An Analysis of Research Trends on Emotional Labor in Foreign Language Teachers: Implications for Research on Korean Language Teachers

With the rise of artificial intelligence, the evolving roles and status of foreign language teachers, the affective turn in feminist pedagogy, and increasing teacher attrition, research on emotional labor in foreign language education is no longer marginalized. Rather, it is emerging as a central topic within the field. Although studies on the emotional labor of Korean language teachers remain limited, this study seeks to offer meaningful implications for future research by examining existing studies conducted in China, a neighboring country with a culturally similar context. To this end, the present study selected 40 research articles published in China that focus on the emotional labor of foreign language teachers. Using a systematic review methodology, the study analyzed trends based on both meta-information and thematic content. Meta-level trends were categorized by publication year, document type, and publishing institution. Content-level trends were examined in terms of the alignment between research questions and methodologies, the distribution of research subjects according to thematic focus, and the use of theoretical frameworks. Based on these findings, the study offers four key implications for the development of emotional labor research in Korean language education: (1) increased orientation toward and deepening of research questions, (2) diversification and refinement of research subjects, (3) integration and standardization of research methods, and (4) dialogic and theoretical development of research outcomes. By drawing upon the research experiences of China, this study provides valuable insights into the future directions and developmental potential of emotional labor research on Korean language teachers, contributing significantly to the academic discourse in this area.