Framed within Oxford’s (2013) peace language model and transformative approaches, this presentation reports on a study that explored a group of Argentine EFL pre-service teachers’ beliefs and emotions regarding a pedagogical intervention in the practicum aimed at fostering peacebuilding competencies, including ethnocultural empathy, intercultural understanding, emotional self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility.
The urgent need for peace in today’s world and the internationalization of the English language makes it crucial to prepare second language teachers to become peacebuilders (Olivero & Oxford, 2019). In order for language teachers to build peace, they should develop the relevant cultural, emotional, and cognitive competencies, which will allow them to engage in deep transformation of various aspects of their self, including their beliefs and emotions. These competencies must be enacted and embodied through transformative approaches. Framed within Oxford’s (2013) multidimensional peace language model and transformative approaches, this presentation reports on a study that explored a group of Argentine EFL pre-service teachers’ beliefs and emotions regarding a pedagogical intervention in the practicum aimed at fostering peacebuilding competencies. The pedagogical intervention in the practicum course consisted of multidimensional peace language activities (MPLAs) designed to enhance ethnocultural empathy, intercultural understanding, emotional self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility (Gkonou, Olivero, & Oxford, forthcoming). The study involved the design of multiple case studies and narrative inquiry. Data from four purposefully selected participants were collected through semi-structured interviews, journal entries, and field-notes from classroom observations, which were thematically analyzed using an inductive approach. The findings indicate transformations in the pre-service teachers’ beliefs and emotions as a result of the pedagogical intervention. For example, activities aimed at helping participants’ self-regulate their emotions led them to reduce negative emotions and enhance positive ones, resulting in greater confidence. Moreover, the participants believed that activities intended to foster ethnocultural empathy helped them be more compassionate toward their learners. The activities aimed at developing intercultural understanding transformed participants’ beliefs regarding the main purpose for teaching EFL in Argentina, which related to the importance of cultivating human values through the teaching of culture. This presentation closes with important pedagogical and research implications for the field of second language teacher education.
