Unpacking English Language Teacher-Tutors’ Emotional Labour: Evidence from Kazakhstan

Abstract

Emotional labour has attracted growing attention in language education research, particularly in relation to English language teachers and their well-being. It refers to the regulation of emotions to meet professional expectations in the workplace. Although emotional labour has been widely explored across different educational contexts, little is known about how it is experienced by English language teacher-tutors who juggle teaching in state schools and providing private tutoring in Kazakhstan. To address this gap, this qualitative study investigates the emotional challenges faced by nine English language teacher-tutors in Kazakhstan and the strategies they employ to cope with these demands. The study is guided by Hochschild’s (1983) theoretical framework of emotional labour, with particular attention to surface acting. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that one of the main motivations for becoming a teacher-tutor was financial benefit. The analysis further showed that emotional labour was shaped by several interconnected factors, including heavy workload, time pressure, organizational pressure, classroom constraints, and surface acting. Participants attributed emotional labor to long commuting between workplaces, intensive schedules with few or no breaks, excessive paperwork, strained relationships with school administration, and experiences of burnout and emotional exhaustion. The study also found that family and peer support played a crucial role in helping teacher-tutors how to manage emotional challenges. In addition, participants relied on boundary-setting and self-regulation strategies to protect their well-being and cope with the pressures of their dual roles. In the end, the study offers practical recommendations for educational stakeholders to reduce the pressures placed on teachers and to create more supportive working conditions for English language teacher-tutors in Kazakhstan.