Writing teachers’ emotion(s) and agency in a professional development course

Abstract

Despite the growth of research on teachers’ professionalism, little is known about writing teachers’ emotion(s) and agency in professional development courses. The present study addressed this gap through a two-stage project that first explored seven English language teachers’ emotion and agency construction in a teacher education course centering on argumentative writing and then followed these processes post-course in relation to their writing instruction. Analyses of semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, classroom observations, and post-class discussions in different study stages revealed that the teachers experienced initial emotional apprehension and assumed agency, emotional tensions and challenged agency, and enhanced agency through developing emotionality. The findings identify the multiple phases of the writing teachers’ agency development from assumed to challenged and to enhance agency, with emotions playing a key mediating role in the process. These findings offer implications for teachers and teacher educators on how to leverage writing emotions and agency to elevate the quality of writing instruction.