"It's Just a Feeling": Emotions and Responsibility in Language Teacher Narratives

• In Event: Experiences Shaped in Languages

Abstract

This paper illuminates the intersections between emotions and other identity factors, such as social class, in language teachers’ narratives. Drawing on a larger longitudinal project that focuses on the identity and agency of second language teachers, it asks: How do traumatic, disruptive events shape their personal lives and professional choices? How are teacher emotions constructed in relation to others? The recent emotional turn in language learning and teaching clearly asserts that emotions should be viewed as social phenomena, and the findings reveal that emotions are social, discursive, and relational. The paper asserts that the narrative constructions of emotionality could be powerful expressions of agency. They are also a source of social responsibility for the two teachers.

Author

• Gergana Vitanova, University of Central Florida