I am an Associate Professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. My research interests include linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogies in English medium instruction (EMI) and transnational higher education; spatial, social, and linguistic belonging in international branch campuses; emotion labor, identities, and ideologies in second language teaching and learning; linguistic landscapes and educational spaces; language planning and policy; global Englishes; language and intercultural communication; and translingual pedagogies and practices.
IRAL-International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 2024
While a number of studies have documented the significant role of
emotions and the emotion labor ... more While a number of studies have documented the significant role of emotions and the emotion labor produced in English language teaching, research exploring English instructors’ emotion labor in transnational higher education contexts such as international branch campuses (IBCs) and within Science,Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs is lacking. Arguably, these neoliberally-driven and educational neocolonialist endeavors can produce intense emotion labor for English instructors. This study employs a collaborative autoethnography (CAE) methodology to investigate what provoked emotion labor for expatriate instructors, who teach English courses to Qatari national students at an IBC in Qatar. Taking a poststructural approach to emotion labor as our theoretical framing, we collaboratively examined our emotion labor in audio-recorded weekly meetings and then engaged in further dialogues and writings about our emotion labor. We reflect on two themes that produced emotion labor as well as emotional capital for us: 1) navigating our purpose teaching English to engineering majors and 2) confronting our roles as English instructors within a context of educational neocolonialism. Our study adds to the knowledge base of English teachers’ emotion labor in transnational and STEM spaces, while also showcasing CAE as a transformative methodology to explore language teachers’ emotion labor.
Multilingual and Translingual Practices in English-Medium of Instruction: Perspectives from Global Higher Education Contexts, 2024
Through the method of a ‘scoping review’, this chapter explores a growing body of research on tra... more Through the method of a ‘scoping review’, this chapter explores a growing body of research on translanguaging in English-medium higher education in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. With Arabic as the official language, and English as a lingua franca and common medium of instruction, translingual practice in GCC universities is the norm. However, complexities exist around language ideologies, attitudes, pedagogy, and assessment. With the ‘translingual turn’, Gulf scholars’ interest in researching translanguaging in EMI classrooms has increased. While there are systematic and scoping reviews of attitudes toward EMI and world Englishes in the region, a comprehensive overview of research specifically on translanguaging is notably missing. This chapter surveys research undertaken in the last decade (2013-2022) in terms of bibliographic characteristics, sub-areas examined, and contributions made to the understanding of translanguaging in EMI higher education. Gaps in the current research base are identified with key suggestions for future research directions.
This editorial piece is the introduction to our special issue on the emotional landscape of Engli... more This editorial piece is the introduction to our special issue on the emotional landscape of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education. In this piece, we argue for a greater focus on examining the emotional environment of EMI in higher education-the variety of emotions that get entangled in policies, discourses, and practices in local EMI contexts, and the emotional effects of EMI on various stakeholders, such as students, teachers, and administrators. We also center poststructural and critical approaches to examining emotions in EMI, which enable researchers to be responsive to the local contexts, and contribute to developing emotionally supportive and socially just EMI environments. The five empirical studies, two commentaries, and forum piece that constitute this special issue all develop these arguments further.
Abstract This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruc... more Abstract This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruction (EMI) in an international branch campus (IBC) in Qatar. A questionnaire was used to elicit attitudes of 57 engineering students (44 Arabic L1; 13 non-Arabic L1) taking EMI courses. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-sample t-test, and a qualitative analytic deduction approach. Overall, findings showed that students generally welcomed Arabic in this IBC and were supportive of English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual conception of EMI. For non-Arabic L1 students specifically, data revealed that despite not speaking the language, the students held neutral views toward Arabic use in the IBC courses. Data on Arabic L1 student attitudes in various academic courses that compose the degree program showed that Arabic use was most favored in political science/history and least favored in math. The Arabic L1 students indicated positive attitudes toward the use of Arabic during class discussions but held neutral to negative attitudes toward its use in lectures, readings, and assignments. In light of the findings, policymakers, university administrators, and IBC instructors are encouraged to implement practices that align with English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual EMI.
With English penetrating every domain of the major cities of the Arabian Gulf over the last 20 ye... more With English penetrating every domain of the major cities of the Arabian Gulf over the last 20 years, there has been little attention paid to the learning and usage of ‘foreign’ languages beyond English in the region, despite the transdisciplinary multilingual turn in applied linguistics and language teaching. This exploratory study draws attention to languages other than English which female Qatari national university students choose to access outside of formal educational institutions and practices because of intersecting scapes such as the mediascape and ideoscape. The findings reveal that female participants are engaged in informal learning of Turkish language due to the popularity of Turkish drama series and the shifting political relationship between Qatar and Turkey. Moreover, Qatari female students’ informal learning of Turkish provides them with greater agency and new identity options within the context of new millennium globalization and English language hegemony. The study reveals how females in the Gulf are increasingly learning and using additional languages beyond English which shape their personal and social identities outside of the formal language classroom.
This study proposes employing linguistically responsive instruction (LRI) in transnational higher... more This study proposes employing linguistically responsive instruction (LRI) in transnational higher education such as international branch campuses (IBCs). It sheds light on the beliefs and practices of content instructors teaching in English-medium IBCs, in terms of supporting students' academic language development. Previous studies have shown how content instructors, particularly in STEM fields, do not see teaching language as part of their role in the classroom and do not attach importance to it. However, students in IBC contexts often need more language support. 101 IBC instructors from various disciplines completed a survey regarding their beliefs about providing language support for students. A purposeful sampling of 6 engineering, science, and liberal arts instructors were also video-recorded teaching their classes and then interviewed about LRI practices using stimulated-recall techniques. Findings show that while STEM instructors tended to align less with LRI than liberal arts instructors on the surveys, they employed multiple LRI practices while observed teaching. The study shows the importance of going beyond just attitudinal surveys when it comes to understanding STEM instructors' dispositions toward teaching language, and it is proposed that IBCs create dialogic, multidisciplinary faculty learning communities on academic language development and meaning making resources.
Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities... more Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities and driven by neoliberal market economy agendas, has spread across the globe. One example of TNHE is Qatar’s Education City where six prestigious American international branch campuses (IBCs) all administer their degrees through English medium instruction (EMI). While there is a burgeoning amount of research investigating and problematizing issues in EMI higher education institutions, IBCs are a unique EMI setting due to their heavy reliance on importing faculty, staff, curricula and practices from their home campuses. Thus, this study takes an ethnographic case study approach to examine the language planning and policy and linguistic landscape at one IBC in Qatar. Drawing on multiple sources of data, the study reveals both the overt and covert language policies and ideologies of the institution and its various stakeholders, and the extent to which languages other than English are used ...
Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities... more Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities and driven by neoliberal market economy agendas, has spread across the globe. One example of TNHE is Qatar’s Education City where six prestigious American international branch campuses (IBCs) all administer their degrees through English medium instruction (EMI). While there is a burgeoning amount of research investigating and problematizing issues in EMI higher education institutions, IBCs are a unique EMI setting due to their heavy reliance on importing faculty, staff, curricula and practices from their home campuses. Thus, this study takes an ethnographic case study approach to examine the language planning and policy and linguistic landscape at one IBC in Qatar. Drawing on multiple sources of data, the study reveals both the overt and covert language policies and ideologies of the institution and its various stakeholders, and the extent to which languages other than English are used and accepted.
This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruction (EMI... more This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruction (EMI) in an international branch campus (IBC) in Qatar. A questionnaire was used to elicit attitudes of 57 engineering students (44 Arabic L1; 13 non-Arabic L1) taking EMI courses. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-sample t-test, and a qualitative analytic deduction approach. Overall, findings showed that students generally welcomed Arabic in this IBC and were supportive of English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual conception of EMI. For non-Arabic L1 students specifically, data revealed that despite not speaking the language, the students held neutral views toward Arabic use in the IBC courses. Data on Arabic L1 student attitudes in various academic courses that compose the degree program showed that Arabic use was most favored in political science/history and least favored in math. The Arabic L1 students indicated positive attitudes toward the use of Arabic during class discussions but held neutral to negative attitudes toward its use in lectures, readings, and assignments. In light of the findings, policymakers, university administrators, and IBC instructors are encouraged to implement practices that align with English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual EMI.
This study examines the communication strategies employed by Qatar's government in dealing with t... more This study examines the communication strategies employed by Qatar's government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The study contributes to a growing body of work on the sociolinguistics of crisis communication. We focus on the use of South and Southeast Asian languages, spoken largely by blue-collar migrant workers, which are often seen as peripheral even though they are spoken by a large segment of the population. The deployment of these languages during Qatar's COVID-19 awareness campaign assumes further significance against the backdrop of a series of measures taken by the government in the last few years to strengthen the status and use of Arabic. We analyze multilingual printed pamphlets , multilingual audiovisual communication through radio and social media, as well as interviews conducted with key figures who were part of the awareness campaign. Our examination of the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability of the multilingual awareness materials reveals that while the different languages and modes of communication were important in spreading awareness, equally critical, if not more, was who carried the information and in what forms. We show the significant roles community and religious leaders and social media influencers played in disseminating the awareness information to the diverse migrant language communities.
This study presents the first scoping review (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005; Levac, Colquhoun, & O’Brie... more This study presents the first scoping review (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005; Levac, Colquhoun, & O’Brien, 2010) of world Englishes (WE) research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) – providing a knowledge synthesis of studies related to the sociolinguistic dynamics and realities of English(es) in one of the most underexplored WE contexts. Although the burgeoning research on English in the region focuses on macro sociolinguistic issues, language policy and planning, and language teaching and learning, there is a pressing need for a systematic investigation of scholarship with an exclusive WE perspective (Mahboob, 2013). On this premise, we map the body of WE literature pertinent to this region during the last two decades (2000–2019). We provide an overview of the state of the research activity, helping to identify the knowledge gaps and determine a fruitful research agenda for scholars interested in the diverse issues of WE in the MENA region.
Utilizing an ecological perspective of heritage language learner (HLL) identity (Hornberger & Wan... more Utilizing an ecological perspective of heritage language learner (HLL) identity (Hornberger & Wang, 2008), this study investigates how an underexamined group within HLL studies-language learners with diverse ties to the Arabic language-perceive the label of HLL and how they position themselves and their classmates relative to this label during interviews and in an advanced Arabic language classroom. I draw on interview, observational, and videotaped classroom interaction data collected as part of a larger ethnographic study of this classroom community and show how a priori educational labels assigned to these students did not always match with their self-concepts and ignored the nuances of their relationship to the umbrella term "Arabic." These labels also affected students' classroom roles, self-esteem, and participation in the classroom. I examine the implications of educational classifications and assigned identities that are constructed by stakeholders such as researchers, teachers, or administrators, rather than negotiated by the language learners themselves, and critique Arabic HLL as an identity and educational classification. Finally, I offer some suggestions for how to engage language learners (HLLs if they choose to identify themselves as such) in critical discussions about their relationship with the language of study.
IRAL-International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 2024
While a number of studies have documented the significant role of
emotions and the emotion labor ... more While a number of studies have documented the significant role of emotions and the emotion labor produced in English language teaching, research exploring English instructors’ emotion labor in transnational higher education contexts such as international branch campuses (IBCs) and within Science,Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs is lacking. Arguably, these neoliberally-driven and educational neocolonialist endeavors can produce intense emotion labor for English instructors. This study employs a collaborative autoethnography (CAE) methodology to investigate what provoked emotion labor for expatriate instructors, who teach English courses to Qatari national students at an IBC in Qatar. Taking a poststructural approach to emotion labor as our theoretical framing, we collaboratively examined our emotion labor in audio-recorded weekly meetings and then engaged in further dialogues and writings about our emotion labor. We reflect on two themes that produced emotion labor as well as emotional capital for us: 1) navigating our purpose teaching English to engineering majors and 2) confronting our roles as English instructors within a context of educational neocolonialism. Our study adds to the knowledge base of English teachers’ emotion labor in transnational and STEM spaces, while also showcasing CAE as a transformative methodology to explore language teachers’ emotion labor.
Multilingual and Translingual Practices in English-Medium of Instruction: Perspectives from Global Higher Education Contexts, 2024
Through the method of a ‘scoping review’, this chapter explores a growing body of research on tra... more Through the method of a ‘scoping review’, this chapter explores a growing body of research on translanguaging in English-medium higher education in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. With Arabic as the official language, and English as a lingua franca and common medium of instruction, translingual practice in GCC universities is the norm. However, complexities exist around language ideologies, attitudes, pedagogy, and assessment. With the ‘translingual turn’, Gulf scholars’ interest in researching translanguaging in EMI classrooms has increased. While there are systematic and scoping reviews of attitudes toward EMI and world Englishes in the region, a comprehensive overview of research specifically on translanguaging is notably missing. This chapter surveys research undertaken in the last decade (2013-2022) in terms of bibliographic characteristics, sub-areas examined, and contributions made to the understanding of translanguaging in EMI higher education. Gaps in the current research base are identified with key suggestions for future research directions.
This editorial piece is the introduction to our special issue on the emotional landscape of Engli... more This editorial piece is the introduction to our special issue on the emotional landscape of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education. In this piece, we argue for a greater focus on examining the emotional environment of EMI in higher education-the variety of emotions that get entangled in policies, discourses, and practices in local EMI contexts, and the emotional effects of EMI on various stakeholders, such as students, teachers, and administrators. We also center poststructural and critical approaches to examining emotions in EMI, which enable researchers to be responsive to the local contexts, and contribute to developing emotionally supportive and socially just EMI environments. The five empirical studies, two commentaries, and forum piece that constitute this special issue all develop these arguments further.
Abstract This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruc... more Abstract This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruction (EMI) in an international branch campus (IBC) in Qatar. A questionnaire was used to elicit attitudes of 57 engineering students (44 Arabic L1; 13 non-Arabic L1) taking EMI courses. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-sample t-test, and a qualitative analytic deduction approach. Overall, findings showed that students generally welcomed Arabic in this IBC and were supportive of English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual conception of EMI. For non-Arabic L1 students specifically, data revealed that despite not speaking the language, the students held neutral views toward Arabic use in the IBC courses. Data on Arabic L1 student attitudes in various academic courses that compose the degree program showed that Arabic use was most favored in political science/history and least favored in math. The Arabic L1 students indicated positive attitudes toward the use of Arabic during class discussions but held neutral to negative attitudes toward its use in lectures, readings, and assignments. In light of the findings, policymakers, university administrators, and IBC instructors are encouraged to implement practices that align with English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual EMI.
With English penetrating every domain of the major cities of the Arabian Gulf over the last 20 ye... more With English penetrating every domain of the major cities of the Arabian Gulf over the last 20 years, there has been little attention paid to the learning and usage of ‘foreign’ languages beyond English in the region, despite the transdisciplinary multilingual turn in applied linguistics and language teaching. This exploratory study draws attention to languages other than English which female Qatari national university students choose to access outside of formal educational institutions and practices because of intersecting scapes such as the mediascape and ideoscape. The findings reveal that female participants are engaged in informal learning of Turkish language due to the popularity of Turkish drama series and the shifting political relationship between Qatar and Turkey. Moreover, Qatari female students’ informal learning of Turkish provides them with greater agency and new identity options within the context of new millennium globalization and English language hegemony. The study reveals how females in the Gulf are increasingly learning and using additional languages beyond English which shape their personal and social identities outside of the formal language classroom.
This study proposes employing linguistically responsive instruction (LRI) in transnational higher... more This study proposes employing linguistically responsive instruction (LRI) in transnational higher education such as international branch campuses (IBCs). It sheds light on the beliefs and practices of content instructors teaching in English-medium IBCs, in terms of supporting students' academic language development. Previous studies have shown how content instructors, particularly in STEM fields, do not see teaching language as part of their role in the classroom and do not attach importance to it. However, students in IBC contexts often need more language support. 101 IBC instructors from various disciplines completed a survey regarding their beliefs about providing language support for students. A purposeful sampling of 6 engineering, science, and liberal arts instructors were also video-recorded teaching their classes and then interviewed about LRI practices using stimulated-recall techniques. Findings show that while STEM instructors tended to align less with LRI than liberal arts instructors on the surveys, they employed multiple LRI practices while observed teaching. The study shows the importance of going beyond just attitudinal surveys when it comes to understanding STEM instructors' dispositions toward teaching language, and it is proposed that IBCs create dialogic, multidisciplinary faculty learning communities on academic language development and meaning making resources.
Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities... more Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities and driven by neoliberal market economy agendas, has spread across the globe. One example of TNHE is Qatar’s Education City where six prestigious American international branch campuses (IBCs) all administer their degrees through English medium instruction (EMI). While there is a burgeoning amount of research investigating and problematizing issues in EMI higher education institutions, IBCs are a unique EMI setting due to their heavy reliance on importing faculty, staff, curricula and practices from their home campuses. Thus, this study takes an ethnographic case study approach to examine the language planning and policy and linguistic landscape at one IBC in Qatar. Drawing on multiple sources of data, the study reveals both the overt and covert language policies and ideologies of the institution and its various stakeholders, and the extent to which languages other than English are used ...
Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities... more Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities and driven by neoliberal market economy agendas, has spread across the globe. One example of TNHE is Qatar’s Education City where six prestigious American international branch campuses (IBCs) all administer their degrees through English medium instruction (EMI). While there is a burgeoning amount of research investigating and problematizing issues in EMI higher education institutions, IBCs are a unique EMI setting due to their heavy reliance on importing faculty, staff, curricula and practices from their home campuses. Thus, this study takes an ethnographic case study approach to examine the language planning and policy and linguistic landscape at one IBC in Qatar. Drawing on multiple sources of data, the study reveals both the overt and covert language policies and ideologies of the institution and its various stakeholders, and the extent to which languages other than English are used and accepted.
This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruction (EMI... more This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruction (EMI) in an international branch campus (IBC) in Qatar. A questionnaire was used to elicit attitudes of 57 engineering students (44 Arabic L1; 13 non-Arabic L1) taking EMI courses. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-sample t-test, and a qualitative analytic deduction approach. Overall, findings showed that students generally welcomed Arabic in this IBC and were supportive of English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual conception of EMI. For non-Arabic L1 students specifically, data revealed that despite not speaking the language, the students held neutral views toward Arabic use in the IBC courses. Data on Arabic L1 student attitudes in various academic courses that compose the degree program showed that Arabic use was most favored in political science/history and least favored in math. The Arabic L1 students indicated positive attitudes toward the use of Arabic during class discussions but held neutral to negative attitudes toward its use in lectures, readings, and assignments. In light of the findings, policymakers, university administrators, and IBC instructors are encouraged to implement practices that align with English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual EMI.
This study examines the communication strategies employed by Qatar's government in dealing with t... more This study examines the communication strategies employed by Qatar's government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The study contributes to a growing body of work on the sociolinguistics of crisis communication. We focus on the use of South and Southeast Asian languages, spoken largely by blue-collar migrant workers, which are often seen as peripheral even though they are spoken by a large segment of the population. The deployment of these languages during Qatar's COVID-19 awareness campaign assumes further significance against the backdrop of a series of measures taken by the government in the last few years to strengthen the status and use of Arabic. We analyze multilingual printed pamphlets , multilingual audiovisual communication through radio and social media, as well as interviews conducted with key figures who were part of the awareness campaign. Our examination of the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability of the multilingual awareness materials reveals that while the different languages and modes of communication were important in spreading awareness, equally critical, if not more, was who carried the information and in what forms. We show the significant roles community and religious leaders and social media influencers played in disseminating the awareness information to the diverse migrant language communities.
This study presents the first scoping review (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005; Levac, Colquhoun, & O’Brie... more This study presents the first scoping review (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005; Levac, Colquhoun, & O’Brien, 2010) of world Englishes (WE) research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) – providing a knowledge synthesis of studies related to the sociolinguistic dynamics and realities of English(es) in one of the most underexplored WE contexts. Although the burgeoning research on English in the region focuses on macro sociolinguistic issues, language policy and planning, and language teaching and learning, there is a pressing need for a systematic investigation of scholarship with an exclusive WE perspective (Mahboob, 2013). On this premise, we map the body of WE literature pertinent to this region during the last two decades (2000–2019). We provide an overview of the state of the research activity, helping to identify the knowledge gaps and determine a fruitful research agenda for scholars interested in the diverse issues of WE in the MENA region.
Utilizing an ecological perspective of heritage language learner (HLL) identity (Hornberger & Wan... more Utilizing an ecological perspective of heritage language learner (HLL) identity (Hornberger & Wang, 2008), this study investigates how an underexamined group within HLL studies-language learners with diverse ties to the Arabic language-perceive the label of HLL and how they position themselves and their classmates relative to this label during interviews and in an advanced Arabic language classroom. I draw on interview, observational, and videotaped classroom interaction data collected as part of a larger ethnographic study of this classroom community and show how a priori educational labels assigned to these students did not always match with their self-concepts and ignored the nuances of their relationship to the umbrella term "Arabic." These labels also affected students' classroom roles, self-esteem, and participation in the classroom. I examine the implications of educational classifications and assigned identities that are constructed by stakeholders such as researchers, teachers, or administrators, rather than negotiated by the language learners themselves, and critique Arabic HLL as an identity and educational classification. Finally, I offer some suggestions for how to engage language learners (HLLs if they choose to identify themselves as such) in critical discussions about their relationship with the language of study.
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emotions and the emotion labor produced in English language teaching, research exploring English instructors’ emotion labor in transnational higher education contexts such as international branch campuses (IBCs) and within Science,Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs is lacking. Arguably, these neoliberally-driven and educational neocolonialist endeavors can produce intense emotion labor for English instructors. This study employs a collaborative autoethnography (CAE) methodology to investigate what provoked emotion labor for expatriate instructors, who teach English courses to Qatari national students at an IBC in Qatar. Taking a poststructural approach to emotion labor as our theoretical framing, we collaboratively examined our emotion labor in audio-recorded weekly meetings and then engaged in further dialogues and writings about our emotion labor. We reflect on two themes that produced emotion labor as well as emotional capital for us: 1) navigating our purpose teaching English to engineering majors and 2) confronting our roles as English instructors within a context of educational neocolonialism. Our study adds to the knowledge base of English teachers’ emotion labor in transnational and STEM spaces, while also showcasing CAE as a transformative methodology to explore language teachers’ emotion labor.
emotions and the emotion labor produced in English language teaching, research exploring English instructors’ emotion labor in transnational higher education contexts such as international branch campuses (IBCs) and within Science,Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs is lacking. Arguably, these neoliberally-driven and educational neocolonialist endeavors can produce intense emotion labor for English instructors. This study employs a collaborative autoethnography (CAE) methodology to investigate what provoked emotion labor for expatriate instructors, who teach English courses to Qatari national students at an IBC in Qatar. Taking a poststructural approach to emotion labor as our theoretical framing, we collaboratively examined our emotion labor in audio-recorded weekly meetings and then engaged in further dialogues and writings about our emotion labor. We reflect on two themes that produced emotion labor as well as emotional capital for us: 1) navigating our purpose teaching English to engineering majors and 2) confronting our roles as English instructors within a context of educational neocolonialism. Our study adds to the knowledge base of English teachers’ emotion labor in transnational and STEM spaces, while also showcasing CAE as a transformative methodology to explore language teachers’ emotion labor.