Language teacher emotion

1. Introduction

Language teacher emotion is important for several theoretical and practical reasons. Firstly, emotions influence language teachers’ creativity in generating innovative teaching methods and improving their pedagogical skills (Farrell, 2022). Secondly, positive emotions such as enjoyment, pride, care, and love could enhance their teaching effectiveness and significantly boost their job satisfaction (Liu et al., 2024), well-being (MacIntyre et al., 2020*¹), and professional development (Golombek, 2015*). Positive emotions have also been found to form the basis for new pedagogical models that help teachers develop reflexivity and navigate emerging challenges (Wolff & De Costa, 2017*). At the same time, however, negative emotions may lead teachers to decide to leave the occupation: teacher retention is a pressing global issue (see Acheson et al., 2016*). Thirdly, language teacher emotion shapes classroom atmosphere and learner engagement in language classes (Dewaele & Li, 2021). This is because positive teacher emotions are closely tied to learners’ affective states and foster positivity that benefits second language (L2) learning and enhances learners’ well-being (Mercer et al., 2016). Overall, different dimensions of teacher emotion have been found to influence their teaching quality (Burić & Frenzel, 2023) and the learning outcomes of second/foreign learners (Agudo, 2018; Gkonou et al., 2020).

Teacher emotion is mediated by a myriad of internal and external factors, and language teaching in particular may entail unique factors that may incur and result in specific emotional rewards and difficulties. For example, language teaching involves language anxiety (Horwitz, 1996*) which can evoke a wider range of emotions compared to mainstream subjects (King & Ng, 2018*). Unlike other subjects, language teachers – particularly those who are not first language speakers of the target language – are expected to use the target language in their instruction. This constant demand can lead L2-speaking language teachers to experience lower self-confidence in their teaching, even when they feel confident in their pedagogical skills. Moreover, language teaching requires fostering authentic interpersonal interactions, balancing linguistic accuracy with meaningful communication, and addressing students’ language-related anxieties (Cowie, 2011*; Golombek & Doran, 2014*). These emotional demands are further compounded by stressors, such as the need to model the target language consistently and use high-energy, interactive teaching methods to keep students motivated. Combined with the language-related unpredictability of classroom discourse, these factors may create distinct emotional pressure for language teachers (Gregersen et al., 2023). For a comprehensive review of these stressors, see Mercer et al. (2016).

Due to its theoretical and practical relevance, research of language teacher emotion has gained increasing prominence within applied linguistics over the past two decades. Han et al.’s (2023) review of studies published between 2005 and 2022 showed that interest in the emotions of language teachers surged around a decade ago. Likewise, our literature search, which we will explain in detail, identified only a handful of studies from the 1980s and 1990s. During this period, research on language teachers primarily focused on cognition, beliefs, and professional development, with little attention to the emotional dimension. However, earlier research formed the foundation for subsequent research on language teacher emotion whereby the construct of emotion added a methodologically innovative lens for capturing teachers’ values and beliefs, encompassing their professional self-understanding, identity development, conceptual changes, and instructional choices.

It was not until the 2000s that L2 researchers began to recognize the significance of emotions in general in second/foreign language education. Even then, the focus largely remained on language learners, with teachers often overlooked as individuals in their own right. During this period, teacher psychology, which includes emotions, was often reduced to its functions serving as a tool to empower learners and facilitate their learning (see Mercer et al., 2016). However, since the mid-2010s, research on language teacher emotion has witnessed a notable surge, driven by various factors, including the growing prominence of positive psychology in applied linguistics research (e.g., MacIntyre et al., 2019). Increasingly, emotions of language teachers are being recognized as an equally important priority on the research agenda and practical relevance, alongside those of learners.

Given the recent growth of language teacher emotion research, we believe that it is high time to reflect on its history, identify the shifts in its scope, and point out its future directions. At the outset, it is important to note that language teacher emotion research thus far has adopted diverse and sometimes overlapping theoretical frameworks with a variety of conceptualizations of emotions. Therefore, in this current Timeline, we begin by providing a concise overview of the various theoretical approaches that have shaped the study of language teacher emotion. Then, we will discuss the antecedents of each theoretical framework to better understand their origins and development.

2. Theoretical frameworks for investigating language teacher emotion

The study of language teacher emotion has been shaped by four primary theoretical frameworks: cognitive approach, sociocultural approach, positive psychology approach, and critical approach. Table 1 presents a summary of the definitions and key themes associated with each approach, along with illustrative examples. It is important to be clear that while Table 1 presents distinctive features of the four approaches, the lines between these are often blurred. Many studies draw from multiple approaches due to their interconnected roots, such as those found in sociocultural critical approaches, as well as the inherent complexity of language teacher emotion.

Table 1. Theoretical frameworks for language teacher emotion research

The first theoretical approach is that of cognitive, which conceptualizes emotions as appraisals and intraindividual psychological states of teachers that are either positively or negatively related to language teaching and learning. Historically, the fields of applied linguistics, SLA, and TESOL have been dominated by cognitive paradigms where emotions were often “seen as inferior to rational thought” (Swain, 2013, p. 195). Cognitive theorists typically categorize emotions as positive or negative, exploring their correlations with language teaching and learning outcomes. Early research on language teacher emotion focused primarily on its detrimental effects on teaching and learning (i.e., the deficit view: see Lazarus, 1991). For instance, Horwitz (1996*) argued that teacher anxiety can adversely affect their well-being and the quality of classroom instruction, particularly among L2-speaking language teachers. Subsequent studies have further explored the sources and complexity of teacher anxiety across diverse contexts, including foreign and second language teachers in North America, Asia, and Europe (Goetze, 2023*). Moreover, the cognitive approach emphasizes fostering emotional competence to help individuals gain control over their emotions and improve their functioning during challenges such as curriculum reform (Van Veen et al., 2005*) and online teaching (Tao et al., 2024*). A central focus within this framework is the regulation of emotions to enhance teaching efficacy and thus to improve students’ language learning outcomes (Ghanizadeh & Royaei, 2015*). Emotional intelligence (EI) plays a pivotal role in this regard and has been extensively examined for its significance in managing emotions. Early research aimed to establish a causal link between EI and teachers’ pedagogical success (e.g., Ghanizadeh & Moafian, 2010*) and emphasized the significance of teachers’ ability to manage their own emotions while understanding and addressing those of their students. Building on this foundation, subsequent studies, particularly those incorporating insights from positive psychology, have explored effective emotion-regulation strategies used by language teachers to manage both their own emotions and those of their students (Greenier et al., 2021*).

The second theoretical approach, primarily informed by language teacher education research, has enriched our understanding of teacher emotion by exploring the sociocultural contexts in which teachers are situated (e.g., Cowie, 2011*). In the early 2000s, researchers, drawing on Vygotsky’s developmental theories, emphasized the need to investigate “the social origins of affect and its relationship to cognition” (Golombek & Johnson, 2004*, p. 311). This approach advocates for the dialectical unity of cognition and emotion and rejects the traditional view of teachers as passive conduits of methods. In this approach, teachers are considered as intellectuals and active learners. Emotional dissonance, particularly in pre-service teachers, refers to the conflict between the ideals and theories they learn in education courses and the realities they face during practical teaching experiences (Golombek, 2015*). Within this sociocultural framework, emotions are conceptualized as socially and culturally constructed through interactions, with emotional dissonance acting as a key driver of teacher growth and professional development (Golombek, 2015*). Building on this foundation, following studies have continued to explore language teachers’ emotional experiences in diverse sociocultural contexts, including the evolving teaching landscape shaped by globalization (e.g., Song, 2016*) and, more locally, the influence of official policies and curricular discourses (e.g., Loh & Liew, 2016*). Unlike the cognitive approach, the sociocultural approach explores emotional experiences as broad, dynamic, and context-dependent processes through which teachers engage with and navigate their emotions. Notably, this body of research has also underscored the dynamic interplay between teacher emotion and identity, as well as its impact on teaching strategies and practices across various sociocultural settings (e.g., Nguyen & Ngo, 2023*; Wolff & De Costa, 2017*; Yang et al., 2022*).

The most recent line of research has been heavily influenced by positive psychology (PP). Positive psychology researchers have challenged the traditional deficit view and foregrounded positive emotions such as foreign language teaching enjoyment, joy, and pride (e.g., Mairitsch et al., 2024*). This approach defines emotions as positive and negative feelings teachers experience, and emphasizes their vital role in promoting well-being, motivation, and job satisfaction. By cultivating positive experiences, relationships, and personal strengths, these emotions enhance teaching effectiveness and improve students’ learning outcomes. Most studies in this group model the relationship between positive emotions and other PP variables such as self-efficacy, work engagement, and psychological well-being (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012; Talbot & Mercer, 2018*). Research within the PP framework particularly focuses on the antecedents and consequences of language teacher emotion in the context of online teaching, partly influenced by the research needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., MacIntyre et al., 2020*; Wang, 2024*). This area of research also explores the regulation of both positive and negative emotions, as well as strategies for cultivating positive emotions. These strategies include practices such as mindfulness, expressions of gratitude, and professional development programs that prioritize emotional well-being (e.g., García-Álvarez et al., 2021). By shifting the focus from merely addressing negative emotions to cultivating positive ones, PP offers useful insights into creating supportive and empowering environments for language teachers, ultimately benefiting both educators and their students.

Finally, a critical perspective has historically been integral to the development of research on language teacher emotion and continues to be one of the dominant viewpoints in the field. Poststructuralist/critical research, which rejects the binary classification of positive and negative emotions, emphasizes instead the importance of context, power dynamics, and normative ideologies (Ahmed, 2004; Gkonou & Miller, 2023*; Zembylas, 2005). Benesch (2013*, 2017*) in particular established the connection between emotion, critical theory, and pedagogy, by framing teachers’ emotional experiences as sites of power negotiation and resistance. Subsequent studies have further highlighted the sociopolitical dimensions of language teacher emotion and demonstrated how emotion labor, governed by feeling rules that dictate how one should feel and which emotions one should display in a workplace context, interacts with teacher identity and investment (Afreen & Norton, 2024*; Nazari & Karimpour, 2022*). Building on this framework, De Costa et al. (2020*) and Benesch (2020*) explored emotion labor as a tool for teacher activism. An important direction in this research is to investigate the emotional rewards of emotion labor (Miller & Gkonou, 2018*, 2019*). For example, language teachers’ emotions can serve as indicators and promoters of their agency (Benesch, 2018*). Additionally, through emotion labor and reflective activities, language teachers can accumulate emotional capital, which can be transformed into social and cultural capital (Gkonou & Miller, 2021*; Her & De Costa, 2022*). Collectively, these studies underscore the pivotal role of emotion labor, power dynamics, and the potential for emotional experiences to foster professional agency and drive social change in language teaching. However, as emotion labor has gained popularity in academia and wider popular culture, its critical and feminist origins have often been overlooked. In response, Benesch and Prior (2023*) critiqued the uncritical use of this concept and advocated for a renewed focus on power and social justice. Rather than encouraging language teachers to tame their emotions for workplace efficiency, the critical approach emphasizes the importance of exploring the full spectrum of emotions as a means to challenge and address unfavorable social conditions.

3. Historical progression of language teacher emotion research

This Timeline article aims to depict the historical development of scholarly work on language teacher emotion. However, establishing selection criteria for key studies was challenging, as we hoped to include the most impactful empirical, conceptual, and theoretical works, from books, book chapters, and studies published in peer-reviewed journals up to October 2024. To select the key studies, we first excluded dissertations and non-English publications. To maintain the focus, we included only those studies that directly investigated language teacher emotion and excluded those that mentioned emotions only peripherally. For example, studies that briefly address teachers’ emotional experiences in the classroom were excluded if they did not primarily focus on teacher emotion. We identified seminal publications through a combination of annual citation metrics and expert reviews. However, we point out these metrics may not determine the impact of academic works, as they overlook factors like self-citations, mutual citations, and non-scientific citation reasons (see Swacha, 2022). We also relied on our own knowledge to evaluate the influence these publications have had in the field of language teacher emotion (see Taylor, 2011). Because we partially used citation counts as a selection criterion, our selection might have missed some recent studies. Readers are encouraged to consult recent reviews and special issues for more recent research that may shape the future directions (e.g., see Morris & King, 2024, for a systematic review).

In the following sections, we outline some of the most prominent studies on the topic of language teacher emotion, by starting with Horwitz’s (1996*) work and by covering the nearly three decades of research that followed. In doing so, we highlight the main topics (or themes) and the results of the research. We conducted collaborative and iterative thematic coding which resulted in four distinct categories. These categories were then used to code the studies included in the research timeline. Notably, many publications address multiple themes, and thus, they are coded with more than one thematic label. The resulting timeline showcases an international and interdisciplinary collection of publications, reflecting diverse theoretical approaches from various disciplines and the historical development of literature on language teacher emotion. The timeline categorizes the studies according to the following themes:

1. A Theoretical frameworks

   1. A.1 Cognitive approach

   2. A.2 Sociocultural approach

   3. A.3 Positive psychology approach

   4. A.4 Critical approach

2. B Research themes

   1. B.1 Emotional intelligence

   2. B.2 Emotional regulation

   3. B.3 Emotion labor

   4. B.4 Emotional dissonance

3. C Types of language teacher emotion

   1. C.1 Emotional experiences

   2. C.2 Specific emotions

4. D Contextual issues

   1. D.1 Reform contexts

   2. D.2 Online teaching

   3. D.3 Ideologies and sociocultural factors

   4. D.4 Professional and institutional demands

Several caveats should be highlighted in our coding. First, there is an overlapping use of emotion-related constructs, such as emotion regulation and emotion labor, across different theoretical frameworks. While emotion regulation is often linked to cognitive appraisal theories, researchers have broadened their perspectives to include PP and sociocultural approaches. Cognitively oriented studies typically view emotions as responses to personal appraisals of situations (Ghanizadeh & Royaei, 2015*; Gross, 2002) and investigate how teachers regulate their own and their students’ emotions, display or suppress emotions, enhance positive experiences, and increase teaching efficacy (e.g., Bielak & Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2022*). In contrast, PP research tends to examine the impact of emotion regulation on teachers’ mental and physical well-being and aims to develop strategies that optimize regulatory skills for greater professional success (e.g., Greenier et al., 2021*; Talbot & Mercer, 2018*). Meanwhile, sociocultural research emphasizes the influence of context and interpersonal dynamics on emotion regulation, exploring the interplay between internal emotional experiences and external pressures (e.g., Gkonou & Miller, 2023*; King & Ng, 2018*; Morris & King, 2023*).

Meanwhile, most studies on emotion labor adopt a critical approach by focusing on how power dynamics and social structures influence emotional experiences and expressions in professional settings. However, some cognitive and sociocultural studies have also used the term emotion(al) labor and examined it from their respective theoretical perspectives (e.g., Ghanizadeh & Royaei, 2015*; Moradi et al., 2024*). These studies tend to explore how individuals manage their emotions in response to personal evaluations of situations and the influence of contextual and interpersonal factors. While the critical approach remains predominant in the field, the alternative perspectives – cognitive, sociocultural, and PP – provide valuable insights into the multifaceted nature of emotion labor. A detailed discussion of the uncritical use of emotion labor is beyond the scope of the current article. For a comprehensive overview, readers are referred to Benesch and Prior (2023*).

The second caveat is that while we broadly categorized research into four main theoretical perspectives, researchers have borrowed theories and methods from neighboring fields like psychology (Lazarus, 1991) and sociology (Hochschild, 1983). For instance, within the sociocultural framework, our Timeline includes Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, activity theory, community of practice, and perezhivanie. Despite their nuances and differences, we grouped them together due to their fundamental views on emotions. Additionally, other perspectives such as discourse analysis, complex dynamic systems theory, translanguaging, and ecological perspectives also exist. For instance, an ecological perspective helps to demonstrate how individuals actively engage with their sociopolitical, institutional, cultural, personal, and interactional contexts, thereby revealing both its individual and social dimensions (Mercer, 2023). As noted by De Costa and Nazari (2024), research on language teacher emotion needs theoretical diversity because it ensures that the field remains dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the evolving challenges faced by language teachers, whether these are shared globally or unique to specific contexts.

Last but not least, due to our selection criteria, our Timeline may miss the important works that reflect the realities of diverse teaching contexts and teacher identities. Much of the existing research focuses on EFL/ESL teachers working in formal educational settings, often neglecting freelance teachers, educators in underrepresented regions, or those who teach less commonly studied languages (for some promising exceptions, see Afreen & Norton, 2024*; Ergün & Dewaele, 2021*). Similarly, the perspectives of teacher educators and those in hybrid or nontraditional roles may be overlooked. To address these gaps, researchers need to engage more critically with the sociopolitical and cultural aspects of teaching and prioritize the voices of marginalized groups. This would not only enhance our understanding of language teacher emotion but also make the field more inclusive and representative of the profession’s diversity.