A Model for Developing Pre-Service EFL Teachers' Social and Emotional Competencies Through A Gender-Responsive Pedagogical Approach

Abstract

This article conceptualizes the development of pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' social and emotional competencies through gender-responsive pedagogy as an integrated socio-pedagogical system. It presents a comparative and critical analysis of Uzbekistan's legislation on education and gender equality, the CASEL framework, UNESCO and OECD approaches, and relevant theoretical and empirical studies published in Uzbek, Russian, and English. The synthesis shows that teacher social and emotional competence, gender-responsive pedagogy, and English language teacher education have generally developed as separate strands of inquiry; a model that integrates them through a coherent mechanism remains insufficiently elaborated. In response, the author proposes a pedagogical model comprising goal-oriented methodological, content, process and technology, organizational and collaborative, and diagnostic and outcome blocks. Its content core encompasses self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and empathy, relationship and collaboration skills, and responsible pedagogical decision-making, while gender reflexivity functions as a cross-cutting regulator. The model specifies a six-stage socio-pedagogical mechanism progressing from gender-reflexive awareness to emotional self-regulation, empathic perspective-taking, equitable communication and collaboration, responsible pedagogical decision-making, and transfer to EFL practice. It also links reflective tasks, critical incidents, role-play, microteaching, peer feedback, and portfolio-based assessment to the distinctive emotional and communicative demands of foreign-language classrooms. As a conceptual contribution, the model establishes theoretically grounded relationships among objectives, conditions, mechanisms, technologies, assessment criteria, and expected outcomes. Its effectiveness remains to be verified empirically in a subsequent experimental phase.