Exploring Chinese EFL student teachers' emotions and emotion-regulation strategies in receiving peer feedback on microteaching

Abstract

Peer feedback on microteaching is a professional learning process during which student teachers are inevitably confronted with emotional disturbance. Previous research has examined English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers’ perception of feedback on microteaching, yet their emotional experiences have not been sufficiently explored. To address this gap, this study examined what emotions EFL student teachers experienced and how they regulated their emotions in the context of receiving peer feedback on their microteaching performance. Twenty-two Chinese EFL student teachers were invited and qualitative data were collected from their reflective journals and in-depth interviews. The findings identified 21 specific emotions, categorized into four types based on valence and activation, and further divided into two types based on object focus. Additionally, the study revealed five categories of emotion-regulation strategies, encompassing 12 distinct strategies. The findings provided insights into the emotional landscape of receiving peer feedback on microteaching and offered implications for both teacher educators and preservice English teachers.