Understanding Student Teachers' Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety and Boredom in Authentic School Settings: A Mixed‐Methods Approach

ABSTRACT Student teachers' emotional experiences during practicum play a critical role in their teacher identity formation and future career development. This mixed‐methods study investigated the relationships between foreign language teaching anxiety, teaching boredom and work engagement, as well as the antecedents of these emotions. A total of 279 student teachers from two Chinese normal universities, which train teachers for primary and secondary schools, participated in the study. Correlation analyses revealed that teaching anxiety and boredom were positively associated and both were negatively correlated with work engagement. Regression analyses indicated that teaching boredom, but not anxiety, significantly predicted work engagement. Qualitative analysis of open‐ended responses identified work‐related, teacher‐related, student‐related and social factors as the primary antecedents of teaching anxiety, while teaching boredom was found to be primarily underpinned by work‐, teacher‐ and student‐related factors. Specifically, work‐related factors were the main contributors to teaching boredom, whereas teacher‐related factors were more salient for teaching anxiety. These findings have important implications for language teacher education practices.