Expanding the Language Teacher Identity Landscape: An Investigation of the Emotions and Strategies of a NNEST

Abstract

This article aims to broaden the scope of language teacher identity research by investigating the emotional demands on teachers‐in‐training and nonnative English‐speaking teachers (NNESTs) in particular. We examined how our focal NNEST participant, Puja, was confronted with and successfully negotiated numerous emotional challenges in her first year in a U.S. MATESOL program. Furthermore, we investigated the impact emotions had on her overall teacher identity development and how her growth as an educator was evident in her use of strategies. Following past research that viewed teacher emotions through a narrative lens (e.g., Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik, ; De Costa, ), we created Puja's ‘story’ by analyzing data sources that included interviews, teaching observations, journal entries, and stimulated verbal and written reports. Our narrative construction focuses on the reflexive relationship between Puja's emotions and her subsequent identity development. While we acknowledge that emotional tensions are part of teachers’ identity development (and potentially more so for NNESTs), Puja largely navigated emotional challenges in a positive manner. The article concludes with a call for new pedagogical models that help teachers develop their reflexivity and negotiate potential emotion‐related challenges they might encounter.