Workplace Well-Being and Flourishing in Iranian EFL Teachers: A Mixed-Methods Study Based on PERMA Model

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of English Language Teaching, Faculty of Humanities, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

10.22111/ijals.2026.54369.2580

Abstract

Teacher workplace well-being has become an increasingly important concern in language education due to growing attention to burnout, occupational sustainability, and teacher flourishing in demanding instructional environments. This mixed-methods study examined workplace well-being among Iranian EFL teachers using the Workplace PERMA framework. In the quantitative phase, 199 teachers from public high schools, private language institutes, or both sectors completed the PERMA Profiler. A two-way analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant main effect of gender on overall workplace well-being, while the main effect of working context and the interaction effect were not statistically significant. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews with 50 teachers were analyzed thematically to clarify how teachers construed the five PERMA pillars of positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment in their workplace lives. Positive emotion was primarily anchored in evidence of learner progress and affirmation, engagement was constructed as absorption and sustained curiosity toward pedagogy, and relationships were framed as collegial and classroom support that fostered psychological safety. The findings suggest that workplace flourishing among Iranian EFL teachers is not reducible to sector membership alone but is organized through instructional, relational, and professional cues that map onto PERMA dimensions. The study contributes to flourishing-oriented perspectives in language teacher psychology by illustrating how workplace well-being is experienced and sustained across different EFL teaching ecologies and by highlighting the value of PERMA-informed approaches for understanding teacher flourishing in context.

Keywords

References

Akbari, R., & Eghtesadi, A. (2017). Burnout coping strategies among Iranian EFL teachers. Applied Research on English Language, 6(2), 179–192. https://doi.org/10.22108/ARE.2017.21346
Akbari, R., & Eghtesadi Roudi, A. (2020). Reasons of burnout: The case of Iranian English language teachers. Psychological Studies, 65(2), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-019-00541-y
Aldrup, K., Klusmann, U., Lüdtke, O., Göllner, R., & Trautwein, U. (2018). Student misbehavior and teacher well-being: Testing the mediating role of the teacher-student relationship. Learning and Instruction, 58, 126–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.05.006
Aminifard, Y., Sahragard, R., & Pentón Herrera, L. J. (2023). “I don’t like working hard to materialize another person’s dreams”: The emotion labor and identity dilemma of a novice Iranian female EFL teacher at private language institutes. Applied Research on English Language, 12(2), 169–194.
Budzińska, K. (2023). Language teacher well-being in the private school context: A case study. Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition, 9(2), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.31261/TAPSLA.12576 
 Butler, J., & Kern, M. L. (2016). The PERMA-Profiler: A brief multidimensional measure of flourishing. International Journal of Well-being (IJW), 6(3), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v6i3.526
Chen, S., Ntim, S. Y., Zhao, Y., & Qin, J. (2023). Characteristics and influencing factors of early childhood teachers’ work stress and burnout: A comparative study between China, Ghana, and Pakistan. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1115866. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1115866
Corbin, C. M., Alamos, P., Lowenstein, A. E., Downer, J. T., & Brown, J. L. (2019). The role of teacher–student relationships in predicting teachers’ personal accomplishment and emotional exhaustion. Journal of School Psychology, 77, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2019.10.001
Dewaele, J. M., Chen, X., Padilla, A. M., & Lake, J. (2019). The flowering of positive psychology in foreign language teaching and acquisition research. Frontiers of Psychology, 10, 21–28. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02128
Ebadijalal, M., & Moradkhani, S. (2022). Understanding EFL teachers’ well-being: An activity theoretic perspective, Language Teaching Research, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221125558
Ferris, G. R., Liden, R. C., Munyon, T. P., Summers, J. K., Basik, K. J., & Buckley, M. R. (2009). Relationships at work: Toward a multidimensional conceptualization of dyadic work relationships. Journal of Management, 35(6), 1379–1403. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309344741
Ghaslani, R., Yazdani, H., Ahmadian, M., & Dowlatabadi, H. (2023). Investigating EFL teachers’ resilience and professional experiences in challenging socio-economic contexts. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 11(1), 1–24.
Gkonou, C., & Miller, E. R. (2019). Caring and emotional labour: Language teachers’ engagement with anxious learners in private language school classrooms. Language Teaching Research, 23(3), 372–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168817728739
Greenier, V., Derakhshan, A., & Fathi, J. (2021). Teacher emotional regulation and psychological well-being in teacher work engagement: A case of British and Iranian English language teachers. System 97, 102446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102446
Gregersen, T., Mercer, S., MacIntyre, P., Talbot, K., & Banga, C. A. (2020). Understanding language teacher well-being: An ESM study of daily stressors and uplifts. Language Teaching Research, 27(6), 862–883. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820965897
Gupta, M., & Rani, S. (2017). Burnout among secondary school teachers: An analysis based on type of school, locality, and gender. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 3(2), 221–229.
Hascher, T., & Waber, J. (2021). Teacher well-being: A systematic review of the research literature from 2000 to 2019. Educational Research Review, 34, 100411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100411
Hofstadler, N., Babic, S., Lämmerer, A., Mercer, S., & Oberdorfer, P. (2021). The ecology of CLIL teachers in Austria – an ecological perspective on CLIL teachers’ well-being. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 15(3), 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2020.1739050
Jamshidirad, M., Mukundan, J., & Nimehchisalem, V. (2012). Language teachers’ burnout and gender. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 1(4), 46–52. https://doi.org/10.7575/ijalel.v.1n.4p.46
Janes, S., & Chen, J. (2024). Enacting teacher emotion, agency, and professional identity: A netnography of a novice Chinese language teacher’s crisis teaching. Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics,                               7(1 SE-), 1333. https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v7n1.1333
Jin, J., Mercer, S., Babic, S., & Mairitsch, A. (2021). ‘You just appreciate every little kindness’: Chinese language teachers’ well-being in the UK. System, 96, 102400.
             https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102400
Kiyanfar, Z., Zohdi Jalal, P., & Xodabande, I. (2025). English language teachers’ emotional labor and coping strategies in digital learning environments. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 11(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101597
Lavy, S., & Bocker, S. (2018). A path to teacher happiness? A sense of meaning affects teacher–student relationships, which affect job satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 19(5), 1485–1503. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9883-9
Lavy, S., & Naama‑Ghanayim, E. (2020). Why care about caring? Linking teachers’ caring and sense of meaning at work with students’ self‑esteem, well‑being, and school engagement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 91, Article 103046. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103046
Levante, A., Petrocchi, S., Bianco, F., Castelli, I., & Lecciso, F. (2023). Teachers during the COVID-19 era: The mediating role of mentalizing ability in the relationship between depressive symptoms, trait anxiety, and job burnout. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(1), Article 859. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010859
Lotfi Gaskaree, B., Xodabande, I., Zohrabi, M., & Behshad, N. (2025). Exploring the relationship between meaning at work and subjective well-being among language teachers: A Mixed Method Study. Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v8n1.2289
MacIntyre, P. D., Ross, J., Talbot, K., Mercer, S., Gregersen, T., & Banga, C. A. (2019). Stressors, personality, and well-being among language teachers. System, 82, 26–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2019.02.013
Mahdian Rad, H., & Baleghizadeh, S. (2025). EFL teacher burnout: The nexus of emotional intelligence, self‑concept, and self‑efficacy. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 13(2), 167–194.
Maleki, A., & Mirfendereski, Y. (2025). “I Had No Other Choice but to Resign”: An in‑depth investigation into the reasons behind EFL teachers’ attrition in language institutes. Discover Education, 4, Article 69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-025-00464-z
Maleku, A., Kim, Y. K., Kagotho, N., & Lim, Y. (2020). Expanding the transformative explanatory sequential mixed methods design archetype in a cross-cultural context: The polemics of African refugee livelihoods in places of resettlement. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 15(2), 212–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689820936378
Mercer, S. (2020). Positive psychology and the future of ELT. Bulletin of the JALT Mind, Brain, and Education SIG, 6(7), 7–12.
Mercer, S. (2021). An agenda for well-being in ELT: An ecological perspective. ELT Journal, 75(1), 14–21. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa062
Mousavi, S. M., Amirghassemi, A., & Saeidi, M. (2022). Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions of burnout sources: A qualitative study. Journal of English Language Pedagogy and Practice, 15(30), 119–150. https://doi.org/10.30495/JAL.2022.696590
Nadlifah, K., Setiawan, S., & Munir, A. (2023). Positive psychology to flourish professional well-being: A qualitative study of Indonesian English teachers’ perspective. Journal of English Educators Society, 8(1), 85–94. https://doi.org/10.21070/jees.v8i1.1693
Nazari, M., Karimpour, S., & Xodabande, I. (2023). English language teachers’ emotion labor in response to online teaching: An interpretative phenomenological approach. Journal of Education, 1(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220574221150000
Nazari, M., Keshvari, Z. (2024). Innovating payment as the determinant of emotional well-being: An activity theoretic perspective of contributions for language teacher identity construction. Gláuks - Revista de Letras e Artes, 23(3), 55–78. https://doi.org/10.47677/gluks.v23i3.413
Oladrostam, E., Rahmati, T., & Nushi, M. (2024). Integrating positive psychology into an English as a foreign language teacher education program. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 9(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-023-00226-0
Purvanova, R. K., & Muros, J. P. (2010). Gender differences in burnout: A meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77(2), 168–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2010.04.006
Qin, F., Zhang, J., & Li, Y. (2024). Foreign language teachers’ PERMA well-being and life satisfaction: Mediating role of teaching effectiveness. Acta Psychologica, 240, 104532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104532
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness. Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615801003728273
Sadeghi, K., & Pourbahram, R. (2024). Exploring factors affecting English language teacher well-being: Insights from positive psychology. System, 115, 103952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2024.103274
Sak, M., & Gürbüz, N. (2024). Dynamic changes in pre-service language teacher well-being in the classroom ecology: A micro approach. TESOL Quarterly, 58(1), 168–194. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3222
Sak, R. (2018). Gender differences in Turkish early childhood teachers’ job satisfaction, job burnout, and organizational cynicism. Early Childhood Education Journal, 46(6), 643–653. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-018-0895-9
Salmani Ghasemzadegan, R., Xodabande, I., Koleini, N., & Lotfi Gaskaree, B. (2025). Exploring the role of autonomy support and thwarting in the well-being of Iranian early career language teachers. Discover Psychology, 5(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44202-025-00368-x
Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Free Press.
Shanmugam, P., & Hidayat, R. (2022). Assessing grit and well-being of Malaysian ESL teachers: Application of the PERMA model. Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction, 19(2), 153–181. https://doi.org/10.32890/mjli2022.19.2.6
 
 
Shao, G. (2023). A model of teacher enthusiasm, teacher self-efficacy, grit, and teacher well-being among English as a foreign language teachers. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1169824. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1169824
Shin, S., Mercer, S., Babic, S., Sulis, G., Mairitsch, A., & King, J. (2021). Riding the happiness curve: The well-being of mid-career phase language teachers. The Language Learning Journal, 51(2), 195–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2021.1979632
Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2014). Teacher self-efficacy and perceived autonomy: Relations with teacher engagement, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. Psychological Reports, 114(1), 68–77. https://doi.org/10.2466/14.02.PR0.114k14w0
Sulis, G., Mercer, S., Babic, S., & Mairitsch, A. (Eds.). (2023). Language teacher well-being across the career span. Channel View Publications. https://doi.org/10.21832/SULIS2804
Walsh, P. (2019). Precarity. ELT Journal, 73, 459–462. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccz035
Zhang, L., Chen, J., Li, X., & Zhan, Y. (2024). A scoping review of teacher well-being research between 1968 and 2021. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 33(1), 171–186.
              https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-023-00717-1
Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies
Volume 18, Issue 1
July 2026
Pages 19-42

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics