Shadows and light: navigating teachers' time poverty and blended teaching acceptance with social support and job satisfaction in EFL teachers' voyage.

BACKGROUND

The increasing prominence of blended teaching in English instruction underscores its potential to enhance educational quality. However, the significant time commitment required may deter teachers from adopting this method due to prevalent time poverty. Despite the critical implications, research exploring the link between time poverty and acceptance of blended teaching is sparse.

METHODS

This study developed a theoretical model to investigate the effects of time poverty on the acceptance of blended teaching among teachers, incorporating job satisfaction as a mediating variable and social support as a moderating variable. A total of 793 English teachers from various Chinese universities participated, providing data through a structured questionnaire. The relationships were analyzed using regression and path analysis to validate the hypothesized model.

RESULTS

The analysis revealed that time poverty significantly and negatively influences university EFL teachers' acceptance of blended teaching. Job satisfaction was found to partially mediate this relationship, indicating that emotional well-being plays a critical role in shaping instructional openness under conditions of time stress. Notably, social support exhibited a dual moderating role: it exacerbated the negative impact of time poverty on both job satisfaction and blended teaching acceptance, while simultaneously enhancing the positive influence of job satisfaction on teachers' willingness to adopt blended methods.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight job satisfaction as a pivotal psychological mechanism through which time-related stressors affect pedagogical innovation. The complex role of social support-being facilitative in some pathways yet detrimental in others-underscores the importance of evaluating not only the presence but also the alignment and perceived utility of support systems in educational settings. For university-level EFL teachers navigating digital transformation under high workload pressures, context-sensitive and needs-matched support strategies are essential. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the interactive dynamics among time poverty, job satisfaction, social support, and blended teaching acceptance, and offers practical implications for the design of more effective teacher support mechanisms in the era of educational innovation.