Keywords
person-in-context relational view
small lens research approach
discursive and introspective tools
How to Cite
Number of views: 975
Number of downloads: 786
Abstract
While perennial in the research landscape, empirical work investigating second language (L2) study emotions has proliferated in the past ten years (Dewaele, 2019). Nevertheless, this article argues there is space for more holistic yet detailed, social yet individual perspectives when conducting such research. As one avenue, the paper explores the potential of a “small lens” approach (Ushioda, 2016) to delve into particular emotional events in situ from learner-internal and learner-external points of view. It details an example of such an approach put into practice, in which the author examined the emergence of emotionally significant episodes for English as a foreign language undergraduates in Japan during short conversation sessions. The research explored data from discursive (video-recordings and transcripts of short conversations) and introspective (learner journals) angles. As a result, it was possible to observe the ways in which students’ emotional moves were both afforded by and acted on those of the other through their social interactions, and through interactions with additional aspects of their ongoing psychologies and relationships. The article thus aims to promote further situated L2 emotion research examining the dynamic interplay between various aspects of learners’ psychologies and the co-formed social context.
Funding
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
References
Boiger, M., & Mesquita, B. (2012). The construction of emotions in interactions, relationships, and cultures. Emotion Review, 4(3), 221-229.
Boiger, M., & Mesquita, B. (2015). A sociodynamic perspective on the construction of emotion. In L. Feldman Barrett & J. A. Russell (Eds.), The psychological construction of emotion (pp. 377-398). Guilford Press.
Boudreau, C., MacIntyre, P. D., & Dewaele, J.-M. (2018). Enjoyment and anxiety in second language communication: An idiodynamic approach. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 149-170. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.1.7
Cahour, B. (2013). Emotions: Characteristics, emergence and circulation in interactional learning. In M. Baker, J. Andriessen, & S. Jarvela (Eds.), Affective learning together: Social and emotional dimensions of collaborative learning (pp. 52-70). Routledge.
Council of Europe. (2001). Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press.
Damasio, A. (2003). Looking for Spinoza: Joy, sorrow and the feeling brain. Vintage.
Denzin, N. K. (1984). On understanding emotion. Jossey-Bass.
Dewaele, J.-M. (2019). When elephants fly: The lift-off of emotion research in applied linguistics. Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 533-536.
Dewaele, J.-M., & Alfawzan, M. (2018). Does the effect of enjoyment outweigh that of anxiety in foreign language performance? Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 21-45. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.1.2
Dewaele, J.-M., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2016). Foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety: The right and left feet of the language learner. In P. D. MacIntyre, T. Gregersen, & S. Mercer (Eds.), Positive psychology in SLA (pp. 215-236). Multilingual Matters.
Finch, A. (2010). Critical incidents and language learning: Sensitivity to initial conditions. System, 38(3), 422-431.
Garrett, P., & Young, R. F. (2009). Theorizing affect in foreign language learning: An analysis of one learner’s responses to a communicative Portuguese course. Modern Language Journal, 93(2), 209-226.
Gilmore, A. (2016). Language learning in context: Complex dynamic systems and the role of mixed methods research. In J. King (Ed.), The dynamic interplay between context and the language learner (pp. 194-224). Palgrave Macmillan.
Gkonou, C. (2017). Towards an ecological understanding of language anxiety. In C. Gkonou, M. Daubney, & J.-M. Dewaele (Eds.), New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications (pp. 135-155). Multilingual Matters.
Gregersen, T., MacIntyre, P. D., & Meza, M. D. (2014). The motion of emotion: Idiodynamic case studies of learners’ foreign language anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 98(2), 574-588.
Halquist, D., & Musanti, S. (2010). Critical incidents and reflection: Turning points that challenge the researcher and create opportunities for knowing. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 23(4), 449-461.
Imai, Y. (2010). Emotions in SLA: New insights from collaborative learning for an EFL classroom. Modern Language Journal, 94, 278-292.
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation analysis: Studies from the first generation (pp. 13-23). John Benjamins.
Lemke, J. L. (2000). Across the scales of time: Artifacts, activities, and meanings in ecosocial systems. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 7(4), 273-290. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327884MCA0704_03
Machi, S. (2020). “Braid structure” conversations: Development of informal triadic conversation in Japanese. The Japanese Journal of Language in Society, 22(2), 15-29.
MacIntyre, P. D., & Vincze, L. (2017). Positive and negative emotions underlie motivation for L2 learning. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 7(1), 61-88. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2017.7.1.4
Mesquita, B. (2010). Emoting: A contextualized process. In B. Mesquita, L. Feldman Barrett, & E. R. Smith (Eds.), The mind in context (pp. 83-104). Guilford Press.
Oxford, R. L., & Gkonou, C. (2021). Working with the complexity of language learners’ emotions and emotion regulation strategies. In R. J. Sampson & R. S. Pinner (Eds.), Complexity perspectives on researching language learner and teacher psychology (pp. 52-67). Multilingual Matters.
Pawlak, M., Kruk, M., Zawodniak, J., & Pasikowski, S. (2020). Investigating factors responsible for boredom in English classes: The case of advanced learners. System, 91, 102259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102259
Phelps, R. (2005). The potential of reflective journals in studying complexity “in action.” Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 2(1), 37-54.
Pinner, R. S., & Sampson, R. J. (2021). Humanizing TESOL research through the lens of complexity thinking. TESOL Quarterly, 55(2), 633-642. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.604
Prior, M. T. (2016). Emotion and discourse in L2 narrative research. Multilingual Matters.
Prior, M. T. (2019). Elephants in the room: An “affective turn,” or just feeling our way? Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 516-527.
Reisenzein, R., Junge, M., Studtmann, M., & Huber, O. (2014). Observational approaches to the measurement of emotions. In R. Pekrun & L. Linnenbrink-Garcia (Eds.), International handbook of emotions in education (pp. 580-606). Routledge.
Richards, K. (2006). “Being the teacher:” Identity and classroom conversation. Applied Linguistics, 27(1), 51-77.
Ruusuvuori, J. (2012). Emotion, affect and conversation. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook of conversation analysis (pp. 330-349). Wiley-Blackwell.
Saldaña, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed.). Sage.
Sampson, R. J. (2019). Real people with real experiences: The emergence of classroom L2 study feelings over interacting timescales. System, 84, 14-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2019.05.001
Sampson, R. J. (2020). The feeling classroom: diversity of feelings in instructed L2 learning. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 14(3), 203-217. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2018.1553178
Sampson, R. J., & Yoshida, R. (2020). Emergence of divergent L2 feelings through the co-adapted social context of online chat. Linguistics and Education, 60, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2020.100861
Sampson, R. J., & Yoshida, R. (2021). L2 feelings through interaction in a Japanese-English online chat exchange. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 15(2), 131-142. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2019.1710514
Shuman, V., & Scherer, K. R. (2014). Concepts and structures of emotions. In International handbook of emotions in education (pp. 13-35). Routledge.
Şimşek, E., & Dörnyei, Z. (2017). Anxiety and L2 self-images: The “anxious self.” In C. Gkonou, M. Daubney, & J.-M. Dewaele (Eds.), New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications (pp. 51-69). Multilingual Matters.
Taylor, F. (2013). Self and identity in adolescent foreign language learning. Multilingual Matters.
Turner, J. H., & Stets, J. E. (2005). The sociology of emotions. Cambridge University Press.
Ushioda, E. (2009). A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and identity. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 215-228). Multilingual Matters.
Ushioda, E. (2015). Context and complex dynamic systems theory. In Z. Dörnyei, P. D. MacIntyre, & A. Henry (Eds.), Motivational dynamics in language learning (pp. 47-54). Multilingual Matters.
Ushioda, E. (2016). Language learning motivation through a small lens: A research agenda. Language Teaching, 49(4), 564-577.
Ushioda, E. (2021). Doing complexity research in the language classroom: A commentary. In R. J. Sampson & R. S. Pinner (Eds.), Complexity perspectives on researching language learner and teacher psychology (pp. 269-283). Multilingual Matters.
Wiggins, S. (2017). Discursive psychology: Theory, method and applications. SAGE Publications.
Zimmerman, D. H. (1998). Discoursal identities and social identities. In C. Antaki & S. Widdicombe (Eds.), Identities in talk (pp. 87-106). Sage.
License
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.