Teacher Emotions and Identity in Language Education
Summary
Teacher emotions and identity in language education concern how educators’ affective experiences and evolving self-perceptions shape pedagogical practice and professional development. Teachers routinely encounter a spectrum of feelings—ranging from enthusiasm and empathy to anxiety and frustration—as they negotiate curricular demands, learner needs and institutional norms. These emotional dynamics interplay with individuals’ sense of professional identity: beliefs about what it means to be a language teacher, commitments to pedagogical values and perceptions of role legitimacy. Reflection on emotional experiences can foster emotional capital, strengthening resilience, promoting adaptive strategies and deepening engagement with colleagues and learners. This interrelation has global significance, influencing teacher wellbeing, classroom climate and learner outcomes across diverse educational contexts. Practical applications include reflective practice groups, emotion-focused professional development and supportive policies that acknowledge teachers as whole persons whose emotions and identities are central to effective language education.
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Teacher Emotions and Identity in Language Education publication trend
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Technical terms
Emotional labour: The process of regulating and performing emotions to meet the expectations of the teaching role.
Emotional capital: Accumulated affective resources and skills derived from emotional labour and reflection.
Teacher agency: The capacity of teachers to make intentional choices and take actions that shape their professional environment and identity.
Professional identity: A teacher’s self-concept and sense of belonging within the profession, shaped by beliefs, experiences and emotional engagement.
References
- An Exploration of Language Teacher Reflection, Emotion Labor, and Emotional Capital. TESOL Quarterly (2020).
- Exploring Emotional Vulnerability and Sense of Agency in the Digital Realm: A Three-Year Case Study of an EFL Teacher in South Korea. Education Sciences (2024).
- Teaching English in an engineering international branch campus: a collaborative autoethnography of our emotion labor. IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (2024).
- ELT teachers’ agency for wellbeing. ELT Journal (2023).
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