Published academic work
Monographs
Sulis, G., Mercer, S., Babic, S., & Mairitsch, A. (under review). Language teacher wellbeing across the career span. Multilingual Matters. [under contract]
Mercer, S., & Gregersen, T. (2020). Teacher Wellbeing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mercer, S. & Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Engaging Language Learners in the Age of Distractions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gkonou, C. & Mercer, S. (2017). Understanding Emotional and Social Intelligence among English Language Teachers. London: British Council. [Research report].
Williams, M., Mercer, S. & Ryan. S. (2015). Exploring Psychology in Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Winner of the 2015 IH Ben Warren prize].
Edited Collections
Mercer, S.,& Kostoulas, A. (Eds.) (2018). Language Teacher Psychology. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
MacIntyre, P., Gregersen, T. & Mercer, S. (Eds.) (2016). Positive Psychology in SLA. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Gkonou, C., Tatzl, D. & Mercer, S. (Eds.) (2015). New Directions in Language Learning Psychology. Cham: Springer.
Mercer, S., Ryan, S. & Williams, M. (Eds.) (2012). Psychology for Language Learning: Insights from Research, Theory & Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Journal Articles
2022
Babic, S., Mairitsch, A., Mercer, S., Sulis, G., Jin, J., King, J., Lanvers, U., & Shin, S. (2022). Late-career language teachers in Austria and the UK: Pathways to retirement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 113, 1–10.
Babic, S., Mercer, S., Mairitsch, A., Gruber, J., Hempkin, K. (2022). Language teacher wellbeing in the workplace: Balancing needs. Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition, 8(1), 11–34.
Sulis, G., Babic, S., Mairitsch, A., Mercer, S., Jin, J., King, J. (2022). Retention and attrition in early-career foreign language teachers in Austria and the United Kingdom. The Modern Language Journal, 106(1), 155–171.
Mairitsch, A., Babic, S., Mercer, S., Sulis, G., & Shin, S. (accepted for publication). The role of compassion during the shift to online teaching and its effect on language teacher wellbeing. TAPSLA.
Babic, S., Mercer, S., Reiterer, K., & Gruber, J. (accepted for publication). Positive language education: Teaching beyond language. Humanising Language Teaching.
2021
Sulis, G., Mercer, S., Mairitsch, A., Babic, S., & Shin, S. (2021). Pre-service teacher wellbeing as a Complex Dynamic System. System, 103, 1-14.
Shin, S., Mercer, S., Babic, S., Sulis, G., Mairitsch, A., Jin, J., & King, J. (2021). Riding the happiness curve: The wellbeing of mid-career-stage language teachers. The Language Learning Journal.
Mercer, S. (2021). An agenda for well-being in ELT: An ecological perspective. ELT Journal, 75(1), 1-8.
Mairitsch, A., Babic, S., Mercer, S., Jin, J., Sulis, G., & King, J. (2021). Being a student, becoming a teacher: The wellbeing of pre-service language teachers in Austria and the UK. Teacher and Teaching Education, 106(103462).
Mercer, S. (2021). An agenda for well-being in ELT: an ecological perspective. ELT Journal, 75(1), 1-8.
Jin, J., Mercer, S., Babic, S., & Mairitsch, A. (2021). ‘You just appreciate every little kindness’: Chinese language teachers’ wellbeing in the UK. System, 96, 1-12.
2020
Mercer, S. (2020). The wellbeing of language teachers in the private sector: An ecological perspective. Language Teaching Research.
MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer S. (2020). Language teachers’ coping strategies during the Covid-19 conversion to online teaching: Correlations with stress, wellbeing and negative emotions. System, 94, 102352.
Hofstadler, N., Babic, S., Lämmerer, A., Mercer, S. & Oberdorfer, P. (2020). The ecology of CLIL teachers in Austria: An ecological perspective on CLIL teachers’ wellbeing. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching.
Hessel, G., Talbot, K., Gruber, M., & Mercer, S. (2020). The wellbeing and job satisfaction of secondary CLIL & tertiary EMI teachers. Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning, 2(2), 73–91.
Gruber, M.-T., Hofstadler, N., Lämmerer, A., & Mercer, S. (2020). Flourishing or floundering? Factors contributing to CLIL primary teachers’ wellbeing. CLIL Journal of Innovation and Research in Plurilingual and Pluricultural Education, 3(1), 19-34.
Gregersen, T., Mercer, S., MacIntyre, P., Talbot, K., & Banga, C. A. (2020). Understanding language teacher wellbeing: An ESM study of daily stressors and uplifts. Language Teaching Research.
Dewaele, J.-M., Mercer, S., Talbot, K., & von Blanckenburg, M. (2020). Are EFL pre-service teachers’ judgments of teaching competence swayed by belief that the EFL teacher is an L1 or LX user of English? European Journal of Applied Linguistics.
2019
Talbot, K., & Mercer, S. (2019). Exploring University ESL/EFL Teachers’ Emotional Well-being and Emotional Regulation in the United States, Japan and Austria. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 41(4), 410-432. [Special Issue on Teacher Emotions].
Ončevska Ager, E., & Mercer, S. (2019). Positivity for teacher wellbeing: A training course to help language teachers flourish. The Teacher Trainer Journal, 33(1), 20-22.
MacIntyre, P., Ross, J., Talbot, K., Mercer, S., Gregersen, T., & Banga, C.-A. (2019). Stressors, personality and wellbeing among language teachers. System, 82, 26-38.
2018
Mercer, S. (2018). Getting interested in the psychology of language learning. ELT Research, 33, 7-9.
Mercer, S. (2018). Connecting minds: Language learner and teacher psychologies. In Pattison, T. (Ed.), IATEFL Conference Selections (pp. 10-19). Faversham: IATEFL.
Gkonou, C., Mercer, S. & Daubney, M., (2018). Teacher perspectives on language learning psychology. Language Learning Journal, 46(4), 501-513.
2017
Mercer, S. (2017). Positive psychology in SLA: An agenda for teacher and learner wellbeing. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 40(2), 100-122.
Mercer, S. (2017). Exploring psychology in language learning and teaching. In T. Pattison (Ed.), IATEFL 2016 Birmingham Conference Selections (pp. 20-21). Faversham: IATEFL.
2016
Gkonou, C., Daubney, M. & Mercer, S. (2016). Teacher perspectives on language learning psychology. Language Learning Journal, 1-13.
2007
Mercer, S. (2007). Understanding the English language learner self-concept. In: Beaven, B. (Ed.), IATEFL 2006 Harrogate Conference Selections. (pp. 177 – 179). Canterbury: IATEFL.
Book Chapters
2021
Talbot, K., & Mercer, S. (in press/2021). Language teacher well-being. In H. Mohebbi & C. Coombe (Eds.), Research Questions in Language Education and Applied Linguistics. Heidelberg: Springer.
Mercer, S., & Talbot, K. (in press). Ripples in the system: The complexity and dynamics of multilingual EMI tertiary-level teacher identities. In Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Multilingualism and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jin, J., Mercer, S., & Talbot, K. (2021). EMI Teacher Identity, Language Use and Reported Behaviours in Austrian Higher Education. In K. Talbot, M.-T. Gruber, & R. Nishida (Eds.). The psychological experience of integrating content and language. Multilingual Matters.
Jin, J., Mercer, S., Babic, S., & Mairitsch, A. (2021). Understanding the ecology of foreign language teacher wellbeing. In K. Budzińska & O. Majchrzak (Eds.), Education in the Light of Positive Psychology. Springer.
2020
Jin, J., Mercer, S., Babic, S. & Mairitsch, A. (2020). Identities of European-based transnational researchers in TESOL: An ecological perspective. In B. Yazan, S. Canagarajah, & R. Jain (Eds.), Autoethnographies in ELT: Transnational identities, pedagogies, and practices (pp. 161-182). New York: Routledge.
Mercer, S., & Gkonou, C. (2020). Relationships and the good language teacher. In C. Griffiths (Ed.). The good language teacher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2019
Mercer, S. (2019). Language teacher psychology research in LTE. In G. Barkhuizen (Ed.), Qualitative Research Topics in Language Education (pp. 50-55). London: Routledge.
2018
Dewaele, J.-M. & Mercer, S. (2018). The duet of teacher and student emotions in foreign language classes. In S. Mercer & A. Kostoulas (Eds.), Language Teacher Psychology (pp. 178-195). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
2016
Mercer, S., Oberdorfer, P. & Saleem, M. (2016). Helping language teachers to thrive: Using positive psychology to promote teachers’ professional well-being. In D. Gabryś-Barker & D. Gałajda (Eds.), Positive Psychology Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, Second Language Learning and Teaching (pp. 213-229). Switzerland: Springer.
Mercer, S. (2016). Seeing the world through your eyes: Empathy in language learning and teaching. In P. MacIntyre, T. Gregersen, & S. Mercer (Eds.), Positive Psychology in SLA (pp. 91-111). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Publications (under review or submitted)
Monograph
Sulis, G., Mercer, S., Babic, S., & Mairitsch, A. (under review). The wellbeing of language educators across the career-span: A cross-sectional investigation. Multilingual Matters [under contract].
Journal articles
Babic, S., Mairitsch, A., Sulis, G., & Mercer, S. (under review). Language teachers’ capitals as resources across the career trajectory.
Sulis, G., Mercer, S., Shin, S., Babic, S., Mairitsch, A., & Csizér, K. (under review). Language teacher wellbeing and psychological capital.
Presentations and Talks
Project-related participation in national and international scientific/scholarly conferences and a list of the most important presentations held.
Conference presentations
Second Language Teacher Education: Challenges and New Horizons. University of Vienna (September 15th-17th 2022)
Title: The wellbeing of pre-service EFL and MFL teachers: Challenges and resources
Presenters: Sonja Babic, Giulia Sulis, Sarah Mercer, Astrid Mairitsch
Psychology of Language Learning Conference 4 (PLL4) Canada (June 23rd-25th 2022)
Title: Foreign language teacher wellbeing: A capitals perspective
Presenters: Sarah Mercer, Giulia Sulis, Sonja Babic, Astrid Mairitsch and Sun Shin
IATEFL Belfast 2022: 55th International Conference & Exhibition (May 17th – 20th 2022)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing across the career trajectory: Challenges and resources
Presenters: Giulia Sulis, Sarah Mercer, Astrid Mairitsch, and Sonja Babic
TEPE 2022 Conference. University of Graz (April 11th-13th 2022)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing across the career trajectory: Challenges and resources
Presenters: Astrid Mairitsch, Sarah Mercer, Sonja Babic, Giulia Sulis
American Association for Applied Linguistics: AAAL 2022 Conference Pittsburgh, PA (March 19th-22nd 2022)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing across the career trajectory
Presenters: Giulia Sulis, Sarah Mercer, Sonja Babic and Astrid Mairitsch
TEFL Day Conference and Symposium: Mental health in foreign language education (November 26th-27th, 2021, online)
Title: Teacher mental health matters: Understanding the ecology of teacher wellbeing
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
The Linguistic, Educational and Intercultural Research 2021 (LEIC Research 2021) conference (October 21st–22nd, 2021, online)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing across the career trajectory
Presenters: Giulia Sulis, Sarah Mercer, Astrid Mairitsch, Sonja Babic, and Sun Shin
American Association for Applied Linguistics: AAAL 2021 virtual conference (March 20th – 23rd, 2021, online)
Title: Capitals as resources for language teacher wellbeing across the career trajectory
Presenters: Sonja Babic, Giulia Sulis, Astrid Mairitsch, and Sarah Mercer
ELTE/EDiTE conference: International diversity in teacher and higher education research in the 21st century (December 4th – 5th, 2020, online)
Title: The wellbeing strategies of language teachers during the pandemic crisis
Presenters: Giulia Sulis, Astrid Mairitsch, Sonja Babic, Sarah Mercer, and Kata Csizér
The Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) conference: Communities of Teachers and Learners (November 16th–23rd, 2020, online)
Title: Teacher Wellbeing in Context
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
EAQUALS Annual Conference (October 23rd-24th, 2020, online)
Title: Professional wellbeing in times of crisis: Coping with kindness
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
IH Barcelona Annual Conference (February 2nd, 2020)
Title: Making teacher wellbeing a priority for good practice
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
ISTEK Schools annual foreign language learning conference sponsored by OUP (October 19th, 2019)
Title: Teacher wellbeing and learner psychology: Exploring the connections
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Hungary (October 4th-6th, 2019)
Title: Teacher wellbeing and teacher engagement: Strengthening the connections
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
One-day conference on the Critical Skills for Life and Work project. Newcastle, UK (June 21st, 2019)
Title: Resilience as psychological resource for highly-skilled refugees
Presenters: Sarah Mercer and Sonja Babić
IAFOR Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL), Tokyo (May 16th-18th, 2019)
Title: The interdependence of teacher and learner wellbeing
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition, Liverpool (April 2nd-5th, 2019)
Title: Drawing on positive psychology to support teacher wellbeing
Presenters: Elena Ončevska and Sarah Mercer
NIKEJ 2019: Education in the light of positive psychology, Lodz, Poland (April 5th, 2019)
Title: The wellbeing of pre-service EFL and FL teachers in Austria and the UK: An ecological perspective
Presenters: Sarah Mercer, Sonja Babic, Astrid Mairitsch and Jun Jin
Psychology of Language Learning 3 (PLL3) Tokyo (June 7th-10th, 2018)
Title: The wellbeing of first-year EFL teachers: Learning to flourish
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Psychology of Language Learning 3 (PLL3) Tokyo (June 7th-10th, 2018)
Title: The subjective wellbeing of CLIL teachers in Austria
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Chicago (March 24th-27th, 2018)
Title: Surviving or thriving: The psychological capital and contextual affordances of first-year EFL teachers
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Learner Autonomy SIG regional conference (June 2nd-3rd, 2017)
Title: Autonomy-supportive relationships between teacher and pupils
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Psychology of Language Learning 2 (PLL2) in Jyväskylä, Finland (August 22nd-24th, 2016)
Title: Developing a climate of love through social and emotional intelligence
Presenters: Christina Gkonou and Sarah Mercer
Psychology of Language Learning 2 (PLL2) in Jyväskylä, Finland (August 22nd-24th, 2016)
Title: Psychology for language learning: Spare a thought for the teacher
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
ELT Connect 2015 Conference (December 15th, 2015)
Title: Emotional and interpersonal literacy: Critical competences for the language classroom
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Invited talks
Erasmus+ Israel: Well-Being TAM for Teachers and Stakeholders (December 7th, 2021, online)
Title: The unspoken competences of teacher wellbeing [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Adam Mickiewicz University: Invited Lecture Series (December 2nd, 2021, online)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing across the career trajectory: An ecological perspective [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
HELBLING Masterclass: Contemporary Issues in ELT (September 28th, 2021, online)
Title: The self in language and teaching: Understanding social processes [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Universidad Andrés Bello, Chile (September 10th, 2021, online)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing: During and beyond the pandemic [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Arqus Lounge (June 16th, 2021, online)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing: An ecological perspective [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Cag University, Turkey (May 5th, 2021, online)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing: Theory, research, and practice. [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Harvard University: Dialogue for change series of talks 2020-2021 (April 22nd, 2021, online)
Title: Navigating student emotions and leading empathetic conversations in the language classroom [Invited Speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Cambridge University, School of Education, UK (March 1st, 2021, online)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing: Dispelling myths, complexifying constructs, and setting an agenda. [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Terrakki Schools, Turkey (December 2nd, 2020, online)
Title: Teacher wellbeing: Keeping sight of myself. [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Oxford University Press Spain (November 25th, 2020, online)
Title: Developing wellbeing habits as a language teacher [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
JALT, Japan (November 21st, 2020, online)
Title: Teaching wellbeing in context. [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Northeast Normal University, China (November 18th, 2020, online)
Title: An ecological perspective on language teacher wellbeing: Theory, research, and practice [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
British Council & IATEFL (October 3rd, 2020, online)
Title: Teacher wellbeing: An individual and collective responsibility. [Invited plenary speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Oxford University Press (September 21st, 2020, online)
Title: The STAR approach to student wellbeing [invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Oxford University Press Facebook Live (August 13th, 2020, online)
Title: Q&A Teacher Wellbeing [invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer and Tammy Gregersen
PASE & DOS Poland (June 8th, 2020, online)
Title: Teacher wellbeing in a time of crisis: Lesson for now and the future. [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Colégio Farrapilha, Brazil, (May 27th, 2020, online)
Title: Coping during covid: Strategies for teachers. [Invited speaker].
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
English Australia (May 12th, 2020, online)
Title: Be a “smart” teacher: Focus on your wellbeing [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Leadership and Management Special Interest Group (LAMSIG) (April 29th, 2020, online)
Title: Interactive Q&A on staff wellbeing [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Oxford University Press (OUP) (April 2nd, 2020, online webinar)
Title: Be a “smart” teacher: Focus on your wellbeing [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group (LASIG) Online Event (April 1st, 2020, online)
Title: Teacher and student wellbeing in a time of crisis [Invited plenary speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
TESOL Spain (March 7th, 2020, online)
Title: Positive Language Education: Teaching English and life skills [invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
ISTEK Schools and Oxford University Press, Istanbul (October 19th, 2019)
Title: Teacher wellbeing and learner psychology: Exploring the connections [invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
IATEFL Hungary (October 5th, 2019)
Title: Teacher wellbeing and teacher engagement: Strengthening the connections [invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Language Acts and Worldmaking, King’s College, London (November 24th, 2018)
Title: Colouring the rainbow of teacher emotions for wellbeing [Invited plenary speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
AISLI DoS Days 2018 (September 6th-8th, 2018)
Title: The secret to the success of any language school: Staff wellbeing [Invited plenary speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
International House staff training webinars (March 7th – April 16th, 2018)
Title: Professional Wellbeing for Effective Teaching [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Oxford University Press (OUP), Webinar (October 4th, 2017)
Title: The key to effective language teaching: teacher wellbeing [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
British Council Paris (September 15th, 2017)
Title: Teacher wellbeing: A practical workshop [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
School of Education, University of Salzburg (June 8th, 2017)
Title: Psychology for language learning: But is that Fachdidaktik? [Invited guest lecture]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
In-house staff training at Oxford University Press (January 7th, 2016)
Title: At the heart of language teaching: Lessons from psychology [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Cambridge University Press for the Cambridge English Teacher Professional Development Series (September 23rd, 2015, online)
Title: What about me? Language teacher psychology and professional well-being [Invited speaker]
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Invited workshops
University of Groningen, The Netherlands (May 27th, 2021, online)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing
Presenters: Giulia Sulis, Astrid Mairitsch, & Sun Shin
IH Barcelona annual conference (February 7th-8th, 2020)
Title: Making teacher wellbeing a priority for good practice
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Kansai University, Japan (May 14th, 2019)
Title: Positive Language Education: Teaching language and life competences
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
ELTABB, Berlin, Germany (November 3rd, 2018)
Title: Learner and teacher motivation and wellbeing
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
AISLI DoS Days, 2018 Italy (September 6th-8th, 2018)
Title: Pathways to personal and professional wellbeing
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
EAQUALS conference, Prague, Czech Republic (April 27th, 2018)
Title: Personal and professional wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Applied Language Learning and Teaching conference, Dubai. Invited workshop leader (March 10th, 2018)
Title: Prioritizing professional wellbeing because “It’s not just how I teach, it is who I am”
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Institut für Theoretische und Angewandte Translationswissenschaft (ITAT), Graz, Austria. (October 20th, 2017)
Title: Putting language teachers first: Teacher wellbeing
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Montan University Leoben, Austria. Invited workshop for language teachers (May 12th, 2017)
Title: Professional well-being for language teachers
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
Organisation of symposia and conferences
University of Graz, Austria (July 7th, 2021, online)
Title: Language teacher wellbeing: Closing webinar
Presenters: Sarah Mercer, Giulia Sulis, Sonja Babic, Astrid Mairitsch, & Sun Shin
University of Graz, Austria (October 25th, 2019)
Title: Expert panel meeting
Invited speakers: Jim King, Paula Kalaja, Kata Csizér, & Tammy Gregersen
FNF Tag der Fachdidaktik Forschung, Universität Graz (October 12th, 2018)
Title: Professional wellbeing for language teachers
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) conference, Aberdeen (April 18th-22nd, 2007)
Title: Language Learner Psychology
Presenter: Sarah Mercer
