and interviews with three secondary school teachers, and introduces the concept of emotion management and self-disclosure. Teachers induced enjoyment and spontaneously expressed it to help stu-dents concentrate on learning. Whereas, when students showed teachers their interest in learning, participated positively in the class and increased their understanding toward learning content, teachers expressed positive emotions such as joy and wonder. The teachers ’ negative emotions were drawn out by students ’ speech and behaviors that showed passivity and an impolite attitude