“I felt goosebumps”: emotional experiences of pre-service English teachers and the critical use of narratives

Purpose This paper aims to suggest a new way for structuring English teacher preparation within traditional university programs, challenging the age-old use of formal lesson plan reflections and introducing critical narratives as course texts to better understand pre-service teacher experiences. Through this reimagined English methods curriculum, the authors establish increased cohesion between practice and theory, facilitate the development of teacher reflective practice and establish methods for apprehending the emotional experience of pre-service educators. Design/methodology/approach This study of 18 pre-service English language arts students considers how teacher education programs could better emphasize socio-emotional elements of teaching by asking students to produce and engage with critical narratives that require more than just an appraisal of learning outcomes of direct instruction, but merge critical inquiry, ethical teaching considerations, self-reflection and perceptions of practice. Findings The findings indicate that when compared with traditional lesson plan reflections, critical narrative reflections of field experiences increase student focus on emotional aspects of teaching, provide a more nuanced lens into emotional experiences and establish a more complex conception of the teaching practice. Originality/value This curricular design challenges the prevailing ways that English pre-service educators are understood and taught through a reimagined understanding and application of narrative writing as course texts.