Language teacher stress and growth during trauma throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating roles of resilience and well-being

The teaching profession has undergone a dramatic shift in pedagogical practices due to COVID-19. Already facing numerous challenges prepandemic, language teaching in particular has become significantly more difficult, and the effect on language teacher stress and well-being is still being explored. Key to this study is the exploration of growth during trauma, an adaptation of post-traumatic growth. Following previous studies from MacIntyre et al., this article examines changes in language teacher stress, well-being, resilience, and growth during trauma from April 2020 to December 2021 in an online survey of over 1,100 language teachers internationally. Correlations revealed relative stability in associations between stress, growth, resilience, and well-being across three time points. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) results indicate that language teachers are experiencing less stress regarding their health, higher levels of growth during trauma, and stable levels of resilience and well-being over time. Stress, resilience, and The World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) all predicted growth via multiple regression. Mediation analyses revealed significant suppression effects of resilience and WHO-5 well-being on the relationship between personal, professional, and health-related stress and growth during trauma. The current study highlights the importance of growth as a positive outcome resulting from stress, particularly when individuals are resilient and have high levels of well-being. Implications for teacher stress, well-being, and growth during COVID-19 are discussed further.