Saudi EFL Teacher Professional Identity and Emotions: Emotions Regulation Perspective

Abstract

Research has shown that a strong teacher professional identity is an integral part of teaching as well as learning processes. Unlike the traditional view of who teachers are, nowadays conceptualization considers teachers not only as reservoirs of knowledge but individuals that inspire other individuals in unique ways. Teacher professional identity exhibits teachers’ beliefs, emotions, and teaching philosophies. Among other aspects, teacher emotions are a strong indicator of teacher professional identity; therefore, unless teachers are better equipped with cognitive strategies to regulate their emotions and are more emotionally intelligent, achieving their teaching and non-teaching goals will remain a forlorn dream. The current paper encapsulated various aspects of teacher emotions and emotion regulation models and has sought to answer the following overarching research question: How do emotions influence teacher professional identity and how do Saudi EFL teachers regulate their emotions? Hence, the factors that lead to Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ emotional arousal and disturbances have been critically summarized. Finally, the applications of emotion regulation models in the Saudi EFL context have been highlighted. The theoretical conceptualizations presented in this paper have implications for EFL teachers, teacher trainers, and professional development specialists.

Conceptualizing Teacher Professional Identity in Tertiary Education

“…This study conducted a comprehensive literature search on Saudi EFL teacher's professional identity on Google Scholar yielding scarce research most of which drew on secondary data (AlHarbi & Ahmad, 2020;Alnahhas;Elyas & Badawood, 2016). The few data-driven studies attempted to explore the influence of teachers' educational background and life experiences on their professional identities (Aljuhaish, Othman, & Senom, 2020).…”