The role of teachers' emotional facial expressions on student perceptions and engagement for primary school students-an experimental investigation

Introduction This study aimed to investigate the impact of teachers' facial emotional displays (joy, neutrality, anger, and fear) on students' perceptions, compliance, and motivation. Methods Using an experimental design, data were collected from 121 students, aged 912, (M = 10.3, SD = 0.78), from schools in Suceava, Romania. Participants were exposed to vignettes featuring teachers displaying different emotional expressions, and they completed questionnaires to assess their responses. Results The intergroup comparisons revealed that joy had the most significant positive impact on students' willingness to participate, respect for the teacher, and overall enjoyment, while fear and anger led to negative outcomes. Discussion The findings encourage the positive emotional expressions in fostering better student-teacher relationships and improving classroom engagement.