The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 left affective complexities giving rise to educational crisis on an unprecedented scale in the globe. To survey and comprehend the issue, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria developed for the purpose of the study, we conducted a scoping review of language teacher emotions in online education through reviewing papers published in 2000–2024. We considered those articles we could obtain access until the first of March 2024. We looked up key words, namely ‘teacher emotions’, ‘teacher burnout’, ‘Covid-19’, and ‘online education’ on Google Scholar, DOAJ, ERIC, MLA, and Scopus and first identified 656 related research works. After screening, we selected 24 items, charted the data and conducted the scoping review. The results revealed that there is a rarity of research in language teacher emotion, specifically EFL teachers’ emotion, in online education. Notably, varying facets of emotion have been examined with use of much smaller sample size and in much fewer research contexts. Considering the method facet, qualitative approach and interview-based studies appeared to be the most dominant ones in the reviewed literature. The research findings support the central role of emotion as an input per se in educational context. Additionally, two categories of pre-pandemic era and post-pandemic era were specified, with language teacher emotion in online education seriously associated with the latter. Implications of the study begin with providing insights from taking a step back through reviewing the literature and helping researchers, practitioners and program managers move forward.