VietTESOL International Convention 2026

Teaching is fundamentally an “emotional practice”. While emotional labor has piqued the interest of researchers across various settings recently, this topic of concern remains underexplored in the context of Vietnam, particularly regarding EFL pre-service teachers. Meanwhile, although the teaching practicum is a significant transition where pre-service teachers encounter professional environments and numerous emotional incidents for the first time, research into their emotional labor during this period is still limited. Grounded in Grandey’s (2000) Emotional Labor model, this study adopts a narrative inquiry approach to explore the emotional experiences of five Vietnamese EFL pre-service teachers taking the teaching practicum at private schools. Through in-depth interviews and informal conversations, the research identifies the factors influencing their emotional labor, the strategies they employ, and the subsequent impact on their personal well-being. The findings indicate that pre-service teachers’ emotional labor was primarily driven by emotional incidents during the teaching practicum, leading them to employ various emotional labor strategies as an effort to appropriately respond to these incidents, which resulted in both negative and positive consequences for their personal well-being. Insights from the study offer practical implications for enhancing English language teacher education programs in Vietnam, specifically considering emotional preparation for prospective EFL teachers.