Developing resilience through critical incident reflection: A qualitative study of pre-service EFL teachers during teaching practicum
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Abstract
In response to growing concerns about teacher well-being and attrition, recent research has reconceptualised teacher resilience as a dynamic, process-driven concept that develops through engagement with challenges and reflective meaning-making. However, studies examining how resilience develops during the teaching practicum, especially in EFL contexts, remain limited. Using a qualitative, document-based approach, this study investigates how pre-service EFL teachers interpret critical incidents encountered during teaching practice and how these reflective processes relate to the development of resilience. The data consist of written reflections on critical incidents and reflective reports produced by ten fourth-year pre-service EFL teachers. The documents were analysed thematically using an inductive, iterative approach. Results indicate that participants most often reported critical incidents involving pedagogical mismatches, classroom management issues, instructional dilemmas, and emotionally charged classroom moments. The analysis further suggests that resilience-oriented reflective patterns can be observed through a process that appears to involve emotional appraisal, pedagogical sense-making, reflective reframing, adaptive orientation, and the gradual fostering of teacher agency. Rather than indicating weakness, emotional engagement appeared to act as a catalyst for professional development. The study contributes to resilience research by framing resilience as a process of reflective, agency-driven meaning-making rooted in everyday classroom experiences, while acknowledging that what is captured here is best understood as resilience-oriented reflective processes rather than direct evidence of resilience itself. Pedagogically, the findings emphasise the importance of structured critical incident reflection in promoting resilience-related learning in pre-service EFL teacher education.
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