A methodological review of L2 teacher emotion research: Advances, challenges and future directions

Abstract

While increasing evidence reveals that teacher emotion influences teacher cognition, well-being, and professional performance, teacher emotion is still an underexplored area in second language teacher education research. It is due partly to the dominance of traditional positivism in educational research, and partly to limited knowledge of research methodologies appropriate for teacher emotion research. To address the latter gap, this chapter clarifies and problematizes research methodological issues in teacher emotion research based upon an overview of empirical studies published in English up until 2016. A synthesis of research methodologies used in publications of teacher emotion in the field of second language teacher education reveals an overall reliance on qualitative research methods. To explore potentially useful methodologies, the review is extended to teacher emotion research in the field of general education, and the strengths and limitations of various methodologies are discussed. This chapter concludes with challenges for innovative research methodologies and corresponding requirements for researchers’ expertise.