L2 English teachers' changing practices of social and emotional learning: The impact of an inset program

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process of obtaining and effectively applying the knowledge, attitudes, and abilities necessary to recognize emotional triggers and manage emotions, set and achieve goals, empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures, establish and maintain healthy relationships, and make constructive choices. In Turkey, although there are pioneering studies about the effect of SEL on students, to our best knowledge, there is no research carried out so far to examine L2 English teachers' conceptualization and implementation of SEL. During the pandemic, concerning the necessary competencies to overcome the changing conditions in education, an Inset program on SEL was designed for teachers. Two pilot studies were conducted to explore the effects of the Inset program on twenty teachers, in an organization affiliated to the Ministry of Education in April 2020 and October 2021, Istanbul, Turkey. In line with the data and the findings of those two pilot studies, this qualitative study was designed to probe how L2 English teachers at high school level conceptualize SEL before and after the training and incorporate it into their teaching after a six-week Inset program on SEL. Seven volunteer high school teachers participated in six workshops lasting three hours each week. The data was obtained through semi-structured in-depth interviews, observations, and lesson plans, and analysed both deductively and inductively. The initial categories emerged in the inductive process were checked, confirmed, and reshaped by further reference to the literature in the deductive process. The findings revealed that training sessions noticeably changed teachers' conceptualization of SEL, their classroom practices and developed their self-awareness, self-management, and relationship skills.