Introduction to the Special Issue

Conceptualizing Emotion Regulation in Language Education

Abstract

Over decades of research in language learning and teaching, ample attention has been devoted to the diverse emotional experiences of teachers and learners, demonstrating how these emotions shape their well-being as well as teaching and learning processes. Yet insights into how teachers and learners regulate these emotions have remained scarce. This special issue aims to advance the field by providing a comprehensive picture of teacher and learner emotion regulation across diverse educational and sociocultural contexts. The studies adopt a range of methodologies and illustrate how emotion regulation is driven by different motives, unfolds in specific contexts and over time, and can be supported and enhanced through guidance. In this introductory paper to the special issue, we guide readers toward a foundational understanding of emotion regulation by highlighting three characteristics particularly salient in language education: its motivated, agentic, and context-sensitive nature. We then consider constructs related to emotion regulation and review current research highlighting its importance in language education. This is followed by an overview of the studies included in the special issue and, finally, a discussion of directions for future research.