Digital Era in China: Teachers Emotional Labor in Live-Streaming Education

Resumen

In the Digital Era, global digital transformation has become an irreversible trend. In China, this phenomenon is particularly evident, especially in the education sector, where live-streaming Education, a new educational model, stands in stark contrast to traditional education. In 2023, the market size of China's Live-streaming Education industry has reached 232.69 billion yuan, a figure that not only reflects the rapid growth of Live-streaming Education but also reflects the challenges faced by the traditional education industry. The ascent of Live-streaming Education owes to digital technologies' strong interactivity and connectivity.
Distinct from the traditional teachers, teachers in Live-streaming Education not only have to focus on the quality of the teaching content and the efficiency of knowledge transfer but also need to pay attention to the language and attitude of teaching to boost the sales of course products. This dual role demands that teachers invest more complex Emotional Labor to establish strong interactions with students, and strong connections with the platform, ultimately attaining the dual goals of teaching and sales.
This research endeavors to delve into the complex Emotional Labor of teachers in Live-streaming Education, with the group of live-streaming teachers on Douyin (the largest live-streaming platform in terms of user scale in China) serving as the research subjects. The study : (a) tracing and analyzing the Emotional Labor exerted by these teachers in Live-streaming Education; (b) exploring how Emotional Labor assists them in balancing the dual roles of teachers and salespersons; (c) exploring how Emotional Labor enables them to establish strong connections with students and the platform; (d) investigating how the emotional experiences of this group are integrated with the general trends of social development, thereby influencing and transforming the existing educational ecosystem in China. This provides a new perspective on understanding the changes in the education industry in the digital age.