Cross-sectional study links loving pedagogy, teaching enjoyment with reflective-practice engagement among Iranian EFL teachers

A cross-sectional questionnaire study of 130 Iranian English as a foreign language teachers found that loving pedagogy and foreign language teaching enjoyment were positively associated with self-reported engagement in reflective practice. In a multiple regression model, both constructs statistically predicted reflective-practice engagement, with loving pedagogy contributing more strongly than teaching enjoyment.

The participants were recruited through a non-probability convenience sample from EFL teacher communities on Telegram and WhatsApp. Of the 130 teachers included in the final analysis, 89 were female and 41 were male. Their ages ranged from 18 to 50 years, with a mean of 30.38 years and a standard deviation of 7.83. Teaching experience ranged from one to 34 years, with a mean of 7.80 years and a standard deviation of 6.50. Teachers worked across schools, universities, language institutes and private tutoring settings.

All three variables were measured with established online questionnaires. The 29-item English Language Teaching Reflection Inventory assessed self-reported engagement in reflective activities across metacognitive, cognitive, practical, affective and critical dimensions. The 29-item Disposition toward Loving Pedagogy Scale measured kindness, bonding and sacrifice, acceptance of diversity and classroom community, forgiveness, empathy and intimacy. The nine-item Foreign Language Teaching Enjoyment Scale covered student appreciation, social enjoyment and personal enjoyment. Internal consistency was 0.88 for reflective-practice engagement, 0.89 for loving pedagogy and 0.73 for teaching enjoyment.

Pearson product-moment correlations showed positive, statistically significant relationships among the constructs. Loving pedagogy correlated with reflective-practice engagement at r = .553, while foreign language teaching enjoyment correlated with it at r = .503; both had p values below .001. The two predictors were also moderately correlated with each other, at r = .383. These results describe associations between self-reported scores and do not establish that greater emotional support or enjoyment causes teachers to engage more frequently in reflection.

Multiple regression was used to examine the predictors jointly. The model was statistically significant, F(2, 127) = 43.232, p < .001, and accounted for 40.5% of the variance in reflective-practice engagement, corresponding to a reported model effect size of f² = 0.68. Loving pedagogy had the larger standardized coefficient, beta = .423, compared with beta = .341 for teaching enjoyment; both were significant at p < .001. Loving pedagogy uniquely accounted for 15.2% of the variance in reflective-practice engagement, while teaching enjoyment uniquely accounted for 9.9%.

Bootstrapped bias-corrected and accelerated confidence intervals based on 5,000 resamples supported the positive regression coefficients. The unstandardized coefficient for loving pedagogy was B = 0.626, with a standard error of 0.110 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.376 to 0.891. For foreign language teaching enjoyment, B was 1.298, with a standard error of 0.282 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.644 to 1.904. Neither interval included zero, although these estimates remain model-based associations rather than evidence of causal effects.

The authors interpret the results through the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, the PERMA model of well-being and the job demands-resources model. In their theoretical account, positive emotions may broaden attention and thought, while relationships, engagement, meaning and accomplishment can create conditions that support critical examination of teaching. They also consider that repeated positive experiences may contribute to resources such as emotion regulation, resilience, self-efficacy and work engagement. These mechanisms were proposed as explanations for the findings, but they were not directly tested in the questionnaire analyses.

The study is also set against constraints described in the Iranian EFL context, including high-stakes university entrance examinations, prescribed curricula, restricted teacher autonomy and burnout associated with demanding working conditions. The observed relationships suggest that caring and enjoyable teaching orientations may coexist with greater reflective engagement, but the cross-sectional design cannot determine their temporal order. The descriptive results also indicated comparatively higher scores for all three constructs among more experienced teachers and those in colleges, universities, public schools and private schools than among those in tutoring and other contexts; however, the study did not provide a causal explanation for these contextual differences.

Several limitations constrain interpretation. Data were collected at one point in time, preventing causal inference and making it impossible to establish whether loving pedagogy and enjoyment preceded reflective engagement, reflected it, or developed alongside it. Convenience recruitment through online platforms may have underrepresented teachers who were less active online or lacked access to Telegram or WhatsApp. The analysis also used total instrument scores rather than examining relationships among subscales, potentially obscuring more specific patterns. Moreover, the research examined only loving pedagogy and foreign language teaching enjoyment, not other emotions such as enthusiasm, hope, anxiety, frustration or burnout. The authors consequently call for longitudinal and intervention studies to investigate temporal ordering, causal pathways and interactions among a broader range of emotional experiences.

Based on the correlational results, the authors propose several possibilities for teacher education and professional development: mentoring and peer coaching that foreground empathy and rapport-building; reflective-journal prompts addressing emotional responses as well as teaching techniques; professional-development activities combining emotional-literacy and emotion-regulation training with microteaching; and communities of practice in which teachers share experiences and conduct small action-research cycles. The authors explicitly describe these as theoretically and statistically informed recommendations rather than practices validated by the present study. Their effect on reflective engagement, teacher well-being or student outcomes therefore remains untested.

Subject of Research: Relationships between positive teaching emotions and reflective-practice engagement among Iranian EFL teachers

Article Title: Loving pedagogy and foreign language teaching enjoyment as predictors of Iranian EFL teachers’ engagement in reflective practice

Article References: Baleghizadeh, S., & Ahmadi, P. (2026). Loving pedagogy and foreign language teaching enjoyment as predictors of Iranian EFL teachers’ engagement in reflective practice. Discover Education, 5(1), Article 910. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-026-02084-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44217-026-02084-7

Keywords: Iranian EFL teachers, reflective practice, loving pedagogy, teaching enjoyment, teacher emotions, cross-sectional study, questionnaire research, multiple regression, language teacher education, Loving, pedagogy, foreign