Teaching with heart and mind: How social-emotional skills mediate observation,perezhivanie,and pedagogical agency in Vietnamese EFL classrooms

Abstract

This study examines how Vietnamese university teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) navigate moment-to-moment classroom challenges through the interconnected processes of observation, perezhivanie, and teacher agency. Grounded in Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, the study draws on qualitative data from two experienced educators to explore how social-emotional skills (SES),culturally developed capacities for self-awareness, emotional regulation, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making, mediate teachers’ professional responsiveness. Findings indicate that SES enabled teachers to attune to subtle verbal and non-verbal cues, regulate emotional tensions during unexpected classroom moments, and maintain relational harmony while addressing pedagogical goals. Through perezhivanie, emotionally salient classroom events were processed in ways that shaped evolving interpretations of student needs and informed subsequent actions. Teacher agency emerged as a developmentally layered process, characterized by ongoing negotiation between personal values, emotional insights, and institutional demands. Both participants demonstrated how SES supported their ability to reframe problematic incidents, prioritize long-term relational dynamics over immediate control, and strategically adapt lesson content and delivery in culturally appropriate ways. This study proposes a Developmental Cycle of Adaptive Teaching, emphasizing how SES mediates interpretations, reflections, and pedagogical actions in culturally nuanced contexts. The findings underscore the importance of fostering social-emotional skills in teacher education, not only to support teachers’ own well-being but also to enhance student engagement, emotional safety, and overall classroom effectiveness.