Teaching and Learning English - Przemysław E. Gębal, Czesław Kiński, Sarah Mercer, Sabina A. Nowak, Małgorzata Szulc-Kurpaska

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Michał Latusek

Recenzenci naukowi

Melanie Ellis

Michał B. Paradowski

Joanna Rokita-Jaśkow

Publikacja dofinansowana przez Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny im. Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie

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ISBN 978-83-01-22835-4

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53271/2022.002

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List of authors

Przemysław E. Gębal is an applied linguist and researcher in the field of foreign language learning and teaching. His research interests include multilingualism and cross-cultural communication with a particular focus on their pedagogical and didactic aspects. He is a professor at the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the University of Gdańsk and the Institute of Applied Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw, involved in research and practice of foreign language teacher training. He is the scientific editor of the publishing series "Foreign Language Didactics" for the PWN publishing house.

Czesław Kiński works at the Institute of Linguistics at the University of Warmia and Mazury, where he teaches Methodology, Psychology in Education and other ELT-related subjects. His interests include various aspects of language learning psychology, student well-being, public speaking, and group dynamics; his main research area is the role of emotions in language learning. He also works as an author of educational materials and a teacher training consultant, both in Poland and abroad.

Sarah Mercer is head of ELT at the University of Graz, head of the Fachdidaktik Research Network at the University of Graz, and head of the Doctorate Programme for language teaching research. She is interested in all aspects of language learning psychology (teacher and learner perspectives). She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of several books in this area and has served as Principal Investigator on several funded research projects mostly examining wellbeing in language education.

Sabina A. Nowak works at the Institute of English Philology at the Pedagogical University of Cracow in the Department of English Language Education. She teaches Didactics, Assessment, and lectures on CLIL, as she holds a degree in Applied Linguistics and Tourism. Her research interests focus on reflection through journal writing as well as testing and assessment. She worked as an examiner of the Polish Maturity exam and Cambridge UCLES (KET, PET, FCE, CAE) oral exams. She is currently involved in running international telecollaborative projects.

Małgorzata Szulc-Kurpaska is an assistant professor at the Witelon College State University in Legnica and she works as a teacher trainer at the primary school and kindergarten level. She is the co-author of the coursebook Sparks and a methodology book on Teaching English to Young Learners. She cooperated with the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw in conducting research into the conditions of foreign language instruction and its effectiveness in the primary school. Her research interests involve creativity, special educational needs and pre-primary teacher training.

IntroductionPrzemysław E . Gębal, Czesław Kiński, Sarah Mercer, Sabina A. Nowak, Małgorzata Szulc-Kurpaska

- The teaching of English is perceived as one of the more important elements of modern education. The English language is a compulsory school subject and its learning begins as soon as in preschool. It usually precedes the teaching of another foreign language (or other foreign languages) for several years, thus forming the first and most important experience for the learners - it determines and influences the whole linguistic development path of young people. From the academic perspective, the teaching and learning of English is arguably the most developed area within foreign language education. In addition, its didactics is given the most attention in Central European countries.

Unfortunately, the reality outlined above does not translate into the publication of synthetic academic textbooks that present the whole range of aspects related to the teaching and learning of the English language, addressed to TEFL specialization students. Scholars who research this area only rarely decide to compile their findings with the view of encapsulating the current state of development of this academic field. Their attention is usually focused on devising studies of a more specialized character; discussing specific aspects connected with the process of learning and teaching the English language. To a significant extent, these studies form the substantive basis for the current education of future teachers and the professional development of those teachers and practitioners who are interested in their own further education. They are supplemented by the few Polish studies which treat the didactics and methodology of foreign language teaching in a comprehensive manner, as well as by foreign publications (mostly British), addressed to future teachers of the English language throughout the world. The European standardization of language education and vocational education of language teachers, present in these materials, supports such practices. However, it is necessary to bear in mind that in its practical and curriculum-related dimension they do not fully account for specific local educational conditions while assuming that the solutions developed and presented in those materials provide an attractive offer for all those who are preparing to become teachers of the English language in various regions of the modern, increasingly globalized world.

This is the context in which our publication makes an appearance. On the one hand, it aspires to position itself in the global stream of the discussion on learning and teaching the contemporary lingua franca, on the other hand, it attempts to fill the gap left by the lack of regional academic textbooks within this ever-more developing academic and didactic domain.

Teaching and Learning English. Education for Life is developed in the form of a multi-authored monograph covering the theoretical and methodological framework of the contemporary teaching and learning of English in an exolingual environment. The topics it contains embrace the present state of development of academic ideas, as well as recognized curriculum solutions and methodologies. It is our intention to offer a publication which forms a bridge connecting, on the one hand, a theoretical foundation based on current research and, on the other hand, specific didactic and methodological solutions which, following critical reflection from the reader, might contribute to their professional skills and techniques. Our academic textbook forms a part of the glottodidactic series published since 2018 by the Polish Scientific Publishers PWN, and to a significant extent it is in keeping with the series' concepts.

Our monograph is designed for:

- students (undergraduate and graduate) of English Studies wishing to qualify to teach the English language at all levels of language education, especially upper-primary, secondary and adult education;

- students (undergraduate and graduate) of applied linguistics (with English Studies) who often aim at becoming teachers of two foreign languages;

- post-graduate students, supplementing their earlier philological or linguistic education with teacher training modules;

- students of other foreign languages who - as a part of their training as teachers - are interested in solutions adopted in the teaching of the contemporary lingua franca;

- teachers and instructors of English who are interested in acquiring the current knowledge and improving their didactic skills to support and continue their professional development;

- educators and teacher-trainers conducting such forms of professional development for teachers and instructors of English in which theoretical considerations are introduced;

- academic teachers who educate future teachers of English and other languages.

As a textbook which is meant as a teacher training tool, Teaching and Learning English. Education for Life refers to the emancipatory-critical model of teacher training oriented at supporting the reflectivity of the students. It aspires to encourage students' critical self-reflection concerning their own professional and academic development. With the help of the suitably designed activities which accompany the textbook's reasoning in its expository character, we attempt to release students from the dogmatic thinking which forms a significant obstacle both to introducing novel solutions into the teaching process and from the informed planning of the professional development and career of future teachers.

In its conceptual dimension, the subject matter presented in our volume is related to the contemporary Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR 2011, CEFR-CV 2018) and the constructivist-oriented activity approach to the learning and teaching of foreign languages which it promotes. The theoretical, curriculum-related and methodological reflections contained in this book, as well as the activities which integrate them into the practice of teaching, draw directly on this approach.

In the context of teaching philosophy, we represent the trend of humanistic pedagogy and the pedagogical well-being developed within its framework and frequently referred to as 'positive education' (Mercer et al. 2018, Gębal 2018, MacIntyre et al., 2019; Mercer et al., 2019). This orientation, connected with positive psychology, assumes teachers and learners will shape relationships which will rely on their strong points, their belief in their own capabilities, and their readiness to undertake action and assume autonomous responsibility for their development and well-being. By the same token, the process of learning and teaching a language acquires a psycho-social orientation within which the linguistic abilities developed are supplemented by a whole set of other soft skills, which are useful in everyday life and communication with others while supporting lifelong, conscious, personal, social and cultural development (education for life). The teaching strategies which foster such an educational process turn it into a specific act of artistic creation due to its unique and singular character. The teachers who are prepared to discover and introduce this in their daily work are people who are aware of their professional competences and the value of their personalities.

The innovativeness of the monograph which we entrust to the readers is also manifested in its interactive character. This consists in the manner in which individual chapters refer Students and Instructors to the materials available on the Internet, in combination with the suggested tasks and questions regarding these materials. This format extends the scope of the monograph to include new possibilities offered by multimedia, giving voice to authorities in the theoretical issues discussed and to teachers demonstrating and discussing the examples of good practice. It prompts an in-depth reflection on the relevant content as well as, we hope, encourages the Readers of our textbook to self-reflect on the creativity that language teaching and learning facilitates.

Our publication consists of 16 chapters in which we discuss the current theoretical orientations and contexts of English language teaching, demonstrate methods and techniques of work which enable the development of specific linguistic abilities, and present considerations which are aimed at supporting the vocational development of teachers.

This volume is the work of five specialists in the area of English language teaching and foreign languages didactics. In every chapter of the book, we have provided a note on its author. The authors represent various academic centres, both Polish and foreign. This fruitful cooperation symbolizes their wish to demonstrate unity in the diversity of their academic pursuits; diversity which results from different interests and research experiences. Much as the authors have endeavoured to maintain the unity of thought, it also has to be remembered that subtle variations of style and expression may be found.

The modern standards for language teacher education also encompass a broad range of diverse concepts, approaches, and educational practices worked out together, but at the same time respecting the autonomy of the individual institutions involved in such activities. They also form a collection of solutions and strategies which have interdisciplinary roots. This interdisciplinarity is also visible in our reflections, which go far beyond the traditionally understood didactics and methodology of English language teaching.

We are very much indebted to Professor Melanie Ellis, Professor Joanna Rokita-Jaśkow and Professor Michał B. Paradowski for the critical reading of our work and for preparing an insightful and favourable review. The constructive suggestions we received had a significant impact on the final form of the present volume.

We would also like to express our gratitude to all scholars active in the area of learning and teaching of the English language and other foreign languages. Without their achievements and commitment to the development of our field of research, this textbook would not have come into being.

All of us are grateful to our students who participated in the academic classes we conducted for TEFL courses. The concept of this textbook greatly benefited from our encounters and discussions.

Note to the Reader

As academics and practising teachers, we hold these truths to be fundamental to our profession: education needs to stem from a scientific foundation, allowing for a deep understanding of the learner and the learning process. Second, it ought to test scientific theories, notions and hypotheses in daily teaching practice, for without this step, it risks remaining detached from the world of the classroom. Finally, it should encourage reflection on various aspects of the learning process to establish good patterns, and subject unwanted results to critical revision and modification in the future.

The format used in every chapter of this book reflects this attitude. Our intention is to present a solid, research-based framework that will provide teachers with advice and guidance and allow members of the teaching community to re-examine and reflect on their teaching practice. Understanding the complexity of contexts in our profession, we wish to encourage the reader to experiment with the ideas presented in this book, contemplate the outcomes, and disseminate their experience among their fellow teachers. We hope that the format used in every chapter of the book will be conducive to fostering reflective teaching practice in pre- and in-service teacher professional development. The authors trust that the implementation of the model in this publication will help the reader on the path of teaching development and successfully prepare them for the demands of their profession.

The chapters are based on Kolb's reflective model and begin by referring to the Reader's experience, continue with an invitation to reflective observation and abstract conceptualization, and conclude with a call for active experimentation. Throughout the book, an icon navigation system has been used to guide the reader throughout the contents. The following key explains the meaning of each icon and outlines the structure of each chapter.

Lead-In

This short section provides a general introduction to the subject of the chapter by inviting the reader to preliminary, topic-related contemplation.

Activation

The aim of this section is to provide the Reader with a deeper reflection on the topic by activating their background knowledge, thus helping them gain a more specific sense of expectation regarding the content of the chapter.

Input

This section of the chapter focuses on delivering a summary of the theoretical considerations and research results related to the content of the chapter, thus establishing a solid academic foundation for subsequent considerations. The reader is encouraged to consult the references quoted to gain a deeper understanding of the issues discussed.

Know-How Activities

The aim of this section is to offer a database of practical activities that the reader may use in their teaching practice. The tasks presented in this part of the chapter range from those with a very specific focus to more general ones, which may be flexibly adapted to fit a particular learning context.

Reflection

In keeping with the role of the teacher as a reflective practitioner, this section aims at encouraging self-reflection, especially in terms of the theoretical and practical input presented and its relationship to the reader's educational background, both as a learner and a teacher.

Experimentation

The purpose of this section is to provide ideas that will allow the reader to experiment with new ideas and challenge their own deeply held beliefs, as well as test those presented in the chapter. Understanding the complexity of teaching environments, we are humbly aware that the success and effectiveness of the solutions presented may depend on some variables.

Dissemination

This section aims at encouraging the reader to reach out and share their newly gained knowledge and experience with other teachers, both within their educational institutions as well as in wider teaching communities, such as Facebook groups. Apart from this, Dissemination invites the reader to take advantage of their colleagues' professional expertise by asking them to share their ideas on the topics discussed in the chapter.

Key Terms

This section provides the reader with the definitions of some of the terms and concepts used in the chapter.

1Well-Being in Language EducationSarah Mercer

Lead-In

In 2009, a research team in the US asked parents what they wanted for their children in life and what they felt school taught (Seligman et al., 2009). Before reading on to find out what the responses were, perhaps take a moment to consider how you would have responded to those questions.

It is probably no surprise to learn that the most common answers to what parents wanted for their children in life included: happiness, confidence, contentment, balance, kindness, health, satisfaction etc. In other words, they wanted their children to lead happy, fulfilled lives; they wanted well-being for them. In response to what they thought that school taught, the parents referred to quite different things including achievement, thinking skills, success, conformity, literacy, mathematics, discipline etc. These are the tools of accomplishment. While students doubtless need many of those competences, it is worth reflecting on just how much of the first set of life skills for well-being we consciously address in education.

In order to supplement your understanding of teaching English and life skills, watch the plenary talk given at TESOL-SPAIN 43rd on "Positive Language Education: Teaching English and Life Skills": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAp1sxyreLI.

Activation

In the 1946 constitution of the World Health Organization, health is defined as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". Health is a basic human right which should be advocated for and supported in all social and educational systems. In other words, schools should be seeking to actively promote and support the health and well-being of all the stakeholders involved in their community - staff and students.

To what extent do you feel this is already common practice in your context or, indeed, in other educational settings across the globe?

Input

1. Defining Well-Being

Well-being is a highly contested term with many different perspectives, definitions, and theoretical frameworks. Part of the reason for this plurality of understandings is the inherent complexity of the notion which defies easy, straightforward definitions (La Placa, McNaught, & Knight, 2013). Well-being has been connected with health, and indeed physical and mental health are closely interconnected (e.g., Fox, 1999; Hays et al., 1994). However, the more broadly accepted notion of well-being is that it is a subjective psychological and emotional perception of how satisfied one is with one's life.

Essentially, there are typically two main perspectives on well-being: one takes a hedonic approach and the other a eudaemonic approach (Ryan & Deci, 2001). The most dominant hedonic perspective is evinced in work on Subjective Well-being (SWB) which is defined as the presence of pleasant/positive affect, relative lack of unpleasant/negative affect, and life satisfaction (e.g., Diener et al., 1999; Lucas et al., 1996). SWB places a strong emphasis on the subjective affective dimension of the moment with less consideration of the socially embedded and long-term character of well-being across the lifetime. In contrast, eudemonic approaches focus more on meaning and self-actualisation considering aspects of life such as meaning, purpose, engagement, and social connection among others. In reality, well-being is likely to emerge from an integration of both hedonistic and eudaemonic perspectives with experiences of positive affect at the moment as well as a sense of doing well in life more broadly over time (e.g., Jayawickreme, Forgeard, & Seligman, 2012). Eudaemonic approaches more typically see well-being as multifaceted with models typically comprised of multiple components which interact to generate a person's subjective sense of well-being. No single factor can define well-being; rather multiple components contribute to it.

One useful multidimensional model is proposed by Dodge et al. (2012) who describe well-being through the use of the metaphor of a see-saw balancing between resources and challenges. They explain that "well-being is when individuals have the psychological, social and physical resources they need to meet a particular psychological, social and/or physical challenge. When individuals have more challenges than resources, the see-saw dips, along with their well-being, and vice-versa" (Dodge et al., 2012, p. 230). This model appeals for its simplicity, the combination of psychological and social factors, and dynamic character, which conceptualises well-being as being in a constant state of flux in response to contextual variables or perceived challenges. As the authors explain, it is also an optimistic model in that it suggests people can build resources (psychological, social, and physical) in order to meet challenges in their lives.

Perhaps one of the most widely used models of well-being in education, including also in language education, has been Seligman's (2011) PERMA model (see, e.g., Gregersen et al., in press; MacIntyre et al., 2019; MacIntyre et al., 2020, cf. Chapter 15). PERMA stands for: Positive emotions (such as awe, joy, happiness etc.), Engagement (being fully engrossed in activities), positive Relationships (healthy social connection), Meaning (a sense of purpose), and Accomplishment (achieving meaningful goals). In recent years, an additional health component has been added (e.g., Butler & Kern, 2016) to include physical well-being, given the close interconnections between physical and mental well-being.

A short excerpt of a video of Martin Seligman explaining PERMA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqqHUxzpfBI&feature=emb_title.

Although these models include social elements such as relationships, there is no direct reflection on the role of contextual and systemic factors and how they relate to well-being. An alternative has been to take an ecological perspective on well-being which understands that the individual's sense of well-being emerges from the interaction of their psychologies and subjective perceptions of their social ecologies (e.g., Mercer). Such an ecological perspective is important to ensure that interventions attend to a balance of both individual self-care strategies to empower the individual to take action to protect and enhance their well-being, but also systemic, structural factors which can impact individual well-being. For example, with respect to teacher well-being, strategies for boosting an individual's psychological resources can be affective but also specific contextual factors can play a role and these need addressing at the systemic level too (e.g., Babic et al., in press; Sulis et al., in press).

2. Positive Psychology and Well-Being

More recent interest in well-being has been boosted by work in positive psychology although the history of the field links back to work in humanism in the 1970s (MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014). Positive psychology (PP) is a branch of psychology that focuses on flourishing, positive functioning, and a life well-lived. In contrast to traditional deficit views in psychology which seek to fix problems, PP emerged as a balanced counter perspective which is concerned with understanding well-being. It does not deny problems or negative emotions but takes strength and positivity as a starting point alongside understanding how individuals cope with challenges through resilience. The field of PP is based around three main pillars (see Peterson, 2006):

- Positive subjective experiences (e.g., happiness, joy, satisfaction etc.)

- Positive individual traits (e.g., character strengths, values, passions etc.)

- Positive institutions (e.g., schools, families, communities etc.)

The thinking underlying this model implies that "positive institutions facilitate the development and display of positive traits, which in turn facilitate positive subjective experiences" (Peterson, 2006, p. 20). This means that in approaching well-being, we can seek to enhance all three pillars helping to address individual-level factors as well as contextual and systemic factors. It is the integration of all three pillars which provides a solid basis for well-being development.

In language education, there has been a considerable body of work in recent years examining theoretical, empirical, and practical approaches to looking at various aspects of PP in language teaching and teacher education (e.g., Gabryś-Barker & Galajda, 2016; MacIntyre et al., 2016; MacIntyre et al., 2019; Mercer et al., 2018; Strambi et al., 2018) including work with a specific focus on well-being (e.g., Gregersen et al., 2021; MacIntyre et al., 2019; MacIntyre et al., 2020; Mercer, 2020).

3. Well-being in Education

Well-being has increasingly been gaining attention in education from policymakers, curriculum designers, and school leaders. For example, good health and well-being are listed as one of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals with an expectation in the EDU2030 framework that this should be addressed in schools (see https://sdgs.un.org/goals). In addition, since 2017, PISA now measures levels of learner well-being alongside academic scores; and several national curricula now incorporate some form of well-being instruction either as a separate subject or as a transversal competence across all subjects (e.g., UK, Canada, Brazil, and Tanzania among others). Education systems globally have now formally begun to recognise the value and importance of learner well-being and there is growing interest in how to teach well-being competencies alongside traditional academic subjects.

A movement that places well-being at the heart of education is known as 'Positive Education'. Positive Education (PE) is defined as "the bringing together of the science of Positive Psychology with best practices teaching, to encourage and support schools and individuals to flourish" (Norrish, 2015, p. xxvii). The PE approach is designed to promote flourishing through and alongside the teaching of academic subjects without either being compromised. Indeed, combining the two should be positively mutually reinforcing, with well-being contributing positively to academic achievement and vice versa. The International Positive Education Network (IPEN) use the double-helix metaphor to illustrate how the promotion of well-being and character values should be taught in a fully integrated way intertwined with traditional academic goals throughout the curriculum and across all subjects. The notion of PE has already been adapted to the field of language teaching although empirical work remains lacking as yet (see, e.g., MacIntyre et al., 2019: Mercer et al., 2019).

4. Student Well-being

Student well-being can be taught as a desired outcome, part of the process, or as a topic in teaching. Ideally, we want learners to flourish in school and enjoy high well-being during their studies as part of the process of learning. It has been shown that students who have higher levels of well-being tend to perform better in school, and have higher motivation and better achievement scores (e.g., Gilman & Huebner, 2006; Quinn & Duckworth, 2007; Verkuyten & Thijs, 2002). As such, approaches which support student well-being in the present also promote educational success and flourishing. Therefore, attending to learner well-being now creates an optimal learning environment which strengthens academic achievement. Rather than distracting from traditional learning goals, attending to well-being supports subject success.

A video of Martin Seligman talking about student well-being in learning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl8yX_8LVnc&feature=emb_title.

Additionally, if we recognise the main purpose of education in preparing students for a happy and successful, meaningful life in the future then we must acknowledge that schooling needs to also be teaching the competences needed for well-being throughout life as a desirable outcome of education. This means teaching about well-being as an explicit topic as well as addressing the skills known to foster it. Helping learners to learn how to flourish in life beyond school and in their future lives must surely be a desirable purpose for all education systems. Given the benefits of student well-being in the present and the future, Seligman et al. (2009, p. 295) conclude that well-being should be taught in all schools, "as an antidote to depression, as a vehicle for increasing life satisfaction, and as an aid to better learning and more creative thinking" (cf. Chapter 14).

5. Teacher Well-Being

It will come as no surprise to many that teacher and learner well-being are tightly interconnected - referred to as 'two sides of the same coin' (Roffey, 2012). When teacher well-being is high, it is more likely learner well-being will also be high (Harding et al., 2019), there are likely to be better student/teacher relationships, fewer discipline issues, and teachers tend to teach more creatively (e.g., Klusman et al., 2008; Kunter et al., 2013; Roffey, 2012). In essence, teacher well-being is the foundation of good professional practice. Yet, it is surprising that so little attention is given explicitly to this. There are systemic problems which fail to recognise the value for both teachers and learners of attending to teacher well-being. In addition, teachers may often feel guilty for prioritising their well-being as they get caught in a 'self-sacrificing discourse' (Nias, 1999) where they dedicate themselves to their learners to such an extent that they neglect their own needs and self-care. Although teachers can take steps to protect their own well-being and exercise their agency to engage in strategies for well-being, this does not abdicate responsibility from the education systems, institutions, and policy makers who create the working conditions for educators. There are two strands that should come together to promote teacher well-being - systemic interventions and individual strategies. Putting the onus solely onto teachers for their well-being misunderstands the nature of the interaction between the individual and their ecologies. However, once teachers have the strength from positive well-being, they may also feel more empowered to work and advocate collectively with others for systemic change if and where necessary. If teachers are expected to promote well-being for their learners, they should ideally also be in the position to model such positive behaviours.

Know-How Activities

Well-being-informed approaches to pedagogy in language teaching remain relatively uncommon as yet. There has been work with educators addressing individual aspects of well-being such as growth mindsets, resilience, self-esteem, and mindfulness. However, there remain hardly any empirical studies investigating more holistic approaches to well-being as infused throughout a course or curriculum (for an exception, see Strambi et al., 2018). A theoretical lens for understanding how such teaching could function has been developed under the notion of 'Positive Language Education' (PLE) (MacIntyre et al., 2019; Mercer et al., 2019). PLE is an approach to language education which has a dual objective of teaching for well-being alongside teaching language competences.

Study the website provided by Berkeley with practical and great ideas supported by empirical research. It has various kinds of activities related to well-being; https://ggia.berkeley.edu.

Language teaching has a long history of teaching more than just language alone. Most contemporary approaches to CLT, for example, include socio-cultural competences alongside language skills. Perhaps the most explicit model of a dual-strand pedagogy can be found in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approaches which seek to teach language objectives simultaneously alongside objectives for a second subject such as biology, history, geography etc. CLIL is defined as having, "a focus not only on content, and not only on language. Each is interwoven, even if the emphasis is greater on one or the other at a given time" (Coyle et al., 2010, p. 1). In PLE, the content is well-being. As with CLIL, teachers can potentially take a 'soft/hard' approach to PLE meaning they can make small adjustments to their regular practice to bring in elements of PLE, or they can introduce specific, explicit activities or they can even infuse the whole curriculum with PLE elements and projects. What is appropriate for a particular teacher in a specific setting depends on their contextual conditions, needs of their learners, and personal preferences.

Reflection

How do you feel about the following quote with respect to your educational context?

We are currently allowing the educational provision to be determined by efficiency and maximization of output for exam results and we have lost the sense that education should be seamlessly woven into our vision for human life as a whole; that our aims of education should be coterminous with our aims for good human life (Morris, 2016, p. 7).

To what extent does your institution actively and explicitly support student and staff well-being?

How much attention do you give to your own self-care and well-being?

What aspects of your teaching already directly or indirectly contribute to learner well-being ongoing (e.g., teaching for self-esteem, lowering anxiety, promoting a growth mindset etc.)?

Thinking about the PERMA+health model of well-being (Mercer, 2021), which aspects would you like to focus more on in your teaching?

Experimentation

Teaching for and about well-being can stretch along a continuum from small adjustments to regular practices to reflect consciously on well-being, to more explicit activities or even extensive projects. I will offer some suggestions across this continuum in each category. To organise the activities, I will structure them around the PERMA+health model.

Positive Emotions

Emotions are traditionally classed as negative or positive, although it is more complex than that as it is the function of an emotion that can be defining for how it is perceived. Nevertheless, this distinction remains a useful guide. In essence, negative emotions can be inhibitive for learning as they can cause problems with language processing and performance. Therefore, one approach is to find ways of reducing negative emotions. The other approach is to actively seek to generate positive emotions. Fredrickson (2011) found that positive emotions are not only a balance to negative emotions, but they are desirable in themselves as they can 'broaden-and-build' our capacity as they open our minds and willingness to engage with resources and thus grow in our capacities. In sum, this means when teaching for positive emotions, we can seek to reduce or counter the effects of negative emotions as well as actively boost positive emotions.

- Activity: A focus on positivity does not mean suppressing negative emotions. Rather it means understanding our whole range of emotions and finding strategies to cope with them. The ability to understand one's own emotions is the cornerstone of socio-emotional competence which is central to positive relationships. To help learners get a better understanding of their emotions, they can keep an emotions journal where they note: Emotion, trigger, response. Learners become aware of their diverse emotions and are able to identify and name them. They learn to recognise their emotional triggers and can reflect on possible ways to respond. This awareness of their own emotional lives can help them manage their emotions better and choose appropriate responses. As teachers, we can further encourage this process by having an emotional check-in each day with learners to see how they are doing such as through the use of emotions boards or stickers.

- Activity: One of the most effective ways of boosting positivity is to engage in gratitude practices (e.g., Froh et al., 2009). Regular gratitude practices habituate us to recognising more positives in our lives and learning to appreciate them more consciously by savouring their presence in our lives. There are many forms of gratitude practices you can do with learners such as keeping a daily gratitude journal where they note down three things each day they are thankful for or keeping a gratitude jar where they add a note on a slip of paper every day of things they are grateful for. These two options also provide a resource of positivity to revisit if emotions are taking a dip. Learners can also think of somebody in their lives whom they are grateful for and write them a letter telling them how thankful they are for this person and why. This approach benefits both the giver and receiver of gratitude.

- Activity: Savouring refers to "the capacity to attend to, appreciate, and enhance the positive experiences in life" (Bryant & Vernoff, 2007, p. xi). As humans, we are gifted to be able to mentally engage in time travel. This means we can revisit past positive experiences, slow down time to consciously and mindfully appreciate positive moments in the present, and look forward to future positive experiences with hope and positive anticipation. With learners, we can help them remember pleasant memories through story-telling about positive past experiences or using their imagination and vision to imagine positive future experiences. These ideas can be used in writing or speaking activities with learners sharing their positive stories and savouring each other's. Learners can also be asked to savour a moment in the present. They can choose an activity out of school to focus on such as doing a hobby or having a meal with one's family. They should take time to slow down and consciously savour the experience, thinking about all their 5 senses as they do so. They can then report back in class on what they noticed while savouring their moment of positivity and they can offer advice to peers about how they were able to become more mindful and appreciative in the present.

- Project: Everyone knows that smiling and laughing boost your mood, release endorphins in the brain, and are contagious for those around. Students can work on a project to collect together some of their favourite funny things - these can be jokes, comedy memes, excerpts of films or TV programmes, or cartoons. Students can prepare a portfolio of laughter reflecting on what they find funny and why. Depending on their level of proficiency, they can also take a more critical stance to understanding the cultural character of humour analysing examples for their cultural content or creating their own funny stories and memes.

Engagement

To be engaged in something means to be deeply absorbed in an activity that we find interesting and meaningful. A strong form of engagement is also known as 'flow' in which the person is absorbed to such an extent that they lose track of time and their surroundings (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Engagement stems from feeling appropriately challenged, emotionally safe and interested, and having a sense of agency.

- Activity: A core contributor to feeling a sense of engagement is feeling empowered and competent to do something. The foundation of this is a belief that your abilities can be developed and enhanced - this is referred to as having a growth mindset (Dweck, 2006). The opposite perspective is when someone believes that their ability to learn a language is fixed; a given natural talent that no amount of effort can really change. Such a fixed mindset leads to helplessness and students feeling unable to affect their learning. As such, it is vitally important that we encourage learners to understand that their ability to learn a language can be developed with the right strategies, effort, motivation, and opportunities. One way to work on mindsets is to have learners search out examples of fixed and growth mindsets in action - looking at novels, films, TV, historical figures, advertising and seeking positive role models of those who persevered, worked hard, and despite setbacks succeeded. Some typical examples of people with growth mindset characteristics are Einstein, J. K. Rowling, or Michael Jordan.

- Activity: Another way to boost engagement is to build on learners' intrinsic motivations to learn and use a language. Students can be encouraged to see learning English as building up linguistic capital - a resource they can spend and use in the future. They can reflect on what opportunities knowing English would offer them such as by brainstorming all the ways in which English can be valuable, precious, or simply useful - possibly creating a wall poster with the whole class on the value that English offers. This idea of linguistic capital can also be extended to support learners in reflecting on their future selves using the language as they describe their English-speaking selves 10 or 20 years into the future.

- Project: Learners can feel especially engaged when doing a hobby they love. Hobbies can make a valuable, positive contribution to well-being (for example Burt & Atkinson, 2012; Seidman & Zager, 1991). They are also an opportunity to get deeply engrossed in an activity that you love, engendering deep engagement and a sense of flow. Learners can be encouraged to carry out their hobbies and report on them in class through projects, presentations, show-and-tell demonstrations, or by personalising tasks where possible to include references to their hobbies. Simply even thinking about doing something you love can generate positive emotions. Allowing learners the chance to bring their hobbies into their English classes and personalise tasks where possible is a good way to boost engagement and positivity. Learners can also be encouraged to try out a new hobby and report back on their experiences.

Positive Relationships

Relational quality among learners and between teachers and learners is absolutely defining for how connected and safe learners feel in school. If learners feel cared for and have a sense of belonging, they are more likely to flourish in school and be more engaged in school life. However, developing strong interpersonal skills will not only be critically important for classroom dynamics, but it will also help learners to build a strong, positive social network with significant others beyond school.

- Activity: A core contributor to positive relationships is empathic skills. Empathy can be developed through careful, reflective questions posed by teachers with respect to art, photos, poems, short stories, or novels. Role play is also an excellent way to encourage students to switch perspectives and try to see the world through somebody else's eyes imagining how they might feel and why they might behave in a certain way. One particular way to switch perspectives is to ask students to reflect on what characteristics are important to them in a good friend or classmate. They should list all the things they value in a friend or classmate and compare the list with a peer. Then they should look at the list and reflect on how they would score as a friend or classmate. It is a useful task to reflect on what we need from others and what we give to others in the reciprocity of a relationship (Murphey et al., 2014).

- Activity: An important dimension of positive relationships is being concerned for the welfare of others and looking beyond one's self. To promote better relationships, students can work together and brainstorm ideas to create random acts of kindness bingo either for acts beyond the classroom in the local community or specifically within the school and the class. They can then work on completing all the acts of kindness over weeks. It has been shown that engaging in acts of kindness can boost not only the well-being of the actor but also strengthen peer relationships (e.g., Layous et al., 2012).

- Project: A valuable way of developing relationship skills is to support student exchange schemes or online partnership projects where learners work with peers in other countries. It can offer students opportunities to learn about the lives of people in different parts of the world, they can use their English as a lingua franca, and they can become more empathic with the right kind of scaffolding and support from their teachers. There are many opportunities online to join school-oriented networks which partner up schools and classes, and groups of students across contexts can even work collaboratively on joint projects and topics. This works especially well in the area of socio-cultural competence.

Meaning

There are two contexts in which people can find meaning. The first is concerned with finding meaning in the sense of life and one's life goals. The second is about finding meaning in one's day-to-day experiences. As educators, one of our roles is to help learners as they reflect on the larger purposeful goals they may envisage for themselves after school. We can also help them to see the meaning in their daily lives such as in experiences with other people, art, nature, or small acts contributing to the world more broadly.

- Activity: Everyone can make a difference in the world and each small act of kindness contributes to others sending positivity out like a ripple from a stone dropped in a lake. To prompt discussion, students can reflect on the African proverb: If you think you are too small to make a difference in the world, try spending the night with a mosquito. They can discuss how people are interconnected and imagine a chain of events starting with one person smiling at another as they pass in the street. Students can imagine the interconnected stories in writing or orally, with each person contributing a knock-on positive effect stemming from the initial smile in the street. Students can also be prompted to create memes to inspire and motivate each other to make small differences in their daily lives to affect those around them with kindness. Learners can also keep a journal of what they did to make a difference to the world today or what they saw somebody else do - it is important to stress the notion that sharing a pencil or smiling at someone is already making a difference to others around us. The website Random Acts of Kindness has many other useful resources for educators seeking to teach more kindness. This topic can also be explored through the lens of making a positive difference to the planet and reflecting on actions of a sustainable lifestyle.

- Activity: To encourage students to think more long-term about their purpose in life and career goals, they can be encouraged to reflect on their strengths and how they could work with these in the future as well as any new skills they might want to learn. An interesting task can be to imagine they lived to 90 years of age and someone is writing their obituary and what it would say. What kind of life did they lead and what legacy did they leave behind? Again, it is worth perhaps first exploring the notion of legacy with learners and remembering this can be memories other people have of you as a person.

- Project: A larger-scale project that learners can work on is to investigate the meaning of happiness across the globe. The students can draw on various online resources including the 'World Happiness Report', 'Our World in Data', National Geographic resources, or contributions to 'The Blue Zones of Happiness' by Dan Buettner, among many others. Students can focus on a specific country working in small groups and exploring what happiness is defined as in each country. Then they can come back together as a whole class to compare countries and work towards an understanding of universal elements of happiness and well-being as well as aspects of uniqueness.

Accomplishment

Feeling a sense of accomplishment means feeling a sense of progress and success in areas of personal meaning. It does not have to be about schoolwork but whatever goal is meaningful or important to an individual. Often large, distant goals can sometimes seem unattainable and so it can help to break such goals down into smaller, manageable steps and become conscious of progress. Here teachers can also help by using scaffolding as well as taking time to provide focused, constructive positive feedback.

- Activity: One way to help learners to feel a sense of accomplishment is to help them work with their strengths. When learners work with their strengths, they are likely to grow in confidence and experience a range of positive emotions including enhanced motivation (see Lopez & Louis, 2009). There is an online survey that students can take or they can simply read about the different character strengths and discuss in pairs which ones they think they have (https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths). Students can then brainstorm ideas of ways to work with these strengths and use them more in their daily lives. This activity can also be done by focusing explicitly on a learner's strengths in language learning, what they are good at, and how they could help peers who struggle with the aspects they have as their strengths. A related writing task could involve learners writing a personal introduction about themselves using only positive attributes and character strengths or telling a story which illustrates one of their strengths in action.

- Activity: An important part of accomplishment is achieving goals and taking manageable steps towards them. It can be very useful to work with students using SMART goals techniques. This refers to setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Breaking down long-term goals into SMART more proximal goals enhances the likelihood that students will achieve their goals but also, importantly for their motivation, that they are also able to feel a sense of progress. In terms of long-term goals, it can also help learners to develop a vision of themselves achieving whatever future goal (possibly L2 self) that they envisage and making this imagined future self as concrete and detailed as possible. They can then discuss what steps they can take to help them move closer to that vision of themselves in the future.

- Project: One long-term approach to help students feel a sense of accomplishment is to work with portfolios. Unfortunately, there is often a risk that these are left to the night before submission which defeats the purpose of developing a sense of progress and growth. Therefore, portfolios need to become a document of work the student is invested in and proud of over time. Ideally, it should be integrated into classroom life repeatedly at various points throughout the year, so students and teachers get to share their work at regular intervals. This enables teachers and learners to celebrate progress and positive achievements together. Enabling students to work on 'passion projects' within the context of a portfolio is an extremely valuable addition. This means letting learners work on a topic of their choice with guidelines but flexibility and choice in content, process, and form of output. These passion projects enable students to follow their interests and build on their strengths as well as develop their language skills.

Health

Physical and mental health are intricately intertwined. Many educational systems have introduced health literacy into their curricula with a focus on reflecting on and discussing healthy lifestyles as well as mental health (e.g., Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, and Tanzania among others). One aim is to deliberately focus on reducing stigma and facilitating open, sensitive, non-judgemental conversations on both topics. It is important in this area to avoid being prescriptive as learners have different home experiences, cultures, and current capabilities. This topic can be approached as sensitive awareness-raising bolstered by a sense of agency for setting personal future goals.

- Activity: Students can discuss the 'health triangle' which is comprised of mental/emotional health, social health, and physical health. They can reflect what contributes to a positive balance sheet in each of these categories considering what supports or damages the health of that category. If they wish, they can keep a diary of what positive things they do to care for each aspect of their own health triangle.

- Activity: Healthy living centres around three key areas: nutrition, sleep, and exercise. Students can collectively work in groups and do some research to create guidelines for good habits in each category which they could make into a poster or some other visual display for the classroom.

- Project: Students can conduct a project to examine what health messages and challenges to health exist in their school and local community such as considering what snacks are available, what sports facilities exist, what advertising is displayed near the school etc. They can come together and assess what positive contributions to good health are in their environment and what threats to health they notice. They can be encouraged as a group to identify an area for improvement and take steps collectively to advocate for change in this regard.

Dissemination

Learner well-being - It could be rewarding to work with learners and explore the notion of well-being together: Opening dialogue and seeing what they perceive as their needs, what they would want more time and support for, and how you can work together for more positive well-being in the English classroom. Naturally, engaging with learners as partners and ensuring they have a voice is empowering for them and can strengthen teacher-student relationships. Why not make well-being a topic you both work towards a better understanding of as research partners?

Teacher well-being - The term self-care often creates the notion that well-being is something done individually and alone. In fact, well-being is something that can be especially effective when done with a trusted colleague or team of colleagues who also wish to work on their well-being goals. Colleagues can support and motivate each other to make well-being goals easier to attain and remain committed to. How might you and a colleague work together to nurture your well-being as teachers and as a staff community?

Key Terms

positive psychology - a branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of what goes well in life and what contributes to human flourishing

well-being - refers to an individual's satisfaction, contentment, and sense of meaning in their lives. It emerges from the interaction of psychological, social, and contextual factors

2The Role of Emotions in Language LearningCzesław Kiński

Lead-In

Before you read the chapter, consider the following questions:

- How much do you think students can learn from teachers that they don't like?

- Do you often engage in activities in which you lose track of time?

- Why are good students sometimes afraid to be active during the lesson?

- Why are students sometimes unwilling to express their ideas freely?

- To what extent can teachers influence their students' emotions?

- What main areas of the teacher's activity can affect on the student's emotions?

Activation

Watch the video on how emotions impact learning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW7FBndUPe8 and think of your own experience as a learner regarding:

- a school subject towards which you had strong negative emotions. Can you think about the causes of those emotions?

- a school subject towards which you had strong positive emotions. Can you identify the reasons for those?

- a situation in which you experienced the narrowing role of emotions connected with stress or anxiety

- a situation in which you were able to bounce back after a failure, due to your resilience or encouragement which you received from your peers or teachers.

Input

1. Learning: Cognitive or Emotional?

Traditional approaches to education largely emphasized the superiority of cognition over emotion. Moreover, studies of brain systems explaining the connection between behaviour and cognition adopted an approach in which learning and reasoning were perceived as higher-order systems governing an obedient organism. While emotions were acknowledged, their role in influencing behaviour and rational thinking was primarily overlooked (Damasio, 1994). In keeping with such a mindset, much of education seemed to adopt the maxim that students did not need to like their teachers or the subject itself as long as they did their schoolwork.

However, while it is necessary to observe the distinction between cognition and emotion as aspects of human functioning in general, and learning in particular, an excessively strict insistence on their separation may divert our attention from the fact that emotions affect both cognitive and sensory processes. In fact, certain aspects of cognition that are related to education, such as learning, attention, memory, decision making, motivation and social functioning are intensely affected by emotion (Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2007). While rational thought and logical thinking do exist, they hardly ever appear in contexts that are devoid of emotion. Possible examples of rational thinking taking over emotion may be found when solving moral dilemmas or making ethical decisions, such as how to distribute scarce amounts of food in a group of starving people. Similarly, one may come across contexts in which cognition-free emotion is accompanied by particular bodily processes, such as increased heart rate, blushing, or accelerated breathing. The neurological interplay of emotion and cognition, and the resulting overlap may be seen in the diagram shown in Figure 2.1.

As may be observed, emotional thought incorporates a large number of learning-related processes, both in social and non-social contexts. The overlapping area between cognition and emotion establishes a platform where learning processes may occur. The authors of the model postulate that educators who fail to understand the role of students' emotions consequently fail to appreciate a critical force in student learning, or even the very reason why students learn at all (ibid., p. 9). In essence, the emotional thought model provides a biologically based framework for studies into the role of emotion and cognition in relevant educational processes.

In traditional foreign language teaching, a substantial number of studies have been devoted to "cold cognition" (MacIntyre & Vincze, 2017, p. 62), i.e., cognitive and ability factors, such as memory, intelligence or aptitude, debated as if they were devoid of emotion(Pintrich et al., 1993). In contrast, a "hot cognition" approach explores learning as a process in which cognition is ignited by motivation and emotions (Oxford, 2016, p. 25).

Figure 2.1. The emotional thought overlap between emotion and cognition (Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2007, p. 8).

The crucial role of emotion in the cognitive process has also been recognized by other SLA scholars. MacIntyre calls it "the primary human motive, which [...] functions as an amplifier, providing the intensity, urgency and energy to propel our behaviour" (MacIntyre, 2002, p. 61). As all human experiences, including language development, are built on an emotional foundation (MacIntyre & Vincze, 2017, p. 63), and all learning is a combination of cognition and emotion (Lewis, 2005), it seems viable to postulate the existence of a language learning "cognition-emotion interface", a concept that was proposed by Dörnyei (2009).

2. A Scientific Framework for Understanding the Role of Emotions in the Learning Process

In attempting to provide a solid, research-based context for understanding the role of emotion in learning, one needs to be careful not to overemphasize the role of negative emotion. As Seligman and Csíkszentmihályi point out, the focus of traditional psychology until the end of the 20th century was mostly to eliminate deficits and repair damage, with little attention devoted to understanding what made life worth living (2000, p. 5). To balance this situation, they propose shifting the focus toward building positive qualities which may improve how a person functions. In a sense, positive psychology may be perceived as a revival of humanistic psychology (Funder, 2010). In fact, as observed by MacIntyre (2016), the term "positive psychology" itself was originally used by Maslow, who was concerned with the qualities that made people successful and self-actualised, in contrast with traditional psychology, which limited itself "to only half its rightful jurisdiction, the darker, meaner half" (1954, p. 354).

It appears that the tenets of positive psychology, combined with rigorous research methods provide a solid scientific framework for studying the subject of emotions in foreign language education research. In order to gain deeper insight into the role of emotion and well-being in the educational process, it is advisable to become conversant with three major theories originating from the positive psychology movement, namely: Csíkszentmihályi's concept of flow, Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory, and Seligman's PERMA model. These three may make valuable contributions to facilitating learner engagement, developing a student's repertoire of positive emotions and providing for their general life well-being, respectively.

3. Facilitating Learner Engagement: Flow

An important contribution to understanding the nature of positive emotion was made by Csíkszentmihályi (1975, 1990, 1997) in his studies on enjoyment and flow. Having studied people of various cultural and social backgrounds, Csíkszentmihályi claims that one needs to experience the building effect of enjoyment to produce psychological growth and achievement. In essence, enjoyment occurs when one performs an activity that poses a challenge and requires a certain degree of skill, and appears at the point between anxiety and boredom, where one's capability for action matches the level of challenge. When a task is overly simplistic, one will feel bored; on the other hand, when it is excessively complicated, one may feel anxious or frustrated. The approximate ratio between the anticipated challenges and one's skills may be seen in the following figure:

Csíkszentmihályi uses "flow" to represent the balance between skills and challenge, thus capturing the fragile essence of the optimal experience (1990, p. 54). When one focuses on appropriate stimuli, action and awareness tend to merge, and the activity becomes so automatic that one feels a sense of unity with it. Another frequently recalled aspect of the flow experience is absolute concentration on the task, due to which irrelevant information does not have sufficient space to enter the mind. Furthermore, for the optimal experience to occur, one needs to have the feeling of being in control of one's actions. This does not necessarily mean that one has to reach a high level of skill in an activity, but that one would be able to exercise control over it if need be. In addition, a condition that must be met in order to achieve a state of complete involvement is the clarity of goals and immediacy of feedback. Further, flow-related phenomena include loss of self-consciousness, which is often connected with a subjective feeling of unity with the environment in which one is doing the activity (1990, p. 63), and a distorted perception of time, which appears to "fly" when one is the state of flow (ibid., p. 66-67).

Csíkszentmihályi's studies covered various social and cultural groups, and thanks to this universality, the findings may be relevant in considering what is an optimal experience during the educational process. The implications of the flow theory in the area of foreign language teaching span over its various aspects. For one thing, teachers have long been aware of the advisability dividing students into groups according to their language proficiency. While placement tests and the resulting competence-based language classes appear to be the norm in many educational institutions, many teachers still have to face the challenging reality of mixed ability groups. In a situation like this, it is particularly difficult for the teacher to provide conditions for the optimal learning experience. However, it may be quite comforting that both teachers and students often report flow-related states that depend not only on the provision of appropriately selected educational materials, but also on a generally positive and encouraging classroom atmosphere.

With regard to the feeling of control that one needs to have in order to achieve the flow state, the implication for language learning might be that the student is able to manage their mistakes when they occur, or that they feel equipped to use their language skills in less predictable contexts, for example, ones that have not been covered during classes. Referring to goals and feedback, it has to be admitted that these two have traditionally been perceived as the teacher's responsibility. Nevertheless, the learner should possess an internal understanding of the goals that they intend to achieve; in the same way, feedback should not be limited to feedback from the teacher. Instead, the learner should develop their sense of their learning process so that they are able to detect and process less explicit forms of feedback. Finally, the experience of time distortion has been reported by many teachers and students, who claim that it was accompanied by interest, control and focused attention, which goes to show that the various aspects of flow should not be regarded as separated components, but as intertwined and in dynamic play with each other.

To watch Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talking about his flow theory, go to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXIeFJCqsPs.

4. Developing the Student's Positive Emotion: Broaden-and-Build

While analysing the conditions needed for humans to flourish, Fredrickson stresses the role of emotions and affect. Emotions are "conceptualized as multicomponent response tendencies that unfold over relatively short time spans", and affect refers to feelings that are consciously accessible (Fredrickson, 2001, p. 219). In this view, the onset of emotion takes place when an individual assesses a future event in terms of its personal meaning. This assessment may be conscious or unconscious and may be manifested through responses that are connected with subjective experience, cognitive processing and physiological changes. In comparison, although affect is often present in emotions, it is also visible in other phenomena, such as physical sensation, attitudes and moods. Emotions usually have an object and relate to a specific circumstance, while affect may be objectless and connected with a less tangible cause (Oatley & Jenkins, 1996; Russell & Feldman Barrett, 1999). Emotions are often classified as discrete concepts, such as fear, anger or sadness, while affect tends to be placed on a spectrum between two dimensions, such as valence (unpleasant to pleasant) or arousal (agitated to calm). It has been proposed that people experience emotion when they conceptualize an affective state, and therfore "the experience of emotion is an act of categorization, guided by embodied knowledge about emotion" (Feldman Barret, 2006, p. 20).

According to Fredrickson, certain positive emotions "share the ability to broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires and build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources" (2001, p. 220).

While depressive moods and the accompanying pessimistic mindset have long been known to have a reciprocal influence on one another, causing a downward spiral of worsening moods and clinical levels of depression (Peterson & Seligman, 1984), Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory assumes that a similar upward spiral might exist for the interrelation between positive emotions and the broadened thinking which they generate. In other words, in contrast to negative emotions, which tend to narrow the thought-action repertoire necessary for dealing with stressful conditions, positive emotions may trigger broadened thought-action mindsets, which have the potential for building both short-term and long-term personal resources that may be employed in order to manage an emotionally demanding situation.

To watch Barbara Fredrickson talking about positive emotions that open the human mind, go to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dFDHzV36g.

5. Providing for the Student's General Life Well-Being: PERMA

The last major contribution to the study of positive emotion to be discussed in this chapter is Seligman's concept of well-being (2011). Seligman proposes that well-being may be perceived as a construct of five elements, namely positive emotion, engagement, meaning, positive relationships, and accomplishment, summarized by the mnemonic PERMA (cf. Chapter 1). The first component, that is Positive Emotion, refers to the feeling of joy, comfort, pleasure, or similar emotion, and depends primarily on genetic factors. Engagement is defined as a state in which one experiences such deep immersion in an activity that time stops. With regard to Positive Relationships, Seligman argues that human experiences of joy, meaning and accomplishment tend to take place in social settings, and for this reason relationships constitute a separate element of the construct, worth pursuing its own sake. The fourth element, Meaning, is described as including both personal subjective feeling as well as a state that may be verified by objective, external standards of logic and coherence. The last component of the construct, Accomplishment, is linked with the pursuit of success or mastery, both in their temporary form and in terms of a life devoted to achievement for its own sake.

Seligman's well-being model builds upon his previous authentic happiness theory (2002), as well as Csíkszentmihályi's idea of flow (1990) in its connection with the engagement, and Frankl's logotherapy (1959), especially in its references to meaning and purpose. However, it is the combination of all the elements that allow for the formation of an innovative and comprehensive theory of well-being. Commenting on the classroom environment, Seligman et al. (2009) emphasize the importance of implementing strategies that improve students' well-being for three reasons: this prevents depression, it increases satisfaction with life and it provides opportunities for better learning and creative thinking (2009, p. 295).

6. Studies on Emotion in Language Education: Application of Positive Psychology Theories

A study into the existence of flow in language learning undertaken by Egbert (2003) shows that students experienced various levels of the state depending on the nature and level of the tasks provided (Egbert, 2003, pp. 511-512). The study indicates that teachers are able to foster or suppress the flow state via task design. Egbert also lists obstacles that might prevent language learners from experiencing flow, such as insufficient language competence, teacher-centred activities, the pressure to perform well and numerous interruptions to the performance of the task. She concludes that devising tasks in keeping with flow criteria might reduce or remove these obstacles (ibid., p. 506), and provides a model representing the relationship between flow and learning:

Figure 2.3. Simplified Model of Flow and Learning. From: Egbert, 2003.

As may be observed, the flow may be affected by various classroom variables and particular learner characteristics, which exert an influence on the learner's state of mind. This change, in effect, may motivate the learner's engagement in the flow state, leading not only to effective learning but also to changes in learner characteristics. Another noteworthy finding from Egbert's research is that even though the flow is normally regarded as an individual experience, it is highly dependent not only on the learner but also on the surrounding environment, including other participants in the learning process. For this reason, it is imperative that the teacher should reflect on the factors that may promote or suppress the flow experience.

With reference to Fredrickson's Broaden-and-build theory, studies into student emotions, motivation and well-being have shown that positive emotions may be a predictor of both controlled motivation and autonomous motivation (Low et al., 2016) and that EFL students with higher levels of grit and L2 confidence demonstrate greater willingness to communicate (WTC), in both in-class and out-of-class contexts (Lee & Hsieh, 2019). Such students remain persistent and motivated despite setbacks and tend to initiate communication in English more readily. While fostering positive emotions in the EFL classroom, teachers should aim at developing management and interaction strategies that encourage students to pursue a wider range of thoughts and actions, thus providing an appropriate environment for motivation, engagement and learning. Pekrun (2009, p. 577) observes that the enjoyment of learning may influence student motivation to interact with learning content in creative ways. Finally, bearing in mind that learning a foreign language is inextricably bound with experiencing negative emotions such as tension, worry or nervousness, it seems reasonable that teachers need to help their students discover and take advantage of positive emotions associated with learning, thereby leading to the creation of strategies that fuel psychological resilience and the ability to recover from stressful situations. Fredrickson claims that "through experiences of positive emotions [people become] more creative, knowledgeable, resilient, socially integrated and healthy individuals" (Fredrickson, 2004, p. 1369). The ability to resolve stressful situations through resilience and positive emotions has been aptly compared to resilient metals that tend to bend and bounce back, rather than break when exposed to pressure (Lazarus, 1993).

Seligman's well-being theory was applied in foreign language education studies by Oxford and Cuellar (2014) and Oxford, Pacheco Acu?a, Solís Hernández, and Smith (2014) to analyse and explain histories of successful and proficient language learners. The research examined the ways in which participants overcame learning obstacles as well as investigated peak language learning experiences, which were defined as temporary but powerful moments of personal achievement. It was discovered that a large number of learners dealt with learning difficulties primarily via interacting with teachers and other students, which seems to emphasise the significance of social factors in creating and maintaining positive emotion, as well as the importance of the teacher's responsibility to provide well-structured feedback. In addition, it was found that the study participants reported experiencing peak moments not as a result of a set goal, but rather as a side effect of meaningful involvement.

While agreeing that the PERMA model is helpful in understanding learner well-being, Oxford claims that a more elaborate system is needed to capture the complexity of the phenomenon in foreign language education studies. She proposes the EMPATHICS model, which outlines the dimensions that are necessary for human well-being and contribute to the learner's achievement and proficiency (Oxford, 2016a):

E: emotion and empathy

M: meaning and motivation

P: perseverance, including resilience, hope, and optimism

A: agency and autonomy

T: time

H: hardiness and habits of mind

I: intelligence

C: character strengths

S: self factors (self-efficacy, self-concept, self-esteem, and self-verification)

Oxford's model appears to be a significant extension of Seligman's PERMA, especially for SLA/FLT areas of study. First, it recognises specific socio-cultural contexts for language education and consequently stresses the importance of contextualisation. Second, it acknowledges the interrelationships between the particular dimensions, treating them as non-linear and overlapping, rather than hierarchical or taxonomical, thus allowing for a more complex understanding of what contributes to the learner's well-being. Finally, as it was devised primarily to enhance the language learning experience, the model offers numerous research opportunities:

Many of the EMPATHICS themes, such as meaning, empathy, hope, optimism, time (in the sense of time perspective), hardiness, habits of mind, character strengths, and self-verification, have not been addressed in our field. Certain other themes, such as resilience and intelligence, have rarely been discussed concerning language learning. Even the familiar aspects, such as emotions, motivation, agency, autonomy, time (in the sense of possible selves), and three of the self factors, could benefit from further attention based on positive psychology (Oxford, 2016a, p. 11).

7. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety and Foreign Language Classroom Enjoyment

As observed by Dörnyei and Ryan (2015), although emotions play a significant role in human functioning, they were initially neglected by SLA scholars. This tendency was a result of the cognitivist tradition and its emphasis on the role of intellect in the learning process (ibid.). It is a noteworthy observation that even though the first studies into the role of emotion in SLA appeared in the 1970s (Chastain, 1975; Kleinmann, 1977), and continued into the 1980s, with the ground-breaking study of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986), specific studies on foreign language enjoyment (FLE) commenced nearly 30 years later (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). Undoubtedly, it was the advent of positive psychology that provided a convenient, research-based framework for the study of the positive side of emotion. It has to be emphasized, however, that positive psychology does not neglect the negative side of emotion, but rather offers a complementary approach with a more holistic view of humans.

While the first studies into the role of anxiety in the foreign language learning process brought somewhat ambivalent results (Scovel, 1978), more accurate observations on the connection between anxiety and SLA were possible after the conceptualization and measurement of foreign language anxiety first proposed by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Hope. They define it as "a distinct complex construct of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of language learning process" (1986, p. 128). A complementary definition was suggested by MacIntyre, who believes that foreign language classroom anxiety is "the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when learning or using a second language" (1999, p. 27).

Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) observe that anxiety has been the most studied topic within negative emotion in SLA studies (Dewaele, 2007; Horwitz, 2001; Lu & Liu, 2011; MacIntyre, 1999; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991; Saito et al., 1999). In fact, FLCA has been linked to a significant number of learner variables, such as age, authentic use of FL in the learning phase, frequency of FL use, the degree of FL socialization, gender, and general education level of the number of languages previously learned (Dewaele, 2013). As pointed out by Dewaele et. al. (2017, p. 3), FLCA has been found to have a debilitating effect on L2 learning and achievement, and such research findings have been replicated all over the world and with various types of learners. Horwitz emphasizes that the concept of FLCA is multifaceted (2010:145), and that learners who experience it "have the trait of feeling state anxiety when participating in language learning and/or use" (Horwitz, 2017, p. 33). Bearing in mind the incapacitating effect of anxiety, one must, however, admit that it may occasionally be stimulating or helpful (Marcos-Llinas & Juan Garau, 2009), and as van Deurzen proposes, it does have both "a negative expression in angst or anguish and a positive one in excitement and anticipation" (van Deurzen, 2012, p. 153). Pedagogical practice shows that due to anxiety, some learners may be more aware of, or cautious about, their L2 performance, especially by avoiding errors which they usually make because of their rather forgetful or absent-minded attitude to it. Nevertheless, as student anxiety might cause a lot of unwanted behaviour, teachers would do better focusing instead on the positive emotions connected with learning a foreign language.

The emergence of positive psychology as a separate scientific specialization has provided a framework for the study of positive emotion in foreign language learning (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2016). SLA researchers have argued for a broader and more holistic view of the learning process, which might be perceived as a move away from a pedagogy of deficit, or a pedagogy of error, towards an understanding of the full range of emotions that are at play while a foreign language is being learnt. Needless to say, such a change in view does not imply an abandonment of studies of language anxiety but rather advocates a broader spectrum of SLA studies.

Positive psychology concepts were introduced into the field of foreign language education studies by MacIntyre and Gregersen (2012), who point out that positive emotions should not be understood as synonymous with pleasant feelings, as positive emotions reach beyond their temporary nature. To give an example, positive emotions may enable the learner to comprehend language input and deal with negative emotions that are usually connected with the narrowing of attention. What is more, positive emotions may enable the learner to take calculated risks when attempting to use new, or less familiar, language structures, or make them most resilient during challenging moments, such as speaking in public or taking exams. Despite the fact that specific studies into the role of positive emotion in SLA have appeared relatively recently, it seems that teachers have long been able to recognize it in their practice - a view that is aptly summarized by MacIntyre and Mercer (2014):

Many language educators are aware of the importance of improving individual learners' experiences of language learning by helping them to develop and maintain their motivation, perseverance, and resiliency, as well as positive emotions necessary for the long-term undertaking of learning a foreign language. In addition, teachers also widely recognise the vital role played by positive classroom dynamics amongst learners and teachers, especially in settings in which communication and personally meaningful interactions are foregrounded (p. 156).

Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) developed a foreign language enjoyment (FLE) scale, which consists of 21 items on a Likert scale, relating to various positive emotions connected with the learning process, the teacher and classroom peers. They also conceptualize FLE as "a complex emotion, capturing interacting dimensions of the challenge and perceived ability that reflect human drive for success in the face of difficult tasks" (Deweale & MacIntyre, 2016, p. 216). They also add a distinction between private and social FLE, the former referring to the enjoyment connected with knowing a foreign language and deriving a sense of accomplishment from one's progress, while the latter is connected with employing the foreign language in social interactions.

It has to be understood that FLCA and FLE have different functions and so should not be viewed as opposite ends of the same spectrum (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012, p. 193), a view that has at least two significant implications. First, the absence of anxiety does not necessarily entail the presence of enjoyment, which is in keeping with Fredrickson's view that positive emotions actively promote health and well-being, and are not simply the absence of negative emotions. For this reason, teachers should make an effort to actively encourage practices that contribute to FLE, instead of focusing on reducing actions that cause FLCA. Second, due to the specific nature of FLE and FLCA, it is possible for certain students to simultaneously exhibit high or low levels of both enjoyment and anxiety. An instance of the former may happen in a situation when a student is highly motivated to learn a language but feels a dose of apprehension connected with expressing themselves in public, while the latter may occur in students who are faced with classroom tasks that are significantly below the level of their linguistic competence.

Research has shown that both phenomena may be linked with a number of learner-internal and teacher-related variables. Examples of learner-internal variables include the age of onset of foreign language acquisition, authentic use of the FL during the learning phase, the frequency of current FL use of the FL, and the degree of FL socialisation (Dewaele, 2013), and gender, although studies remain inconclusive in this area (Kitano, 2001; Arnaiz & Guillén, 2012; Kiński, 2020). Teacher-related factors affecting student FLE and FLCA levels include the following: the frequency of FL use, competence, classroom management strategies, time devoted to practicing various skills, methods of giving feedback, teacher predictability, and choice of teaching materials (Dewaele et al., 2017; Kiński, 2020). In the light of various studies, one of the most notable conclusions is that teachers should not be overly worried about lowering their students' FLCA levels but should strive to boost learners' FLE measures, a finding that appears to be in keeping with the tenets of positive psychology, which postulates an approach seeking the development of positive emotions instead of eliminating negative ones.

Know-How Activities

1. Encourage questions - many teachers are familiar with the gradual loss of learning curiosity that takes place between primary and secondary school, which can partly be explained by the stifling attitude that sometimes prevails in schools. Learn to perceive your students' questions as an expression of their interest and remember that you don't always have to be the one who answers them - engage the rest of the class, too. Bear in mind that the strangest questions may turn out to be very valuable in the learning process.

2. Don't jump to conclusions - let your students exchange opinions and arguments when they come up with various ideas, be it grammatical issues or topic-related views. Learning happens in the process, not at the moment when you give the right answers or present the right conclusions, so it seems worthwhile to allow your students some time to consider and reconsider their ideas.

3. Find common ground - all too often students voice the complaint that their teachers seem to be emotionally detached from them. While teaching your subject is definitely important, finding shared interests may lay an effective foundation for language study.

4. Involve everyone - it is a natural tendency for teachers to involve the most active students; however, the fact that some learners appear withdrawn or reticent does not always mean that they are unwilling to cooperate - they may simply need more support and encouragement. A possible strategy you could adopt is to begin by asking the more introverted students first, as the extroverts will be ready to contribute most of the time.

5. Focus on the positive - when you give feedback, make sure you apply the right pattern, pointing out the positive sides of the students' work first, and limit your negative remarks to the most crucial issues. Your students will probably not remember all the mistakes that they have made, so they should correct a few mistakes rather than apply no correction due to feeling overwhelmed by the number of negative comments. Find a golden ratio of positive to negative comments and stick to it.

6. Teach your students positive self-talk - it is common for teenagers to have negative scripts running through their minds. As adolescence is a phase of emotional ups and downs, it is very often the case that the emotions have to deal with in their lives may transfer into classroom life. You can help your students develop more positive inner speech by giving a model and providing examples of positive self-talk yourself.

7. Let it flow - when your students are meaningfully engaged in a learning activity, you do not necessarily have to rush to the next point in your teaching plan. Staying aware of the learning process and showing flexibility with regard to the lesson plan often turns out to be more effective. Truth be told, some of the less creative tasks may be set for homework while recreating the same conditions for group flow at home is next to impossible.

8. Share the field - set aside some time to listen to your students' suggestions regarding your classes. Discussing ideas together creates an atmosphere of cooperation and removes the air of teacher domination. An additional bonus is that by considering your students' opinions you can make your classes more related and relevant to their needs.

Experimentation

1. Devote a class to a discussion on what contributes to human well-being, including completing The EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Well-being developed by Kern et. al. (2015), available for free educational and private use at this link:

https://www.peggykern.org/uploads/5/6/6/7/56678211/epoch_measure_of_adolescent_well-being_102014.pdf.

While your students may keep their answers confidential and compute their scores on their own by following the instructions on the website, the test questions may provide an excellent starting point for an investigation into the nature of well-being and its components.

2. In order to help your students understand the complexity of emotions, ask them to explore the Plutchik Wheel of Emotions, which provides a logical and well-organized framework to make sense of one's feelings. The Wheel is based on the eight basic emotions, namely joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, anticipation, anger, and disgust, and organizes them based on their physiological functions. An interactive version of the Wheel may be found at this link: https://www.6seconds.org/2020/08/11/plutchik-wheel-emotions/ and clicking on the emotions, students may find out their opposites, combinations and intensity. The main aim of using the Wheel is to gain higher emotional literacy, which refers not only to knowing the words for various emotions but also learning how emotions affect each other or tend to change over time. By clicking on emotion on the interactive chart, users can discover the typical sensations that are experienced with it, find out how they can use their feelings, as well as explore opposite emotions.

3. To help your students understand their emotions connected with learning a second language, devote a class to taking the foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety tests, which you can find below. To calculate each of your students' average FLE and FLCA levels, add up the scores and divide by 10 for FLE and by 8 for FLCA. Please bear in mind that questions 4 and 5 in the FLCA test have reverse scoring, which means that after your students have answered these questions, they need to convert their scores in the following manner:

1 equals 5

2 equals 4

3 equals 3

4 equals 2

5 equals 1

As is the case with the adolescent well-being test mentioned above, you can ask your students to keep their scores to themselves if they wish to do so. Once again, the test questions may provide a few worthwhile discussion points. The test was developed by Dewaele and MacIntyre and is provided here with the permission of the authors.

As you respond to the following items, think about your current foreign language class

To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

Strongly disagree (1)

Disagree (2)

Undecided (3)

Agree (4)

Strongly agree (5)

Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale

1. I don't get bored. 1 2 3 4 5

2. I enjoy it. 1 2 3 4 5

3. I'm a worthy member of the foreign language class. 1 2 3 4 5

4. In class, I feel proud of my accomplishments. 1 2 3 4 5

5. It's a positive environment. 1 2 3 4 5

6. It's cool to know a foreign language. 1 2 3 4 5

7. It's fun. 1 2 3 4 5

8. The peers are nice. 1 2 3 4 5

9. There is a good atmosphere. 1 2 3 4 5

10. We laugh a lot. 1 2 3 4 5

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale

1. Even if I am well prepared for foreign language class, 1 2 3 4 5I feel anxious about it.

2. I always feel that the other students speak 1 2 3 4 5the foreign language better than I do.

3. I can feel my heart pounding 1 2 3 4 5when I'm going to be called on in foreign language class.

4. I don't worry about making mistakes 1 2 3 4 5 in foreign language class.

5. I feel confident when I speak in foreign language class. 1 2 3 4 5

6. I get nervous and confused when I am speaking 1 2 3 4 5in my foreign language class.

7. I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation 1 2 3 4 5in foreign language class.

8. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers 1 2 3 4 5in my foreign language class.

Reflection

What are three simple solutions that you could implement straight away to help your students experience more enjoyment and engagement in your foreign language lessons?

Can you identify the most stressful situations your students face while learning and provide ways to reduce your students' anxiety?

Dissemination

1. Ask a colleague about FLCA and FLE-related episodes from their own experience as language learners. To what extent are the reasons behind FLE and FLCA the same or different from those that your learners might give?

2. Ask a few fellow teachers about areas of classroom life that contribute the most to anxiety and enjoyment. To what extent can we remove anxiety-causing factors from our teaching? How can we encourage more language enjoyment, both private and social?

Key Terms

broaden-and-build theory - a theory assuming that positive emotions can broaden one's awareness and lead to novel and exploratory thoughts and actions

flow - a mental state in which one is fully immersed in an activity that matches the level of skill with the level of challenge; a common result of flow is a transformation of the perception of time

foreign language enjoyment - a complex emotion combining dimensions of the challenge and perceived linguistic ability, reflecting the human drive for success in the face of difficult tasks

foreign language classroom anxiety - a complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours, related to classroom language learning, connected with the stress, worry and nervousness connected with learning a foreign language

PERMA - an acronym for the five elements of well-being: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement, developed by Seligman.

well-being - a construct encompassing the experience of health, happiness and prosperity