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Prole: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 22 No. 1, Jan-Jun, 2020. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 15-28
https://doi.org/./prole.vn.
Emotions Attributions of ELT Pre-Service Teachers
and Their Effects on Teaching Practice
Atribuciones de las emociones de los profesores de inglés en formación
y sus efectos en el desarrollo profesional
1Mariza G. Méndez López*
Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, Mexico
is article presents the results of a qualitative study which aimed to develop an understanding of the
emotions experienced by pre-service English language teachers during their teaching practicum and
the emotions’ eects on instructional teaching. Attribution theory was used as a framework for analysing
the results, while the data were gathered through classroom observation, reection journals, and semi-
structured interviews. Results revealed a need for language teaching programmes to include classroom
management strategies; however, there is also evidence of the urgent need for socio-emotional support
to be provided to pre-service teachers to help them shape their teaching practice through reection.
Providing a space for pre-service teachers to reect on their beliefs and discuss the emotions experienced
during practicum may help to instil commitment and responsibility in future teachers.
Key words: Attributions, emotions, English language teaching, pre-service teachers, teaching practice.
Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio cualitativo cuyo propósito fue entender las emociones
experimentadas por futuros maestros de inglés durante su práctica docente y los efectos de éstas en su
enseñanza. La teoría de atribución se utilizó como marco para el análisis de resultados. Los datos se
recopilaron a través de observaciones de clases, diarios de reexión y entrevistas semi-estructuradas.
Los resultados revelaron la necesidad de que los programas de prácticas docentes incluyan estrategias
para el manejo de clases. Sin embargo, también hay evidencia de la necesidad urgente de proporcionar
apoyo socioemocional a los estudiantes para que puedan moldear su práctica docente a través de la
reexión. Al proporcionar un espacio para que los maestros en formación reexionen sobre sus creencias
y discutan las emociones experimentadas durante su práctica docente, se puede ayudar a inculcar el
compromiso y la responsabilidad en futuros maestros.
Palabras clave: atribuciones, emociones, enseñanza de inglés, maestros en formación, práctica docente.
* E-mail: marimendez@uv.mx
How to cite this article (, th ed.): Méndez López, M. G. (). Emotions attributions of pre-service teachers and their eects on
teaching practice. Prole: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, (), -. https://doi.org/./prole.vn..
is article was received on March , and accepted on October , .
is is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
. International License. Consultation is possible at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/./.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
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Méndez López
Introduction
The role of emotions in language learning and
teaching has gained importance in the last decades
through studies aiming to understand the role played
by emotions in learning to teach (Golombek & Doran,
), teachers’ burn out (Vaezi & Fallah, ), self-
ecacy (Wyatt, ), and language learning motivation
(Méndez López, a), among other variables.
In the Mexican context, research on emotions has
been developed about the emotional experiences of
language learners on their motivation (Méndez López,
b), emotions experienced by English language
teaching () students (Méndez López, a, b),
and the emotions of experienced teachers about
the implementation of educational policies and their
working conditions (Méndez López, b). Although
there has been progress in the understanding of the
role played by emotions on these aspects, very few
studies have addressed the emotions experienced by
pre-service teachers during the nal year of their
degree programme, in which they have to complete a
practicum period teaching students at dierent levels.
erefore, research on the emotions attributions of
pre-service teachers during practicum is needed.
In Mexico, where Spanish is the ocial language and
English as a foreign language is a compulsory subject
beginning with elementary school, the students tend
to exhibit certain reluctance to learning the latter. In
addition, some students who enrol in programmes
do not have the calling for teaching (Méndez López
& Fabela Cárdenas, ). Such lack of motivation,
stemming from previous scholastic experiences or from
an absence of vocation, may aect the performance of
pre-service teachers during their practicum, originating
diverse emotions in them. Besides, factors such as the
lack of resources and materials, number of students
per class, and the lack of appropriate conditions in
schools have been highlighted as aecting the teaching
of English in Mexico (Ramirez Romero, Olave Moreno,
& Villalobos, ).
This article presents the results of a qualitative
study researching both the emotions Mexican pre-
service teachers experience during their practicum
and the attributions they give to them. e emotions
originated from the interactions of pre-service teachers
with students, materials, and supervisors are analysed
in order to understand to what they attribute those
emotions and the effect of those emotions on their
teaching practice, if any.
Literature Review
Emotions of English
Language Teachers
Emotions are individually experienced by teach-
ers (Hargreaves, ; Zembylas, ) and are social
constructions mediated by their interactions with edu-
cational policies, authorities, colleagues, parents, and
students (Nguyen, ). Although teachers’ experience
of an emotion is unique, this experience is shaped by
the context in which it happens. us, the contexts
in which emotions are experienced are important to
understand not only the emotion itself, but also the
reaction and behaviour aer it.
Various studies have explored the diverse range of
emotions experienced by teachers (Golombek & Doran,
; Sutton & Wheatley, ) with some nding that
the three emotions most frequently reported by teachers
are enjoyment, anxiety, and anger (Chang, ; Frenzel,
Becker-Kurz, Pekrun, & Goetz, ). Emotions have
been revealed as having positive and negative eects
on students and teachers as well (Méndez López, ;
Méndez López & Peña Aguilar, ). Regarding pre-
service teachers, whose lack of experience may be seen
as an additional source of emotions, some have been
willing to improve their teaching practice thanks to the
emotions originated in interactions with their students,
colleagues, or institutional authorities. However, the
same situations have made other pre-service teachers
feel angry and frustrated. Pre-service teachers who do
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Emotions Attributions of ELT Pre-Service Teachers and Their Effects on Teaching Practice
not regulate these negative emotions develop stress that
is damaging for their teaching practice.
Pre-service teachers are prone to experiencing both
positive (enthusiasm, satisfaction, happiness, etc.) and
negative (anxiety, anger, frustration, etc.) emotions
during their teaching practicum due to the new experi-
ences with which they are confronted (Martínez Agudo
& Azzaro, ). Beliefs also play an important role in
pre-service teachers’ emotional experiences since beliefs
inuence teaching (Borko, Davinroy, Bliem, & Cumbo,
). During practicum, pre-service teachers may have
conicting beliefs about some teaching practices they
are asked to perform by their supervisors and because
of this belief mismatch, they can develop anxiety and
stress as reported in Nguyen’s () study.
Dierent studies have reported that positive emo-
tions emerge in interactions with students (Cowie,
; Gkonou & Miller, ; Méndez López, ;
Nguyen, ). e establishment of positive inter-
personal relationships with students is regarded as an
important factor, not just for students’ learning but also
for teachers’ emotional well-being (Mercer, Oberdorfer,
& Saleem, ).
Negative emotions are usually experienced by pre-
service teachers because of students’ poor participation,
passiveness, noisiness, lack of motivation, and tiredness
among other aspects (Nguyen, ). Although Gu and
Day () found that pre-service teachers with a teach-
ing vocation are more resilient to negative experiences,
negative emotions are also experienced by pre-service
teachers who have the calling for teaching (Arizmendi
Tejeda et al., ). Nevertheless, pre-service teachers
with a vocation tend to see negative emotions in an
optimistic way, which prevent them from losing energy
and motivation (Cross & Hong, ). is is an impor-
tant nding for countries such as Mexico in which the
access to university is limited (Méndez López & Fabela
Cárdenas, ). Some students without the calling for
teaching decide to enrol in programmes because
access is less dicult, or because their families cannot
aord for them to study their dream career in a dierent
city. us, this lack of vocation may aect pre-service
teachers’ emotional experiences and consequently their
motivation, responsibility, and commitment.
Furlong and Maynard (, pp. -) identify ve
stages which novice teachers undergo: () early idealism,
() survival, () recognising diculties, () reaching a
plateau, and () moving on. At the beginning of their
career, novice teachers may have idealistic feelings
and images of themselves. While they are primarily
concerned with the application of the knowledge they
have learnt in previous years, the demands of their
new job can be a shock, as teaching is not simply a
question of designing materials or applying a method
or an approach. e same may happen to pre-service
teachers during practicum since they may face dicult
situations they may not be prepared for. It is important
then, to provide them with the appropriate support so
they can gain condence not only on their teaching skills
but also in other areas. us, it is important to provide
pre-service teachers with sucient assistance in order
to minimise the eects of unfavourable experiences
(Mercer et al., ).
According to Sutton and Wheatley (), teachers
who experience positive emotions in the classroom are
more likely to generate new ideas and strategies to help
them better solve or cope with problems. However,
it seems that the diversity of experiences that novice
teachers face is more likely to produce negative emotions
than positive ones. Britzman (), states that novice
teachers’ negative emotions are a result of their lack of
condence, meaning that pre-service teachers may be
more prone to experience negative emotions that may
negatively inuence their teaching practice. In some
cases, the frequent occurrence of negative emotions can
encourage pre-service teachers to leave the profession,
which has been reported in studies from all over the
world (Hong, ).
Designing teacher education programmes based
on knowledge of the range of emotions experienced
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
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Méndez López
by pre-service teachers and an understanding of the
meaning they ascribe to them can help to minimise their
negative eects on future teaching practice (Mercer et
al., ). Pre-service teachers need to be provided with
a space in which they can undergo teaching experiences
illustrative of the tribulations they may experience
throughout their teaching career. ey must also be
given the tools and resources with which to overcome
those experiences (Nguyen, ). As Furlong and
Maynard () state, the development of concepts such
as identity enables pre-service teachers to “gain control
over their own teaching” (p. ). It is paramount, then,
that they are provided a space in which to reect on
their beliefs and emotions, enabling them to begin to
understand themselves better as future professionals.
Previous Studies
Two studies focused on Mexican pre-service teachers
were analysed. Arizmendi Tejeda, Gillings de González,
and López Martínez () investigated if novice teach-
ers used strategies to regulate the negative emotions
experienced during practicum. ey used observations
and semi-structured interviews to collect data. Results
showed that participants used preventative and respon-
sive emotional regulation strategies such as selecting
situations and modifying their emotional expression.
ese authors found that pre-service teachers were
inuenced by their image and self-condence when
selecting a teaching level so as not to feel challenged
or threatened. ey also concluded that pre-service
teachers did not use other regulation strategies, such as
emotional understanding or masking their emotions,
because they needed to be trained on how to apply
these. Finally, they emphasised that a component about
the emotions involved in teaching a foreign language
should be included in programmes so pre-service
teachers can be better prepared when teaching.
Ocampo Martínez () conducted a study to
identify the emotions experienced by rst-year Eng-
lish teachers during their rst year teaching and what
caused those emotions. With the use of semi-structured
interviews done at three dierent moments in their
teaching practice during a period of six months, the
researcher found that rst-year English teachers’ positive
and negative emotions originated in their interactions
with students, administrative duties, and the lack of
classroom management skills. Interaction with stu-
dents and administrative duties made them feel anger,
frustration, and nervousness but also joy, condence,
and motivation. Whereas the emotions experienced
because of the lack of classroom skills were negative,
participants expressed they were positive at the end of
the school year because these emotions allowed them
to look for strategies to reverse dicult situations, such
as talking to colleagues and previous teachers about
ideas to control children. ese studies show that a
small but growing body of research on how Mexican
teachers of English experience their work emotionally
is being developed.
Attribution Theory
Attribution theory assumes that “humans are
motivated to know why an event has occurred (Weiner,
, p. ). us, people usually attribute to someone
or something the cause of a specic event or situation.
e present study focuses on the attribution awareness
process pre-service teachers go through when reecting
on their teaching performance during their practicum.
According to Weiner (, p. ), “the most
salient causal inferences are ability and effort, but
many other factors are also inuential”. Among the
properties identied by Weiner for causal inferences
are stability, locus, and controllability. us, people can
attribute success or failure to stable or unstable causes
and to internal or external forces. All these shape our
attributions and the way we carry out future activities.
For example, pre-service teachers can attribute their
lack of teaching skills to their lack of vocation (a stable
cause) or to an incomplete instruction received in an
programme (an unstable cause). Finally, causes can
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Emotions Attributions of ELT Pre-Service Teachers and Their Effects on Teaching Practice
be controllable or uncontrollable, which refers to the
power we have to either control or not control certain
factors in order to make them work to our benet. For
instance, if pre-service teachers attribute their lack
of teaching skills to their lack of vocation, they will
believe that no matter how many courses or how much
training they take, they will not improve. However, if
they attribute their lack of teaching skills to incomplete
training, they will have the option to enrol in training
courses to improve.
Weiner () suggests that:
Reaching causal inferences, that is, deciding why one succeeds
or fails, requires various sources of information to be utilized
and combined. Some of this information will originate from the
current situation, while other evidence is gleaned from memories
of past events. (p. )
Although attribution theory was developed to
interpret human behaviour (Weiner, ), its broad
analytical lens has been applied to the analysis of students’
performances in dierent subjects, such as mathematics
(Baştürk & Yavuz, ) and technology (Maymon, Hall,
Goetz, Chiarella, & Rahimi, ). e present study uses
attribution theory to understand pre-service teachers’
causal inferences about their teaching performances
during practicum in the nal year of their undergraduate
degree programme.
The present study is grounded in the attribu-
tions pre-service teachers make about the emotions
originated during their teaching practice and the
actions taken by them aer reecting on those emo-
tions and their causal inferences. Pre-service teachers’
attributions can shape not only their future teaching
performances but also their professional develop-
ment. For instance, if pre-service teachers consider
that their undeveloped teaching skills caused some
negative emotions to arise during teaching practice,
they will enrol in training courses in order to acquire
or develop those skills. However, if pre-service teachers
consider that the sources of negative emotions are stable
(national educational policies, restrictions imposed
by institutional authorities on the implementation of
new ideas, the demands of the students’ parents, etc.),
and that they can do nothing to change that, they may
leave the teaching profession, feel less motivated to
continue trying new techniques, or they may develop
resilience to deal with these negative situations. us,
pre-service teachers’ professional development is
shaped by the outcomes of past events, by means of
their awareness of the causes for the success or failure
of teaching strategies in the present.
e attribution awareness process “is what moves
us to pursue a specic course of action for new or future
activities, or to stop doing certain things because we
consider that we do not have the capacity to do them”
(Méndez López, a, p. ). It is important to note
that these attributions are subjective, as they are formed
based on our experience of and reection on past and
current events. e present study links this attribution
awareness to our beliefs. If, as teachers, we believe
that someone or some external factor is the cause of
our failure or success in language teaching (e.g., the
students, the materials we are working with, classroom
activities, the focus of the syllabus), our motivational
intelligence will provide us with strategies to overcome
such barriers in the event of failure. us, pre-service
teachers’ personal assumptions are the determinant
factors behind action or inaction, with any actions
taken resulting from their inferences about particular
teaching situations. Understanding the actions taken by
pre-service teachers aer they have identied the cause
of a particular situation can help teacher trainers to
design activities that will enhance the teaching practice
of the former.
Method
In order to understand the emotions experienced
by pre-service teachers during their practicum, it
was necessary to provide a detailed account of their
views and describe the context in which said emotions
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
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Méndez López
originated. A qualitative approach was selected as
the most suitable for the purpose of this research, as
it was thought to facilitate a better understanding of
the emotions experienced during practicum and the
attributions given to these by pre-service teachers.
e following research questions were formulated
for the present study:
. What emotions do pre-service English language
teachers experience during their teaching practicum?
. What were these emotions attributed to?
Setting
The setting of the study was a university in a
city in the southeast of Mexico. e nal year of the
undergraduate programme requires that pre-
service teachers take two courses, Práctica Docente
(Teaching Practice ) and Práctica Docente (Teach-
ing Practice ), in which they must complete two
teaching placements. Involving teaching children,
adolescents, or adults in state educational institutions,
these placements provide pre-service teachers with
experience in teaching dierent ages and levels, which
are benecial for their future teaching practice and
may lead to job opportunities.
Participants
The present study was conducted in with
pre-service English language teachers from the under-
graduate degree programme at a south eastern
Mexican university. e participants were een pre-
service teachers, eight female and seven male, whose
ages ranged between and and who, during the
study period, were teaching for the first time. The
university assigned pre-service teachers to educational
institutions in the city, where they taught for a period
of between and weeks for an average of three hours
per week, with some lessons designed in pairs and some
individually. Journal entries describing their teach-
ing performances and the emotions they experienced
therein were written individually.
Data Elicitation Procedures
Data were collected via classroom observation, pre-
service teachers’ reection journals, and semi-structured
interviews. Pre-service teachers were asked to write
reectively about their teaching sessions and describe
the emotions they experienced during them. While the
researcher did not specify a style, the pre-service teachers
were asked to write a maximum of three pages per week
as soon as possible aer each teaching session and were
provided with the following general guiding questions:
() What emotions did you feel in your teaching practice?
() To whom or what do you attribute those emotions? ()
What situations would you say caused those emotions?
() What do you do about those emotions?
Semi-structured interviews were used at the end of
the study period to clarify some of the issues expressed
in the journal entries. e meanings the pre-service
teachers gave to emotions and the situations in which
they arose can only be understood through the lenses
of their experiences. In addition, the researcher observed
the participants twice during their teaching practi-
cum, with the objective of understanding the context
in which the emotions were experienced in order to
aid the interpretation of the ndings.
Data Analysis
By the end of the study, teaching journals entries
had been collected, semi-structured interviews con-
ducted, and practicum teaching sessions observed.
The data set was analysed using content analysis, a
method providing an accessible and theoretically ex-
ible approach to data analysis (Patton, ). e data
set was analysed in line with conventional content
analysis in which “coding categories are derived directly
from the text data” (Hsieh & Shannon, , p. ).
Moreover, manifest analysis was undertaken, in which
descriptions of what participants said were presented
using their own words (Bengtsson, ). Pseudonyms
of pre-service teachers are used throughout the article
to protect their identity.
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Emotions Attributions of ELT Pre-Service Teachers and Their Effects on Teaching Practice
Results
Pre-service teachers experienced positive and
negative emotions during their practicum. e most
frequent positive emotions experienced were joy,
happiness, and satisfaction and the most frequent
negative emotions were despair, insecurity, frustration,
worry, and stress. ese emotions were attributed
to three major themes: (a) Students’ Behaviour and
Attitudes, (b) Undeveloped Teaching Skills, and (c)
Beliefs About Teaching and Learning. Although there
was some overlap among the responses in each theme
(e.g., between Theme A and Theme B, with some
pre-service teachers attributing the indiscipline of
their students to their own undeveloped teaching
skills), each theme is presented separately here to aid
understanding and clarity.
Students’ Behaviour and Attitudes
Most participants worked with children and ado-
lescents and attributed negative emotions to students’
undisciplined classroom behaviour and attitudes.
Negative emotions attributed to students related to
undisciplined classroom behaviour and a lack of moti-
vation, while positive emotions were attributed to the
level of student engagement, namely their interest and
participation in class activities.
Attributions of Negative Emotions
Most pre-service teachers were overwhelmed by
the students’ undisciplined classroom behaviour and
lack of interest in their classes, as some participants
describe below:
It makes me feel frustrated that while some kids have shown improve-
ment, others just study for the exam and then forget about what
they have learned. I have tried to give them as much attention
and help as possible, but it is not working. (Juan, Journal, Week )
en, students came back aer the break, but they were a little
impolite and showed no interest in the class. My peers and I realized
how dicult it is to work with teenagers. Even if you create fun
activities, they do not want to participate. (Patty, Journal, Week )
Having unmotivated and undisciplined students
also aects pre-service and novice teachers’ condence
and self-ecacy. Although some of the pre-service
teachers participating in the present research described
having difficulty interacting with students during
class (for such reasons as a lack of familiarity, their
lack of experience, or the students’ response to their
activities or classes), others described having no problem
establishing a positive relationship with students. As
one participant describes:
I know my students of third grade are rebellious, mischievous, and
dynamic but as I have been saying in all my journal reections…this
is due to their age. Nevertheless, the more patient and tolerant the
teacher is, the more eective the classes are. I really like giving my
classes to them, and of course, I am going to miss them. (Angela,
Journal, Week )
Furthermore, these negative emotions may be
regarded as experiences pre-service teachers needed
to go through or had to face in order to gain condence
and experience. As one participant expressed:
is situation [referring to a discipline event she had to face which
involved the principal and a student’s mother] was something I
had not thought about when wanting to be a teacher. I had always
thought in this profession as positive and full of nice moments…is
was like a reality shock for me. It is not just me and the students…
(a silent moment) it is not easy, but I think this kind of situations
are the ones that can help you to be more experienced and secure.
I hope that. (Luna, Interview)
Although Luna experienced negative emotions
because of the behaviour of a student in class, she saw
this experience as positive for their future performance
as a professional. She also realized that being a teacher
implied interactions with students’ parents and she
needed to be prepared for these situations in the future.
Attributions of Positive Emotions
Although participating pre-service teachers did
experience negative emotions, they also described
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Méndez López
positive ones, which functioned as scaffolding to
help them endure and overcome negative emotions
during their practicum. Most positive emotions were
attributed to the students’ active performance. As one
pre-service teacher (Mary) wrote, “I was surprised that
almost everybody followed the instructions correctly”,
while another (Ana) commented, “I was shocked to
see that all children did an excellent job answering
questions”. Another pre-service teacher who had
expressed some diculties at the beginning of his
teaching practicum stated that:
e experience of working with kids this semester was good because
I could learn how kids learn better. Also, I could experience problems
a teacher face with students of this age. is made me look for
strategies to manage kids, I learnt some persuasion and control
techniques that will help me in my career as a teacher. (Sergio,
Journal, Week )
us, by nding ways to control students, Sergio was
not only constructing his teacher identity, as he wanted
to be seen as a teacher able to control his classroom,
but also boosting his teaching practice by increasing
his condence and feelings of self-ecacy.
e literature on emotions reports that teachers’
positive emotions are mainly caused by their inter-
action with students (Cowie, ; Méndez López,
). Participants of this study worked with children
and adolescents; working with students of these ages
requires a great deal of professional and personal
commitment, to not only designing materials and
activities suitable for students but also to showing a
real interest in them as people.
As stated by Arizmendi Tejeda et al. (), pre-
service teachers who embrace teaching as a vocation
tend to enjoy teaching, but this does not prevent them
from experiencing negative emotions, which may aect
their motivation (p. ). In this study, having students
who participated and showed interest in the activities
designed for them motivated pre-service teachers to
continue working. is nding concurs with Nguyen’s
() study which found that student engagement
in class is a predictor of pre-service teachers’ positive
emotions and sense of fullment. is is an important
aspect to consider, as classroom management and the
forming of positive interpersonal relationships with
students are regarded as important factors, not just
for students’ learning but also for teachers’ emotional
well-being (Mercer et al., ).
Undeveloped Teaching Skills
Most pre-service teachers described realising that
being in front of a group was not as easy as they had
envisaged, enduring despair, insecurity, stress, worry, and
frustration because of dicult classroom situations. e
main diculties reported by participants in this study
were a lack of techniques for introducing a specic topic
and a lack of strategies for disciplining students, as well
as unmotivated learners and unforeseen problems during
class. However, most pre-service teachers emphasized
that the indiscipline of the children and teenagers in their
classroom was their main concern during practicum.
Attributions to Undeveloped Teaching Skills
Most participants described how they possessed
undeveloped teaching skills, which some of them
attributed to their lack of commitment to the profes-
sion, stating that they did not really want to major in
English language teaching. An important aspect to
be considered when analysing the dierent emotions
or feelings expressed by pre-service teachers is their
sense of vocation or calling for teaching. As a lack of
nancial resources sometimes limits access to Mexican
universities, students oen nd themselves enrolled in
a degree programme very dierent to what they had
envisaged. is can aect their motivation to teach, as
expressed by one participant:
is week few students arrived to class. I felt sad because I thought
that it was because they did not like the way I give the class. at
makes me feel bad because I know it is my fault because I am a bad
teacher. is major was not my rst choice…is discouraging. I do
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Emotions Attributions of ELT Pre-Service Teachers and Their Effects on Teaching Practice
not really want to teach in the future. I want to work in tourism in
Cancún or Playa del Carmen. (Tony, Journal, Week )
is lack of vocation is likely to become strongly
evident when the pre-service teachers face their rst
teaching experiences, generating intense emotions that
may cause them to lose the desire to teach completely.
e pre-service teachers without a sense of vocation for
teaching seemed to display more emotional intensity
in response to the negative events they faced during
their practicum which, thus, aected their motivation.
is week, discipline was a problem because when I arrived the
kids were playing on the playground so when I started the class
they were anxious and distracted. I found it very dicult to control
them. (Gaby, Journal, Week )
Something I need to improve is child management. I have had
moments in which I do not know what to do. I feel lost. (Sergio,
Journal, Week )
These classroom events affected not only their
motivation but also their condence as teachers. Some
realised they lacked strategies for teaching children,
while others had to adjust their teaching practice to
students with diverse learning needs.
Something caught my attention and I was shocked when I discovered
that this special little girl was not able to speak or hear. I was worried
about her because I did not know how to deal with that; I did not
want to exclude her from class activities because of her physical
limitations. (Reyna, Journal, Week )
I noticed that I have three students who are hyperactive and distract
others. I have to think about a proper strategy to solve this. I did
not get training for this type of students. (Jair, Journal, Week )
As we can see from the references above, the pre-
service teachers’ identities were being constructed
through and shaped by their experiences in their incipi-
ent professional lives. Although these situations were
dicult, they helped the pre-service teachers’ teaching
practice, as they were forced to consult their supervisors
for ideas or approaches for fullling their students’ needs.
e pre-service teachers not only asked their peers for
advice or sought suggestions from more experienced
teachers, but some also decided to enrol in further
courses in order to better attend to their students’ needs
in their future practice. us, participants realised the
necessity of developing specic skills for responding to
their students’ needs and interests and managing their
classrooms more naturally.
I think that during this practicum, I improved my teaching skills
because I improved on how to establish discipline to control the
group. I consider myself more prepared to teach kids. I love to teach
them but I am aware that I need more experience in other levels to
develop certain skills. Teaching practice and some specic courses
can help me to continue improving. (Reyna, Journal, Week )
Today was the last day of classes and I am happy because I have
improved the way I give instructions, and the way I present
some grammar rules. I feel more condent than before doing the
practicum. is was a positive experience for me and I am not afraid
of teaching teenagers anymore. I know that it is not easy but I am
willing to be more prepared to face the diverse situations I am going
to cope with in the future. (Juliana, Reection Journal, Week )
Some participants expressed that they found teach-
ing students at dierent levels burdensome, due to the
fact that they did not really want to teach at all. ey
had enrolled in the course solely because it is a gradu-
ation requirement for the undergraduate degree,
with the expectation of subsequently nding work in
tourism in the northern part of the state. is aected
their teaching practice, as it meant they showed no
disposition to improve.
Other participants, in contrast, found the practicum
experience positive and gained condence from noticing
how basic their teaching skills were, in that they realized
they just needed more practice and training. These
students also showed evidence of their developing skills
as language teachers, with some expressing the need to be
trained to deal with special needs students and children.
Teaching those kids was an amazing experience. I was nervous
and afraid at the beginning but I had a great time. I also realised
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
24
Méndez López
that I need to be informed in all the aspects related to teaching
children in order to facilitate the acquisition of English because
some children have special needs. (Diana, Interview)
Although, pre-service teachers with a strong inclina-
tion for teaching have been found to be more committed
and resilient (Gu & Day, ), they are not excluded
from feeling negative emotions. Most participants of
this study did not express having a vocation for teaching
which may have inuenced the frequent experience of
negative emotions due to their undeveloped teach-
ing skills. us, the pre-service teachers’ beliefs were
hindering the improvement of their teaching skills, as
they attributed their negative experiences to their lack
of teaching abilities without intention or energy placed
on improving these (Weiner, ).
On the other hand, when teachers have a calling for
the profession, it has been found that they will regard
negative experiences optimistically, thus benetting
their levels of energy and motivation (Cross & Hong,
). In this study, some participants that regarded
negative experiences as events they had to go through
also expressed this optimistic view.
As described by Nguyen (), pre-service teach-
ers may experience dierent negative situations such
as students’ poor participation, passiveness, noisiness,
uncooperative attitude and impoliteness, lack of moti-
vation, and tiredness that can cause emotional crises.
Participants of this study experienced some of the same
situations that caused dierent emotions to emerge. Pre-
service teachers expressed the need for more training
in some aspects of classroom management, which is
supported by studies done in the Mexican context
that have highlighted the neglect of classroom man-
agement skills for teaching children and adolescents
(maintaining order, managing student behaviour, and
overcoming unexpected events) (Ramirez Romero et al.,
). In addition, pre-service teachers must be trained
in socio-emotional competence, as it is a paramount skill
for their teaching practice (Mercer et al., ). us, it
is important to dedicate space in programmes not
only for training in classroom management skills but
also in socio-emotional skills so pre-service teachers
will graduate as better-qualied professionals.
Beliefs About Teaching and Learning
e pre-service teachers expressed their beliefs about
teaching and learning in reective journal entries. ese
beliefs could be the result of previous school experiences
or the inuence of a teacher they considered either good
or not good, or one who provided them with positive
experiences during their learning process.
e pre-service teachers participating in the present
research expressed their belief that a teacher can play
dierent roles in relation to their students. Rather than
being simply a teacher who presents information and
guides students in the construction of new knowledge,
some teachers believe that they also must be a moral
guide. Some of the pre-service teachers expressed
concern about not only language content but also their
students’ more profound needs. Nancy expressed this
as follows:
What I really want to do is to teach dierently, not in the same
traditional and boring way all teachers do. I want to go beyond
that. I want to show students that I care for them not just for their
learning but also for them as human beings. I want to teach values
and things students can use for their life. (Nancy, Journal, Week )
Pre-service teachers also state that teachers need to
be aware of their students’ feelings to ensure that they
are comfortable, patient, and tolerant. ese beliefs
are in line with the tenets of humanistic language
teaching, an approach that places great importance on
the development of students as human beings while at
the same time developing language skills.
Moskowitz () states that humanistic education’s
main concern is “educating the whole person—the
intellectual and the emotional dimensions” (p. ).
For some participants in the present study, providing
learners with a secure environment, in which they do
25
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Emotions Attributions of ELT Pre-Service Teachers and Their Effects on Teaching Practice
not feel intimidated when expressing their opinions,
is paramount. Pre-service teachers expressed the idea
that, to be considered good professionals, teachers
needed to take their students’ feelings into account
and demonstrate patience, tolerance, and humour.
us, some participants in this study show how they
were constructing their identity as English language
teachers from the meaning they made of the dierent
positive and negative situations they encountered during
their practicum. Although the task of helping students
reect on their identity is not included in most
programmes in Mexico, it is vital that students in the
last year of their studies become emotionally prepared
to endure the demands of teaching.
Pre-service teachers expressed beliefs about being
good teachers. They expressed the idea that, to be
considered good professionals, teachers needed to
consider feelings and demonstrate patience, tolerance,
and humour. is is in line with results of studies done
in the Mexican context (Méndez López, b, b).
e literature on attribution reveals that students
with xed ability beliefs usually attribute their success
or failure to an innate ability or talent (Weiner, ).
Pre-service teachers may extrapolate this to teaching,
believing that they will never improve their teaching skills
no matter how many training courses they take. is can
make the practicum period a dicult one, not only for
pre-service teachers but also for supervisors, who may
nd themselves overseeing reticent and closed-minded
pre-service teachers. us, it is important for supervisors
and trainers to help pre-service teachers shape these
beliefs so they can improve their teaching skills.
Conclusion
is article explores the emotions experienced by
pre-service teachers during their practicum period in
order to understand the inuence they have on their
teaching practice. Results show that pre-service teachers
experience positive and negative experiences; however,
negative emotions predominated during the practicum
period. Participants in the study were reacting to the
reality shock of the classroom and felt overwhelmed by
its complexity. us, both their idealized images of being
a teacher and the survival strategies they were forced to
employ were at play when recognizing the diculties
they faced. is is understandable due to the idealism of
pre-service teachers at the beginning of their teaching
career (Furlong & Maynard, ). e situations they
experienced helped the future teachers understand the
complexities of the teaching profession. us, some of
their ideals had to be readjusted in order for them to
adapt better to the particular contexts in which they were
teaching. is process of adaptation also helped them to
reshape their incipient identities as language teachers,
which, as shown by their reective journal entries, the
pre-service teachers were constructing from the meaning
they made of their emotions and experiences during
practicum. is adaptation period also showed how
the pre-service teachers’ previous experiences aected
their current experiences and teaching practice. ose
pre-service teachers participating in the present study
that showed a strong desire to be teachers expressed
a positive attitude towards negative experiences. On
the other hand, those pre-service teachers enrolled
in the teaching major for other reasons expressed
negative emotions more intensely, which aected their
classroom performances. is indicates that pre-service
teachers’ supervisors should be careful when working
with students that state that they have no vocation for
teaching, as they may be more prone to experiencing
negative emotions, perceiving only the negative aspects
of any classroom situation and, consequently, not being
open to receiving appropriate support from peers or
advice from supervisors.
e attributions pre-service teachers give to their
emotions are important since, by knowing those,
supervisors can help them modify those through
reection. In this study, reecting on their journal
entries helped pre-service teachers to realize that some
strategies may have not worked because the context in
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
26
Méndez López
which they were teaching was not the same as that
in which they were taught. Journal writing helped
them to identify their strengths and weaknesses as
teachers. Given that resilience and commitment have
been identied as two features teachers need in order
to maintain their levels of energy and motivation (Gu
& Day, ), it is paramount that course designers
and trainers provide relevant support to pre-service
teachers in order for them to be able to deal with the
diverse situations they face. It is also important to
help pre-service teachers shape their teacher identity,
as some may not have a clear teaching philosophy at
this stage. Although some pre-service teachers may
not have an inclination for teaching, it is argued that
commitment and responsibility can be instilled through
reflection (Mercer et al., ). Thus, knowing the
attributions pre-service teachers give to their emotions
can help trainers and supervisors help them modify
these and make some changes to their teaching practice.
If pre-service teachers continue attributing negative
emotions to their lack of vocation or previous learning
experiences, no room for improvement is le.
e present research obtained and examined pre-
service foreign language teachers’ emotional experiences
during practicum, revealing the emotions, embedded
in the teaching process, that inuence novice teachers’
identities and professional development. e study’s
results indicate a denite need for language teachers’
trainers to include such aspects as maintaining order in
the classroom, the appropriate management of student
behaviour, and approaches for dealing with unexpected
events to ensure that pre-service teachers’ needs at the
end of any teacher-training programme have been met.
However, there is also evidence of the need to provide
socio-emotional support to help pre-service teachers
construct their teacher identity through reection. us,
pre-service teachers’ cognitive and emotional needs
will be catered for, which can denitely contribute to
their professional growth and, consequently, increase
teaching quality.
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About the Author
Mariza G. Méndez López holds a h in education (University of Nottingham, ). She is a
member of the Mexican National Research System. Her areas of research are aective factors in
foreign language learning and teacher professional development.