AM I CAPABLE OF BEING AN ENGLISH TEACHER: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ EMOTIONS AND IDENTITIES IN TEACHING PRACTICUM

This study explored two pre-service English teachers‟ emotions and identities at a private university who finished the teaching practicum at a private senior high school in Indonesia. This study aimed to explore how pre-service
English teachers constructed their emotions and identities in the teaching practicum. This study was a qualitative research method, specifically a narrative inquiry approach. The data was obtained from semi-structured interviews and preservice teachers‟ diaries. The result showed that pre-service teachers felt anxiety, nervousness, lack of self-confidence, discouragement, and difficulty in managing
the classroom caused by various students‟ behaviors and pre-service teachers‟ personal psychological feelings that arose during the teaching practicum. The two pre-service teachers also explained that, as teachers, they motivate themselves to always be enthusiastic in teaching, which has an impact on their strength in providing empathy to students, encouraging students, and motivating them to learn. The relationship between the emotion felt by pre-service teachers and their identity is very close, emotions play an important role in the formation, strengthening the expression of their professional identity as a proper English teachers in the future.