Philippine E-Journals

Stress and coping strategies of ESL (English as a second language) teachers in the Philippines

Camilla DJ Vizconde

Discipline: Literature, Languages

 

Abstract:

During the last two decades, marginal studies have been conducted relative to the construct of stress, particularly in the context of second language teaching in the Philippines. With the aim of establishing a preliminary database, a total of twenty-one (21) ESL teachers recruited from a certified program in TESOL in the Philippines were asked to respond to a multi aspect instrument which sought their concept of stress, causes of stress and coping styles. Results of the study show that the extent to which ESL teachers experience stress is not directly attributed to instruction-related aspects such as management and lesson preparation and implementation. Pressures from teachers’ school-related engagements such as attendance in meetings and seminars, submission of paper work, observation of heads and peers and attendance and tardiness in class were identified as main reasons for their stress. Among the fifteen coping styles, Filipino ESL teachers tend to ignore (3.0 weighted mean), seek professional help (2.70 WM) and laugh at the problem (2.60 WM) as their response mechanism to stress. Finally, among the personal variables, respondents age, civil status, years of teaching experience and educational attainment were found to be related to the teacher’s level of stress.