Emotional experiences of student teachers of English language and their professional self-adequacy

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to examine the emotional experiences of student teachers of English language and the possible effects of these experiences and emotions on their professional self-adequacy. The current study used a social constructivist approach to emotions. Twelve student teachers of an ELT Program at a state university in Turkey took part in this study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed inductively through content analysis. The analysis of the data yielded five major themes: Positive emotional experiences, negative emotional experiences, professional self-adequacy of student teachers, coping strategies, and regaining professional self-adequacy. The study indicated that student teachers of English language experienced both positive and negative emotional experiences during their pre-service teacher education. More importantly, this study highlighted the ways in which both positive emotional experiences of the student teachers and negative emotional experiences were connected to their professional self-adequacy. A model revealing the relation between the student teachers’ emotional experiences and their professional self-adequacy was proposed. Finally, this study makes a call to pre-service education programs to reconsider the key role that emotions play in teacher training.