Novice language teacher emotion labor and identity construction: A community of practice perspective

Abstract

This study reports on the emotion labor (EL) and identity construction of three novice Iranian English language teachers over a three-year period. Drawing on the lens of Community of Practice, we show how identity construction either preceded or followed the temporal and spatial EL that the teachers experienced. We argue that EL is not only externally defined, but it can also interact with teachers' imagined identities and emerging dynamics to serve as a source of self-invoked mechanism of professional work. We conclude the paper with implications for teacher educators to employ the EL-identity nexus to facilitate teachers’ pre-service and novice-service professionalism.