Emotion as the amplifier and the primary motive: Some theories of emotion with relevance to language learning

By R. Oxford. 2015

104 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Emotion is crucial to living and learning. The powerful intertwining of emotion and cognition ignites learning within a complex dynamic system, which, as several sections of this paper show, also includes societal and cultural influences. As “the primary human motive” (MacIntyre, 2002a, p. 61), emotion operates as an amplifier, which provides energetic intensity to all human behavior, including language learning. This chapter explains major theories of emotion drawn from positive psychology, social psychology, social constructivism, social constructionism, and existential psychotherapy. It also offers implications for language learning related to understanding and managing emotions; expressing emotions appropriately despite cultural and linguistic differences; viewing emotions as transitory social roles; enhancing positive emotions and developing resilience; and recognizing, perhaps paradoxically, both the negative and the positive aspects of anxiety. The chapter concludes with the statement that language learners can become more agentic in dealing with their emotions. This form of self-regulation can lead to greater success in language learning.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Education, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ced397cffffff98d0b468793e48aaf9f7be7825f

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. Katalin Piniel
2. Ágnes Albert
3. Benoît Galand

In Education

1. Katalin Piniel
2. Ágnes Albert
3. Benoît Galand

In Social Psychology

1. Katalin Piniel
2. Ágnes Albert
3. Benoît Galand

Citations in the corpus

• Advanced learners’ foreign language-related emotions across the four skills (2018, background): “Therefore, Oxford (2015) seems to be right when arguing that “all learning is a powerful combination of cognition and emotion” (p. 371).”
• Understanding Chinese high school students’ Foreign Language Enjoyment: Validation of the Chinese version of the Foreign Language Enjoyment scale (2018, unknown): “Flow occurs when one is highly engaged in a challenging task which makes him/her neither overwhelmed nor under-challenged (Oxford, 2015; Butler, 2017; MacIntyre, 2016; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2016).”
• Does the effect of enjoyment outweigh that of anxiety in foreign language performance (2018, unknown): “…a more holistic view on the range of emotions that learners experience in the classroom (Dewaele, 2017; Dewaele, & Dewaele, 2017; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014, 2016; Dewaele, Witney, Saito, & Dewaele, 2017; MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012a, 2012b; Oxford, 2015; Pishghadam, Zabetipour, & Aminzadeh, 2016).”
• Classroom Anxiety and Enjoyment in CLIL and Non-CLIL: Does the Target Language Matter?. (2018, background): “…decade has witnessed a growing interest in the role of both positive and negative emotions in language learning (Dewaele, 2005a, 2015; MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012, 2016; Oxford, 2015; Ross & Stracke, 2016), few large-scale and/or longitudinal studies have investigated those aspects in CLIL so far.”