EFL Teachers’ Emotions, their Identity Development and Teaching Strategies: A Constant-Comparative Approach

Abstract

The current study examined the effect of EFL teachers’ emotions on different aspects of their identity development including instructional, vocational and local identity as well as their teaching strategies. Following interval-contingent diary writing through a narrative approach, the stories of four novice EFL high school teachers were examined in the course of two months. Through content analysis and theme categorization of participants’ diaries, interview data as well as classroom observation results suggested that teachers’ emotional experiences affected their identity and instructional approaches that varied across different contexts. The results revealed four main themes: desperation and anxiety about student misbehavior affected teachers’ instructional and vocational identity, frustration with low salary and status affected their vocational identity, and frustration with lack of freedom of action as well as feeling of discomfort with school administration behavior influenced teachers’ local identity. It was also indicated that the changes in teachers’ identity were reflected in their orientation towards students vs. teacher-centered teaching.

Keywords

• emotions
• identity
• novice efl teacher
• teaching strategies