Advanced learners’ foreign language-related emotions across the four skills
Journal Title: Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue 1
Abstract
Individual differences researchers have recently begun to investigate the concept of emotions and their role in language learning (MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2016). Our aim is to report on a project exploring English majors’ feelings related to their use of foreign languages. Using a qualitative research design, participants were asked to write a paragraph in their mother tongue (Hungarian) describing their emotional experiences in connection with foreign languages and one of the four language skills. Our database comprised altogether 166 paragraphs from 31 male and 135 female students, with 43 texts on listening, 35 on speaking, 47 on reading, and 41 on writing. With the help of content analytical techniques, the texts were divided into thematic units and coded by the two authors. A framework of academically-relevant emotions (Pekrun, 2014) was used to guide our initial coding and the categories were modified where it was felt necessary. Results indicate that the two emotions most frequently experienced by English majors are predominantly related to enjoyment and language anxiety, and these emotions vary not only according to the skill involved but also depending on the context of language use (in class or outside class).
Authors and Affiliations
Katalin Piniel, Ágnes Albert
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP274242
- DOI 10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.1.6
- Views 133
- Downloads 0
Test
Test
Motivation and demotivation over two years: A case study of English language learners in Japan
This paper is about four Japanese university students majoring in international studies, who participated in a two-year study examining changes in their motivation. Using monthly interviews and a 29-item questionnaire on...
Notes on Contributors
.
Second language pragmatic ability: Individual differences according to environment
The aims of this paper are to review research literature on the role that the second language (L2) and foreign language (FL) environments actually play in the development of learners’ target language (TL) pragmatic abili...
Re-telling a story in a second language: How well do adult learners mine an input text for multiword expressions?
Adult second language (L2) learners have often been found to produce discourse that manifests limited and non-native-like use of multiword expressions. One explanation for this is that adult L2 learners are relatively un...