This artic
le aims to broaden the scope of
language teacher identity research by investigating the emotiona
l demands on teachers-in-training and nonnative Eng
lish-speaking teachers (NNESTs) in particu
lar. We examined how our foca
l NNEST participant, Puja, was confronted with and successfu
lly negotiated numerous emotiona
l cha
llenges in her first year in a U.S. MATESOL program. Furthermore, we investigated the impact emotions had on her overa
ll teacher identity deve
lopment and how her growth as an educator was evident in her use of strategies. Fo
llowing past research that viewed teacher emotions through a narrative
lens (e.g., Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik,
l12370-bib-0005" rel="references:#modl12370-bib-0005" class="link__reference js-link__reference" title="Link to bibliographic citation">2014; De Costa,
l12370-bib-0021" rel="references:#modl12370-bib-0021" class="link__reference js-link__reference" title="Link to bibliographic citation">2015a), we created Puja's &
lsquo;story’ by ana
lyzing data sources that inc
luded interviews, teaching observations, journa
l entries, and stimu
lated verba
l and written reports. Our narrative construction focuses on the ref
lexive re
lationship between Puja's emotions and her subsequent identity deve
lopment. Whi
le we acknow
ledge that emotiona
l tensions are part of teachers’ identity deve
lopment (and potentia
lly more so for NNESTs), Puja
large
ly navigated emotiona
l cha
llenges in a positive manner. The artic
le conc
ludes with a ca
ll for new pedagogica
l mode
ls that he
lp teachers deve
lop their ref
lexivity and negotiate potentia
l emotion-re
lated cha
llenges they might encounter.