Preservice teachers’ perezhivanie and epistemic agency during the practicum

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although the role of emotions in preservice teacher agency in innovation is well acknowledged, little is known about how emotions relate to their epistemic agency. This study explores the link between preservice teachers’ emotional experiences and their epistemic agency during the practicum, using Vygotskyan notions of perezhivanie and a sociocultural perspective to epistemic agency. This paper's first contribution is an integrated conceptual framework for exploring the link between perezhivanie and epistemic agency in classroom settings. Second, drawing on results from 11 interview-based case studies, this paper shows how preservice teachers’ social situations shape their perezhivanie and epistemic agency. The cases of two preservice language teachers who had different perezhivanie to a similar issue illustrate how their emotions and interpretations of the situation impacted their knowledge practices. The findings highlight that the quality of the epistemic object and the personal connection to it played a key role in the formation of epistemic agency.