How Emotions Help Shape Teacher Identity Construction

Emotions play a role in the construction of teacher identity as it is a person’s emotions and beliefs that shape them and these in turn shape identity (Barcelos, 2017). This talk focuses on one of the main themes that came from a cross-case analysis of the narratives written from interviews given as part of a study on the experience of microteaching on teacher identity construction for new teachers on a TESOL master’s programme. The five participants were interviewed three times, before microteaching took place, at the end of semester 1 and at the end of semester 2. Emotions can range from the negative to the positive, and experience, together with feelings of comfort and familiarity, can help with this shift in emotion. For these participants their initial emotions were varied, and while they were excited to participate in microteaching, they were also nervous about the unknown. This feeling of nervousness follows through the whole experience for some, but there was also evidence of other emotions, both positive and negative, in the interviews. This talk will share the emotions experienced by the participants on their journey through the master’s and microteaching, how these emotions seemed to take on an almost cyclical nature (Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy and Hoy, 1998), something which is also hinted at in identity literature where identity is multiple and shifting (Pennington and Richards, 2016; Varghese et al, 2005). It will also reflect on the importance of teacher educators being aware of the emotional transitions that student-teachers can experience.