Editorial
PDF

How to Cite

Gabryś-Barker, D., & Piechurska-Kuciel, E. (2012). Editorial. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2(2), 155–157. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2012.2.2.1

Number of views: 308


Number of downloads: 264

Abstract

With this volume, we propose to join the discussion on the role of affect in the process of second/foreign language learning. We hope to make a contribution to academic, and especially linguistic, research which has previously focused mostly on cognitive aspects of language acquisition but also, at its best, on the strategies (many of them affective ones) necessary for developing language competence. In our view, emotional factors do not deserve the role of “the Cinderella of mental functions” (Arnold & Brown, 1999, p. 1), because the complex processes taking place in the brain originate in the interplay of affect and cognition (e.g., Duncan & Barrett, 2007; Panksepp, 2003; Paradis, 2004). Consequently we cannot be fully understood without attending to our emotional profiles. Like Scovel (2000), we also believe that “the great irony is that they (i.e., emotions) could very well end up being the most influential force in language acquisition, but SLA researchers have not even come close to demonstrating such a claim” (p. 140).

https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2012.2.2.1
PDF

References

Arnold, J., & Brown, H. D. (1999). A map of the terrain. In J. Arnold (Ed.), Affect in language learning (pp. 1-27). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Duncan S., & Barrett, L. F. (2007). Affect is a form of cognition: A neurobiological analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 21, 1184-1211.

Panksepp, J. (2003). At the interface of the affective, behavioral, and cognitive neurosciences: Decoding the emotional feelings of the brain. Brain and Cognition, 52, 4-14.

Paradis, M. (2004). A neurolinguistic theory of bilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Scovel, T. (2000). Learning new languages: A guide to second language acquisition. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.