Emotion and identity construction in teachers of young learners of English: An ecological perspective

Abstract

While research on language teacher identity and emotions has grown in the past decades, little is known about the interactions of young learners of English (YLE) teachers' emotions and identity construction. Grounded in an ecological theoretical standpoint, the present study explored Iranian YLE teachers' emotions and the contributions of such emotions to their identity construction. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, post-instruction discussions, and narrative frames. Data analyses revealed that the teachers' emotions and identity were influenced by micro in-class, meso-institutional, and macro-sociopolitical ecologies of teaching. Each of these ecologies carried differential implications for the teachers' emotional tensions, and shaped their identity relative to the circulating discourses, participants, and particularities of teaching YLEs. Based on the findings, we offer implications for launching professional development initiatives that emphasize YLE teachers’ emotions and identities in the hope that these teachers will be better recognized in the future.