561 / 2020-03-19 20:46:43

A Narrative Inquiry into ELT Student Teachers’ Emotions in Professional Relationships Through a Sociocultural Lens

student teacher emotions; emotional geographies; narrative inquiry

外语教师发展 > 外语教师发展

This study, through a narrative inquiry, explores how two ELT student teachers emotionally react to their professional relationships with students, parents, colleagues and school leaders during practicum in a middle school in the People’s Republic of China, which generates new inspirations for student teachers under the analytical framework of Hargreaves’s emotional geographies. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with the teachers, the analysis of physical geography suggests that not only face-to-face virtual communication can build up close friendship in teacher-student, teacher-colleague, teacher-parent interaction, but the widespread use of modern technology like WeChat can also effectively shorten the physical distance of the relationships between student teachers and others around (students, parents, etc.). Additionally, with a common purpose of facilitating teaching in school and improving students’ learning, there is a need for young practitioners learn to make allowances and develop emotional understanding to students and parents in order to narrow moral distance between them. Meanwhile, teachers’ dedication and efforts summon joint support and appreciation from students, parents and administrators. Influenced by the ‘teaching-to-test’ phenomenon, student teachers have to make adjustments to their professional decisions like teaching methods, fitting in the particular sociocultural background. Besides, teachers’ professional distance will be affected by culturally rooted hierarchy in social relationships, the new and young teachers choose to obey the experienced teachers or superiors. Lastly, the implications for teacher emotion and education are also discussed.