University of Isfahan Applied Research on English Language 2252-0198 14 4 2025 11 01 Modelling EFL Teachers’ Emotion Regulation in Relation to the Ecological Framework of Agency and Autonomy 151 178 29962 10.22108/are.2025.146683.2613 EN Mohammad Mahdi Hajmalek Department of English Language, Faculty of Humanities, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran Mahtab Madani Department of English Language, Faculty of Humanities, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2025 09 15 Teaching has recently received extensive attention as an emotionally charged profession, necessitating a deeper exploration of the psychological mechanisms underlying teachers’ practices. However, despite the evidence supporting the role of teachers’ emotion regulation (ER) in their autonomous control over both their practices and their ecological environment, the interplay between EFL teachers’ ER, agency, and autonomy is not yet fully clear. Grounded in positive psychology and ecological theories of agency, the present study tried to contribute to our understanding of this relationship. Accordingly, 232 EFL teachers in Iranian schools, targeted via snowball sampling, responded to an online survey, containing Emotion Regulation, Agency Related to Planning Teaching and Learning Activities, and Teaching Autonomy questionnaires. The results of Multiple Linear Regression and SEM confirmed a positive relationship between ER and agency (<em>r</em> = .724) as well as ER and autonomy (<em>r </em>= .713), while predicting 58% and 48% of changes in them, respectively, which demonstrates strong predictive power. The results support an integrated theoretical model, linking ER to teachers’ agentic and autonomous behaviors, and indicating that emotionally-regulated teachers are more likely to exercise control over their professional practices and environment. These findings offer implications for educational administrators and psychologists, as well as ELT practitioners who wish to improve educational practices by empowering teachers to foster sustained well-being and deal with burnout. Finally, the possibility of an updated construct of Agentic Autonomy is proposed to bridge ER with teachers’ ecological agency. https://are.ui.ac.ir/article_29962_482743b546ad9d9a5d47397196f15aa6.pdf