Emotion labor and agency of language teachers working with young multilingual students: an ecological perspective

This study investigates in-service elementary school teachers’ emotion labor and the ways in which they resist emotion labor and exert agency when teaching young multilingual immigrant students. While research on language teachers’ emotions has recently increased, little is known about how sociopolitical contexts shape the emotional experiences of elementary school teachers who work with young immigrant students. Drawing on an ecological theoretical framework, this study explores how teachers’ emotional experiences help them sustain professional practice under institutional pressures by analyzing semi-structured interviews, participants’ online posts and comments, reflective blogs, teachers’ YouTube channels, and media interviews. The analysis revealed that the complex ecological characteristics of expectations placed on teachers are major factors in shaping teachers’ emotion labor, including government policies, power relations at the institutional level, and the lack of language resources to teach students. The analysis also showed that emotion labor could serve as a catalyst for agency when it led teachers to problematize structural deficiencies and engage in practices that reconfigure resources. This research calls for a more nuanced understanding of the relationships between emotions and power in teacher education programs, classroom practices, and policies for teachers working with young multilingual students.