| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語學系 === 105 === This study aimed to investigate the two experienced EFL teachers’ social support needs in response to challenges at work and how the assistance of others influenced their work lives. By conducting qualitative research method, the study addressed three research questions: (1) What are the challenges faced by the experienced EFL teachers in their teaching contexts? (2) How do the experienced EFL teachers cope with the job-related stresses? (3) How do the experiences of eliciting social support to cope with the challenges influence the experienced EFL teachers’ work lives?
The study adopted a life history approach. To enhance the trustworthiness the study, multiple measures were employed, including interviews, participants’ and researcher’s journals, and school documentation. The findings of the study showed that the two experienced EFL teachers’ challenges were mainly about non-teaching work, such as managing workload, addressing the needs of special education students, dealing with students’ behavioral problems, and resolving teacher-parent conflicts. To cope with the difficulties, the experienced EFL teachers adopted two strategies – self-reflecting and making adjustments, and eliciting social support from colleagues, family, friends, and significant others. Eliciting social support was not the experienced EFL teachers’ priority. Second, the experienced EFL teachers mainly elicited support from colleagues (administrators and peer teachers). Informational support was the most frequently elicited type of support. As for emotional support, it was elicited from family and peer teachers. Third, influenced by individual and contextual factors, such as teaching experience, teacher background, it was suggested that the effectiveness of eliciting social support might not only influence experienced EFL teachers’ willingness to seek the same source of support next time, but also bring both positive and negative effects on their attitude toward life. Finally, several suggestions were made for beginning teachers, experienced teachers, and school administrators.
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