What do we know about L2 teachers' emotion regulation? A bibliometric analysis of the pertinent literature

Abstract

Since emotion regulation is a key factor in second language (L2) education, multitudes of studies have been conducted on this emotional factor. Yet, the majority of previous research has focused on the emotion regulation strategies used by L2 learners. In recent years, some scholars have started to explore L2 teachers' emotion regulation from various perspectives, but to the best of our knowledge, no systematic review to date has been carried out in this area. Using CiteSpace software (Version 6.2.R2), the present review study analyzed 26 articles published from 2020 to 2023. The analysis outcomes showed that L2 teachers' emotion regulation is a growing but still nascent research area that attracts interdisciplinary attention from psychologists and linguists around the globe. The results also demonstrated that Iran and China are the most fruitful and fertile lands in this area with Iran having a higher degree of collaboration among institutions and authors. Considering the limitations of previous studies, this study provides some suggestions for future research.