Exploring Turkish EFL teachers’ negative emotions and professional detachment in episodic narratives: a Ricoeurian analysis of the critical incidents

This study foregrounds the Episodic Narrative Interview (ENI) through critical incident (CI) analysis as novel data collection tools and Ricoeur's narrative identity frame as a novel data analysis and presentation idea in exploring the antecedents and impacts of negative emotions on EFL teachers in Türkiye. Design/methodology/approach: Narrative in nature, the present study hinges on CI analysis, ENI, and Ricoeur's narrative identity frame which includes pre-configuration, configuration, and refiguration. The participants of the study were three English teachers selected through convenience sampling. The data collection process depended on the juxtaposition of CIs with ENI, which enabled the researchers to explore the experience-based aspects of teachers' psychology and the impact of negative incidents in teachers' professional lives. Findings and originality/value: The study assumes importance due to the integration of ENI to the analysis of CIs in exploring the significance of negative emotions in teachers' lives. Another contribution of the study is the integration of Ricoeur's narrative identity frame, which includes prefiguration, configuration, and refiguration to teacher emotion research. We mapped our data onto Ricoeur's Ricoeur's narrative identity frame and sketched teachers' journey through CIs. The findings indicated that negative episodes play a significant role in the emotional world of teachers and lead to personal and professional detachment on a gradual basis.