AbstractIn order to investigate the effect of polarization change on measurements of electron temperature profile from electron cyclotron emission (ECE) in a tokamak plasma, we have calculated the spatial evolution of the electric field of ECE propagating in the plasma. In the case of almost on-axis propagation, the Boyd's prediction is a good approximation, that is, the electric vector rotates with magnetic field. On the other hand, along horizontal sight line far from the axis the Boyd's prediction has a discrepancy of 3% from the numerical results. The effect of the polarization change is important for the measurement of ECE imaging in large tokamaks.