Jobs, Careers and Callings: Adapting Positive Psychology Tasks for Use in ESL/EFL and Other Language Classes and Teacher Education

Abstract

This chapter offers an innovation in teacher development for many teacher educators: the inclusion of language learning-related activities connected with positive psychology into micro-teaching as a way of helping teachers to craft their own jobs. The chapter begins with the distinction between jobs, careers and callings and introduces Wrzesniewski and Dutton’s (2001) concept of “job crafting.” It then gives a brief overview of positive psychology including types of happiness, using Seligman’s (2002) differentiation of “The Pleasurable life”, “The Good Life” and “The Meaningful Life” and expanding to his PERMA model of Well-being (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaningfulness and Accomplishment) (Seligman, 2011). After this introduction to positive psychology, the chapter reports on Lyubomirsky’s identification of behavioral and cognitive actions related to positive emotion and suggests specific classroom tasks that can be used for micro-teaching by teachers in training. These tasks, based on some the author uses in an M.A. TESOL course on Positive Psychology in ELT (English Language Teaching), give the learners practical experience using the ideas and provide tools for them to craft their own jobs.