Negotiating agency and emotional wellbeing in AI-infused ELT practicum: A qualitative study of pre-service teachers’ lived experiences

Abstract

This qualitative study explored how pre-service English language teaching (ELT) trainees negotiated professional agency and emotional wellbeing and how these two processes interacted during practicum experiences in artificial intelligence (AI) and digitally enriched practicum. Guided by the ecological model of teacher agency (EMTA) and the job demands–resources (JD-R) framework, the study examined how technological affordances and institutional constraints shaped decision-making, identity, and affective experiences. Twelve final-year ELT trainees from a Turkish university undertook a 10-week practicum involving varying degrees of AI integration. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and artefact analysis, and analysed thematically. Findings highlighted three forms of agency – iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective – manifested in adapting AI-generated content, making real-time pedagogical adjustments, and envisioning professional futures. Emotional wellbeing fluctuated depending on perceived control over AI use, mentor guidance, and alignment with teaching values. A key finding was that agency and wellbeing were mutually shaping rather than independent, with opportunities to adapt AI outputs strengthening confidence and engagement, and mandated or inflexible AI use contributing to frustration and diminished professional ownership. The study shows how AI-infused practicum contexts magnify tensions between innovation and conformity, while identifying the contextual conditions that may weaken or support the agency–wellbeing relationship. Implications stress the need for teacher education to embed critical digital agency, provide emotional support, and allow contextual adaptation of AI tools to build resilient and autonomous future practitioners.