This research project looks closely at the emotional experiences that English language student-teachers go through during their pedagogical practicum. Often described by student-teachers as an emotional roller-coaster, this stage of their teacher education may be full of ups and downs, doubts, and moments of personal growth. Yet, despite its importance, the emotional side of learning to teach is still widely overlooked in many teacher education programs.
In Colombia, for instance, most teacher preparation courses focus heavily on technical aspects, things like lesson planning, classroom control, and designing materials. These trends have been documented in several studies that point to the predominance of instrumentalist approaches and standardized competencies in teacher education curricula (Castañeda-Trujillo & Aguirre-Hernández, 2018; González Moncada, 2009; Usma Wilches, 2009). These are, of course, important, but the emotional and human dimensions of teaching are often left out of the conversation (Zembylas, 2005; Day & Leitch, 2001). This leaves many student-teachers feeling unsupported when they face emotional challenges in real classrooms. They are expected to manage their roles professionally, while also carrying a great deal of personal emotion that is rarely acknowledged or addressed (Schutz et al., 2007; Chang, 2009).
In this study, emotions are understood as relational, embodied, and socially situated experiences that emerge within the institutional and pedagogical conditions of teacher education. Emotional suffering refers to the tensions, silences, and vulnerabilities that student-teachers experience when they are expected to perform professionally while their emotional lives remain unacknowledged. Resilience is approached not as an individual capacity to simply endure difficulty, but as a relational and contextual process through which student-teachers make sense of their experiences and sustain their professional becoming (Zembylas, 2007; Day & Gu, 2014).
This study responds to that silence. Its main purpose is to reclaim the emotional being of student-teachers as a vital source of insight and transformation in teacher education. This research explores how student-teachers make sense of their emotional journeys through autohistorias and the use of personal metaphors, narrative tools that help them reflect on who they are becoming. Through these stories, they not only express emotions but also begin to recognize how those feelings shape their identity as teachers; a process that unfolds through reflective narrative, metaphor, and dialogic interpretation (Anzaldúa, 2002; Bhattacharya, 2020). In previous studies, autohistorias have functioned not merely as expressions of experience, but as epistemic tools through which teacher-learners construct meaning and narrate becoming (Barcelos & Aragão, 2018; Lucero & Roncancio-Castellanos, 2019).
The central question guiding this inquiry is: How do student-teachers navigate their emotional being while becoming English language teachers? By listening closely to their voices and experiences, this research calls for a more caring and holistic way of thinking about teacher education one that includes emotions not as something secondary, but as a central part of the process of becoming a teacher.
This research frames emotions as core to teaching practice and identity formation. It highlights how student-teachers navigate a spectrum of emotions (excitement, passion, stress, and self-doubt) shaped by their unique experiences during the practicum. Drawing on personal narratives (Autohistorias) and theoretical insights, the study advocates for the integration of emotions into reflective practices and teacher training, fostering resilience and empathetic teaching.
Recent research in teacher education has often focused on technical and cognitive aspects, sidelining the emotional lives of student-teachers (Zembylas, 2005; Schutz & Zembylas, 2009). However, teaching is not just a cognitive task, it is also deeply emotional. Emotions and cognition constantly interact, shaping the way teachers respond to challenges, connect with students, and construct their professional identities (Hargreaves, 1998; Golombek & Johnson, 2004). Studies from different contexts such as Brazil, Iran and Colombia, (Barcelos & Aragão, 2018; Yazdanmehr & Akbari, 2015; Garavito, 1999; Da Silva & Borges, 2021) reveal how emotional labor, institutional dynamics, and identity formation contribute to a complex emotional landscape that deeply affects how future teachers see themselves and their work.
In response to the need for methodologies that center emotion and lived experience, this study embraces autohistoria-teoría, a decolonial method rooted in the work of Gloria Anzaldúa (2002) and developed further by scholars like Keating (2013). This approach allows student-teachers to craft autohistorias (personal and social narratives that weave together memory, identity, and theory) to explore key emotional moments during the process of becoming English language teachers. These hi-stories often reveal struggles with fear, resilience in the face of institutional pressure, and the slow emergence of a teaching self.
By engaging with these emotional narratives, this study aims to humanize teacher education. López (2020) emphasizes that emotion is not an add-on but an essential part of how teachers learn and grow. Recognizing this means moving beyond frameworks that treat future teachers merely as curriculum executors. Instead, it calls for a holistic view, one that values cognitive, emotional, social, and embodied dimensions of learning. When teacher education includes space for emotion, it not only fosters well-being and identity development but also empowers teachers to build more inclusive, empathetic, and humane classrooms and profession.
The originality of this study lies in approaching student-teachers’ emotional trajectories as epistemic and narrative processes rather than as secondary or merely individual experiences. By bringing together autohistoria-teoría, metaphor, and conocimiento, the study offers a decolonial and narrative lens for understanding emotional being as central to professional becoming in ELT teacher education. In doing so, it contributes to current discussions on teacher emotions, identity, and practicum experiences by foregrounding the emotional lives of student-teachers as legitimate sites of knowledge production.