Motivated to regulate: The instrumental emotion regulation of novice Chinese EFL teachers

Background and Purpose: Teacher emotion regulation (ER) shapes instructional quality, teacher well-being, and classroom relationships. However, few studies examine instrumental ER motives—why teachers regulate emotions to achieve pedagogical, social, or identity goals. This gap is notable for novice teachers in Chinese secondary schools. This study therefore explores how novice Chinese EFL teachers interpret emotional experiences and why they adopt particular ER strategies. Its broader purpose is to show how instrumental motives guide emotional decision-making in real classroom contexts. Methodology: We conducted online semi-structured Mandarin interviews with six novice Chinese EFL teachers recruited through convenience sampling. Each interview lasted 30–40 minutes. We recorded, transcribed, and coded all data. Thematic analysis informed by Gross's process model and Tamir's motive taxonomy helped identify motives, strategy patterns, and influencing factors. Member checking and peer review enhanced credibility. Findings: Three instrumental motives emerged: performance motives to maintain lesson flow and classroom order; social motives to build trust and repair conflicts; and epistemic motives to project a stable professional identity. Teachers used situation modification, cognitive change, attentional deployment, and response modulation. The interplay between these factors suggests a situated regulatory ecology, where the intensity of student behavior dictates the strategy, but the availability of social support determines the sustainability of the teacher's emotional labor. Personal well-being and identity concerns shaped why they pursued specific ER goals. Contributions: These findings illuminate how instrumental motives shape ER strategies in the Chinese novice EFL context. The findings can inform teacher education programmes seeking to develop proactive ER skills. Keywords: Instrumental emotion regulation motive, teacher's emotion regulation strategies, teacher emotion, novice EFL teacher, Chinese secondary schools. Cite as: Wu, C., Ao, Y., & Liu, M. (2026). Motivated to regulate: The instrumental emotion regulation of novice Chinese EFL teachers. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 11(2), 16-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol11iss2pp16-36