Exploring the emotional experiences of implementing GenAI-assisted digital multimodal composing: an autobiographic self-study

As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) becomes increasingly integrated into digital multimodal composing (DMC) in L2 writing classrooms, teachers face heightened emotional demands alongside pedagogical and technological change. This autobiographical self-study examines how an L2 writing teacher experienced and managed emotions while implementing an eight-week GenAI-assisted DMC project in a university English course. Drawing on reflective journals and critical friend dialogues, the study identifies a phase-based emotional trajectory characterised by early anxiety and anticipation, mid-stage frustration stemming from misalignments between pedagogical expectations and students’ observable engagement, and late-stage cognitive reappraisal marked by renewed confidence and professional affirmation. Teacher emotions were shaped less by technological complexity alone than by the evolving visibility of student engagement within a pedagogical context marked by multimodal, technological, and evaluative uncertainty. Emotion regulation functioned as an ongoing process of pedagogical sensemaking, supported by cognitive reappraisal and dialogic reflection. Implications emphasise process-oriented DMC design and sustained dialogic professional support to foster emotionally responsive L2 writing innovation.