Foreign language teacher grit: scale development and examining the relations with emotions and burnout using relative weight analysis

Abstract

Abstract As teaching a foreign language (FL) is a demanding and frustrating career, FL teachers might face different challenges and difficulties which in turn would lead them to quit their jobs. Therefore, FL teachers need to keep their effort, energy, and passion to achieve their teaching goals. FL teacher grit (i.e., perseverance of effort and consistency of interest in FL teaching) is the concept that deals with these issues. In this study, we developed a new FL teacher grit scale (FLTGS) and investigated how FL teacher grit is related to their burnout and different discrete emotions. To this end, a total of 235 FL teachers filled out the questionnaires. The results of the study indicated, firstly, that the newly developed FL teacher grit scale had high reliability and a two-factor model fitted the data adequately. Secondly, findings indicated that both grit components had positive correlations with FL teaching enjoyment and negative correlations with FL teaching anxiety, boredom, and burnout. Finally, the results of relative weight analysis showed that FL teacher grit components can be as important as emotions in predicting burnout. Our findings suggested that the newly developed grit scale could provide us with a valid and reliable tool to assess FL teacher grit. Moreover, our findings suggested that higher levels of FL teacher grit can prevent them from experiencing burnout.