Emotional Regulation Strategies Used by Indonesian Teachers in Thailand: Descriptive Qualitative Study

Authors

Didit Haryadi, English Language Studies, School of Foreign Languages, Institute of Social Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, ThailandFollow
Jeffrey Dawala Wilang, English Language Studies, School of Foreign Languages, Institute of Social Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, ThailandFollow

Abstract

The significance of this study is to explore insights into the emotions experienced by Indonesian English teachers in Thailand, highlighting their emotional journeys and the emotion regulation strategies they use. Ten Indonesian English teachers from diverse elementary and secondary schools across Thailand voluntarily participated in this qualitative research. Through semi-structured interviews, the collected data were analyzed deductively, applying Richards' (2020) framework to examine teacher emotions and Gross' (1998) framework to analyze emotion regulation strategies. The findings reveal a wide range of emotions, including happiness, pride, anger, confusion, loneliness, and mixed emotions. Notably, emotion regulation strategies, situation modification, and response modulation emerged as the predominant emotion regulation strategies employed. The findings also revealed sub-strategies under these emotion regulation strategies. These insights underscore the imperative of integrating emotion regulation practices into English Language Teaching to optimize instructional effectiveness. It highlights the pivotal role of emotional experiences in navigating cultural differences and linguistic barriers in teaching abroad, offering practical and theoretical implications for teachers, trainers, and educational institutions in Thai and similar contexts.

Keywords

Indonesian English teachers, teacher emotions, emotion regulation strategies, Thai educational context, descriptive qualitative study

Author Bio(s)

Didit Haryadi obtained his bachelor's degree in the English Language Education Department from Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta in 2018. He recently completed his master's degree in English Language Studies at Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand. His research interests encompass effective EFL teaching, EFL teacher emotions, and the experiences of non-local English teachers. Please direct correspondence to haryadidit33@gmail.com

Dr. Jeffrey Dawala Wilang completed his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of the Cordilleras (UC) in the Philippines, followed by a master’s degree in Teaching English as an International Language from the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Prince of Songkla University (PSU), Hat Yai Campus in Thailand. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the School of Liberal Arts at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), also in Thailand. Currently serving as an assistant professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Institute of Social Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Jeffrey's research interests lie in psycholinguistics and English as a lingua franca.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the English Language Studies Department, School of Foreign Languages, Institute of Social Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, for their invaluable support during the completion of this research. This research would not have been possible without the help and support of the faculty members.

Publication Date

1-19-2026

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2026.7402

Recommended APA Citation

Haryadi, D., & Wilang, J. D. (2026). Emotional regulation strategies used by Indonesian teachers in Thailand: Descriptive qualitative study. The Qualitative Report, 31(1), 4940-4961. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2026.7402