Positive psychology perspectives on foreign language learning and teaching

Dagmara Gałajda Editors Positive Psychology Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching... The first part of thevolume offers the readers an introduction to positive psycholo

Dagmara Gałajda Editors

Positive Psychology

Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

Series editor

Mirosław Pawlak, Kalisz, Poland

The series brings together volumes dealing with different aspects of learning andteaching second and foreign languages The titles included are both monographsand edited collections focusing on a variety of topics ranging from the processesunderlying second language acquisition, through various aspects of languagelearning in instructed and non-instructed settings, to different facets of the teachingprocess, including syllabus choice, materials design, classroom practices andevaluation The publications reflect state-of-the-art developments in those areas,they adopt a wide range of theoretical perspectives and follow diverse researchparadigms The intended audience are all those who are interested in naturalisticand classroom second language acquisition, including researchers, methodologists,curriculum and materials designers, teachers and undergraduate and graduatestudents undertaking empirical investigations of how second languages are learntand taught.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10129

Danuta Gabry ś-Barker • Dagmara Ga łajda Editors

Positive Psychology

Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning

and Teaching

123

ISSN 2193-7648 ISSN 2193-7656 (electronic)

Second Language Learning and Teaching

ISBN 978-3-319-32953-6 ISBN 978-3-319-32954-3 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32954-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016936963

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

This work is subject to copyright All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part

of the material is concerned, speci fically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on micro films or in any other physical way, and transmission

or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a speci fic statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland

The editors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the reviewers of thisvolume, Professors Maria Wysocka and Jerzy Zybert.

v

Positive psychology, a fairly new branch of general psychology, is just over 20years old However, not much has been done in terms of its application in teachingand learning second/foreign languages Positive psychology, first the movementand now a legitimate branch of psychology (to be distinguished from self-help andpop psychology), derives from the humanistic approaches of, among others,Abraham Maslow and Jeremy Bruner, and Gertrude Moskowitz in second/foreignlanguage learning and teaching Its main aim is to“to understand, test, discover andpromote the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive” (Sheldon,Frederikson, Rathunde, Csikszentmihalyi, & Haidt, 2000) In brief, positive psy-chology is interested in three main areas of study: the positive characteristics andtraits of people (here: teachers and learners), positive emotions and feelings, and therole of contextual factors such as environment, and in particular, institutions (e.g.,school) and their functions Thus, positive psychology topics embrace the followingareas of study and their applications:“flourishing, happiness & eudemonia, hope,gratitude, interest, joy, wellbeing, resiliency, hardiness, and the signature strengths

of learners” (MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2015, in press) So, in the case ofpositive psychology in SLA research, topics of research focus on positivity asexpressed by affectivity in the processes involved, motivational and attitudinalfactors, the strengths of teachers and learners as facilitative aspects ofteaching/learning processes, as well as educational institutions and their functionsenabling success, well-being, and development of both teachers and learners.This collection of papers elaborates more thoroughly on the nature of positivepsychology in various educational contexts More precisely, it presents a multidi-mensional treatment of the issues concerned with foreign language learning andteaching, regarded from the perspective of positive psychology The volume consistsnot only of chapters which are theoretical and others which present empirical studiesbut also ones which offer practical advice in the context of teaching and learningforeign languages, which draw upon what positive psychology has on offer to bothteachers and learners Each of the chapters demonstrates that positive psychologycan bring not only success in terms of academic achievement but also in terms of thewell-being of teachers and learners as professionals and human beings

vii

The collection is structured around four main themes The first part of thevolume offers the readers an introduction to positive psychology principles in thecontext of second language acquisition by pioneers of research and its application insecond/foreign language instruction contexts, Rebecca Oxford and Peter MacIntyre.

It also presents a historical overview and a critical assessment of understanding ofpositive psychology concepts and possible misinterpretations of its principles ineducational settings, which are discussed by Hanna Komorowska In the secondand the most extensive part of the book, the focus of the presented chapters is on theforeign language learner and the ways in which positive interventions based onpositive psychology strategies can facilitate both language success and well-being(among others, Tammy Gregersen’s and Liliana Piasecka’s texts) This part of thebook also elaborates on how positive emotions can foster achievements in a learner(among others, Ewa Guz and Małgorzata Tetiurka, Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia’stexts) Emphasis is also placed here on enabling institutions, and their role indeveloping a learning environment that promotes success and well-being (DanutaGabryś-Barker’s chapter) In the third part of the book, the studies presented look at

FL teachers as professionals and human beings, trying to demonstrate how positivepsychology and positive affectivity can contribute not only to the development

of their instructional competence but also to their happiness and satisfaction asteachers hoping to thrive as individuals (for example Sarah Mercer et al.’s study) Inthe final part of this volume the readers’ attention is turned to one of the mostsignificant and difficult-to-manage areas of the FL teaching process, that is,assessment of learner achievement It is interesting to see how strategies of positivepsychology can make this process less painful and perhaps even to some extent,enjoyable Among others, Monika Kusiak-Pisowacka, Jan Zalewski, and EwaPiechurska-Kuciel focus on these issues

As editors of this collection, we hope on the one hand that it will provide readerswith indispensable knowledge about positive psychology which will make them able

to distinguish it from what is generally called self-help literature and, what is more,

to see it as a discipline in its own right, with its own distinctive methodology andpedagogical applications On the other hand, we believe that it will open new doors

to innovative and creative methods and strategies in teaching foreign languages (andnot only foreign languages), as has been demonstrated in the presented studies

We also hope that this collection of papers by distinguished and perhaps lesswell-known scholars, all of whom believe in the impact of positive psychology onlanguage success and in other educational contexts, will make us all more aware

of the importance of paying attention to both the professional and the personalwell-being of teachers and learners, the well-being of all of us involved in theprocess of educating others and therefore also educating ourselves

It has been a real journey of discovery and thus an extremely enjoyable task toread and collate all the texts that make up this book

Danuta Gabryś-BarkerDagmara Gałajda

Part I Introducing Positive Psychology in Second Language

Acquisition

So Far So Good: An Overview of Positive Psychology

and Its Contributions to SLA 3Peter D MacIntyre

Powerfully Positive: Searching for a Model of Language

Learner Well-Being 21Rebecca L Oxford

Difficulty and Coping Strategies in Language Education:

Is Positive Psychology Misrepresented in SLA/FLT? 39Hanna Komorowska

Part II Focus on a Learner: Positive Interventions

The Positive Broadening Power of a Focus on Well-Being

in the Language Classroom 59Tammy Gregersen

Activating Character Strengths Through Poetic Encounters

in a Foreign Language—A Case Study 75Liliana Piasecka

Pedagogical Implications of Positive Psychology: Positive Emotions

and Human Strengths in Vocabulary Strategy Training 93Sylwia Kossakowska-Pisarek

A Positive Intervention: Personal Responsibility Among First-Year,

L2 University Students 115Andrea Dallas and Mary Hatakka

xi

Positive Emotions and Learner Engagement: Insights

from an Early FL Classroom 133Ewa Guz and Małgorzata Tetiurka

Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class: On a Positive

Classroom Climate 155Danuta Gabryś-Barker

Personality, Emotional Intelligence and L2 Use in an Immigrant

and Non-immigrant Context 175Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia

International Students in Australia: What Makes Them Happy?

Student Data from the Positive Education Perspective 193Beata Malczewska-Webb

Part III Focus on a Teacher: Personal and Professional

Well-being

Helping Language Teachers to Thrive: Using Positive Psychology

to Promote Teachers’ Professional Well-Being 213Sarah Mercer, Pia Oberdorfer and Mehvish Saleem

High Inhibitions and Low Self-esteem as Factors Contributing

to Foreign Language Teacher Stress 231Anna Ligia Wieczorek

“I Want to Be Happy as a Teacher” How Emotions Impact

Teacher Professional Development 249Elena Gallo

Adult Learners’ Expectations Concerning Foreign Language

Teachers and the Teaching-Learning Process 267Teresa Maria Włosowicz

Part IV Focus on Assessment: Achievement and Success

How to Test for the Best: Implementing Positive Psychology

in Foreign Language Testing 289Monika Kusiak-Pisowacka

Can Earning Academic Credits be Enjoyable? Positive Psychology

in a University Course of Intercultural Communication 307Agnieszka Strzałka

Helping Low Achievers to Succeed in Tertiary Education: Explicit

Teaching of Academic Literacy as a Way to Positive Educational

Experiences 323Jan Zalewski

Self-regulatory Efficacy and Foreign Language Attainment 337Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel

Translation Competitions in Educational Contexts:

A Positive Psychology Perspective 353Piotr Szymczak

About the Editors

Danuta Gabryś-Barker is Professor of English at the University of Silesia,Katowice, Poland Her main areas of interest are multilingualism and appliedpsycholinguistics As a teacher trainer she lectures on research methods insecond/multiple language acquisition and TEFL projects She has publishednumerous articles nationally as well as internationally and the books Aspects ofmultilingual storage, processing and retrieval (2005) and Reflectivity in pre-serviceteacher education (2012) She has edited 11 volumes, among others forMultilingual Matters, Springer and the University of Silesia Press She is theeditor-in-chief of the International Journal of Multilingualism (Taylor &Francis/Routledge) and the editor-in-chief of the journal Theory and Practice ofSecond Language Acquisition (University of Silesia Press)

Dagmara Gałajda received her Ph.D degree in Linguistics from the University ofSilesia, where she works as Assistant Professor Apart from communication studies,her research interests focus on teacher’s action zone in facilitating group dynamics,affect in language learning, individual learner differences in SLA/FLL, and

reflective teaching Recent publications include Anxiety and perceived cation competence as predictors of willingness to communicate in ESL/FL class-room in D Gabryś-Barker, J Bielska (eds) (2013) The affective dimension insecond language acquisition Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, Communicationapprehension and self-perceived communication competence as variables under-lying willingness to communicate in K Piątkowska, E Kościałkowska-Okońska(eds) (2013) Correspondences and contrasts in foreign language pedagogy andtranslation studies Berlin: Springer-Verlag

communi-xv

Andrea Dallas completed her M.A and Ph.D in Linguistics at the University ofFlorida and her M.Ed in International Teaching from Framingham State College.She has taught linguistics, academic English, and English for specific purposes atthe post-secondary level both in the United States and abroad Her pedagogicalapproach is informed by individual differences, task-based language teaching andcognitive principles of language learning Her current research interests include L2reading and writing and positive psychology applications in the context of the L2classroom and student advising

Elena Gallo is Coordinator of Italian courses at the Language Center of the LMUUniversity of Munich, Germany, where she has also coordinated a professionaldevelopment project for university language teachers She holds a Master degree(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) and earned her Ph.D at theLMU Munich She has been teaching Italian as a Second and Foreign Languagesince 1991, has teacher training experience and has published for ILSA (ItalianAssociation of Teachers of Italian as Second Language) and for IATEFL (LearnerAutonomy SIG) Her research interests include teacher professional development,learner autonomy, classroom research, and CLIL

Tammy Gregersen, Ph.D in Linguistics from Valparaiso, Chile, began herteaching and researching career in a university in the Atacama Desert in the North

of Chile and is now a professor of TESOL and teacher educator at the University ofNorthern Iowa (USA) She is the author, with Peter MacIntyre, of Capitalizing onlanguage learner individuality (Multilingual Matters) and is currently working onanother book with him on nonverbal communication in the language classroom.She has published extensively on individual differences, teacher education, lan-guage teaching methodology, and nonverbal communication in language class-rooms Tammy is passionate about traveling and has presented at conferences andgraduate programs across the globe

Ewa Guz holds a doctoral degree in linguistics from John Paul II CatholicUniversity of Lublin, where she is currently employed as Assistant Professor at theDepartment of Applied Linguistics She also works as a teacher trainer in theUniversity College of Language Teacher Education in Warsaw Her researchinterests include L2 speech production and processing, formulaic language in(non)native speech, measures of L2 proficiency/performance, academic literacy atthe tertiary level, and learner engagement in early foreign language instruction.Mary Hatakka has an M.A from the University of Helsinki, Finland and an Ed.D.from the University of Exeter, UK She has taught academic literacy skills andEnglish as a foreign language mainly to engineering students both in Europe and inthe Middle East for the past 25 years Her current research interests includeassisting students in developing their academic literacy skills and engineering habits

of mind

Hanna Komorowska is Full Professor of Applied Linguistics and LanguageTeaching at the University of Humanities and Social Sciences in Warsaw After thefall of communism she was heading the Expert Committee for foreign languageteaching and teacher education reform in Poland Former Vice-President of WarsawUniversity, the Polish delegate for the Modern Languages Project Group of theCouncil of Europe, and member of the EU High Level Group on Multilingualism inBrussels, she is now a consultant to the European Centre for Modern Languages inGraz and co-author of the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages.She publishes widely in thefield of FLT methodology and teacher education.Sylwia Kossakowska-Pisarek, Ph.D works at the Centre for Foreign LanguageTeaching, the University of Warsaw and the University of Social Sciences,Warsaw She is an experienced teacher and a teacher trainer Her interests includedeveloping autonomy and intercultural competence, positive psychology,self-concept, self-regulation, e-learning, and ESP.

Monika Kusiak-Pisowacka is Professor of English in the Institute of EnglishStudies at the Jagiellonian University of Cracow, Poland She is the Head of theApplied Linguistics and English Language Teaching Section She teaches courses

in TEFL methodology and psycholinguistics Her research interests include reading

in a foreign language and the role of afirst language in foreign language learning,which is the focus of her recent publication Reading comprehension in Polish andEnglish: Evidence from an introspective study She has also co-authored threecourse-books for Polish EFL learners and has written two handbooks for foreignlanguage teacher trainees

Peter D MacIntyre (Ph.D., 1992 University of Western Ontario) is Professor ofPsychology at Cape Breton University His research examines emotion, motivation,and cognition across a variety of types of behavior, including interpersonal com-munication, public speaking, and learning The majority of Peter’s research exam-ines the psychology of communication, with a particular emphasis on secondlanguage acquisition and communication He is co-author of Capitalizing on lan-guage learners’ individuality with Tammy Gregersen and co-editor of Motivationaldynamics in language learning with Zoltan Dörnyei and Alastair Henry, along withPositive psychology in SLA with Tammy Gregersen and Sarah Mercer

Beata Malczewska-Webb coordinates language teacher education (TESOL) grams at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia Her professional interests includeinternationalization of education in Australia and globally, intercultural teachingand learning and technology-enhanced learning Her recent research aims toimprove an understanding of linguistically and culturally diverse student cohorts inorder to improve their educational experience Beata’s most recent professionalpassion focuses on extending access to students who wish to improve their quali-fications but who cannot study on campus This has inspired her to develop learningand teaching e-environments, which combine the subject content expertise,appropriate pedagogies, instructional design, and technology

pro-Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University ofGraz, Austria Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology sur-rounding the foreign language learning experience, focusing in particular on issues

of self and identity She is the author, co-author and co-editor of several books inthis area including Towards an understanding of language learner self-concept,Psychology for language learning, multiple perspectives on the self in SLA andExploring psychology for language teachers

Pia Oberdorfer has taught English and biology as well as biology through Englishfor the past 10 years She is also working on her Ph.D in Applied Linguistics at theUniversity of Graz in which she focuses on CLIL-teachers’ and the self Herresearch interests include various aspects of language learning and teaching, inparticular, self-concept and identity

Rebecca L Oxford her Lifetime Achievement Award states that “research onlearning strategies has changed the way the world teaches languages.” She isDistinguished Scholar-Teacher and Professor Emerita, University of Maryland,where she served as an administrator and award-winning teacher She currentlyteaches at the University of Alabama She has presented her research in more than

40 countries, published 12 books, co-edited three book series and eight specialissues, and authored approximately 250 articles and chapters Topics includedlearning strategies, second language and culture, transformative education, positivepsychology, and peace, which are united in many ways

Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia is Assistant Professor at the University ofBielsko-Biala She obtained her Ph.D in Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck College,University of London Her main research interests include bilingualism, secondlanguage acquisition, perception, and expression of emotions in the L1 and L2 aswell as personality and EI traits She has delivered papers at 15 internationalconferences and has published in international journals in thefields of bilingualismand second language acquisition She is also an author of a book Emotions form abilingual point of view: Personality and Emotional Intelligence in relation toperception and expression of emotions in the L1 and L2 (2013)

Liliana Piasecka is Professor of English at the Institute of English, OpoleUniversity (Poland), where she works as an applied linguist, researcher, and teachertrainer She teaches SLA and ELT courses, and supervises M.A and Ph.D theses.Her research interests include second/foreign language acquisition issues, especiallyL2 lexical development, relations between L1 and L2 reading, gender and identity.She has published three books, numerous articles, and co-edited three collections ofessays

Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Institute ofEnglish, Opole University (Poland), where she teaches EFL methodology and SLAcourses She specializes in the role of affect in the foreign language learning process(anxiety, motivation, willingness to communicate in L2) Her interests also includespecial educational needs (developmental dyslexia, autism, and AD/HD) She has

published two books (The importance of being aware: Advantages of explicitgrammar study and Language anxiety in secondary grammar school students),papers in Poland and abroad She has also co-edited several volumes.

Mehvish Saleem is currently doing Ph.D in Applied Linguistics at the University

of Graz She previously was a Lecturer of English as a Second Language inPakistan Her research interests span various aspects of ELT, in particular teachingEnglish in ‘difficult circumstances’, and psychology of language teaching Herresearch project focuses on the complex dynamics of language teachers’psychology

Agnieszka Strzałka is Assistant Professor at the Modern Languages Department

of the Pedagogical University in Krakow since 2004 She lectures on methodology

of teaching foreign languages and intercultural communication and supervises MAtheses in TEFL Her main research areas include the intercultural approach, inter-cultural communication, speech acts theory, autonomy and affect in languagelearning, as well as English as a lingua franca

Piotr Szymczak is Associate Professor at the Institute of English Studies,University of Warsaw A graduate of University of Warsaw (1999) and OxfordUniversity (2000), he has since translated more than a dozen books into Polish andEnglish, including positive psychology titles such as Martin P Seligman’s Flourishand Dan Goleman’s Focus His Polish translation of Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking:Fast and slow won the Economicus Prize for Best Polish Translation (Non-Fiction)

in 2013 In 2014 Piotr was voted an Inspiration for Tomorrow for“inspiring hisstudents at the Institute of English Studies to become the best versions

Anna Ligia Wieczorek holds a Ph.D degree in Linguistics from the University ofSilesia She is a researcher whose main interest lies in the use of qualitative researchmethods She currently works at the Institute of English, University of Silesia,Poland Her main research interests revolve around affective variables and their role

in the development of a foreign language teacher and educator; academic writingskills and soft skills; and their impact on an international career of a scholar She isalso interested in Business English

Teresa Maria Włosowicz obtained her Ph.D from the University of Silesia inKatowice and the University of Strasbourg in 2009 She is now working on herpostdoctoral thesis entitled The interface between grammar and the mental lexicon

in multilingualism Her research interests include psycholinguistics, languageacquisition, multilingualism, contrastive linguistics, translation studies and appliedlinguistics in general She currently teaches at the Social Academy of Sciences inCracow

Jan Zalewski is Professor of English at the University of Opole, Poland He haspublished many articles (including in TESOL Quarterly) and authored two books(Enhancing linguistic input in answer to the problem of incomplete second lan-guage acquisition, and Epistemology of the composing process) He is co-editor

of the electronic journal Explorations: A Journal of Language and Literature(www.explorations.uni.opole.pl) His current research interests focus on theacquisition of academic literacy in English as a foreign language

Introducing Positive Psychology in Second

Language Acquisition

Psychology and Its Contributions to SLA

Peter D MacIntyre

Abstract Positive psychology has the potential to become a prominent researcharea in SLA Thefield is focused on positive emotion, positive character traits, andinstitutions that enable individuals toflourish, all of which are major concerns inlanguage learning The present chapter identifies key trends, such as the movetoward studying positive emotions,flow, and learner strengths in SLA, as well asnovel conceptual framework called EMPATHICS developed by Rebecca Oxford.The paper also addresses some of the fair and unfair criticism of positive psy-chology based on the tendency to separate positive and negative emotion, a failure

to study individuals in sufficient depth, measurement issues, and an over-reliance oncross-sectional research designs Two issues in particular, the health benefits ofpositive emotion and the critique of the 3:1 positivity ratio, are considered in somedetail In several notable respects, the development of positive psychology withinSLA already is addressing these issues creatively and proposing solutions Thepaper concludes that research into positive psychology in SLA is off to a good start,and is in some ways already ahead of positive psychology more generally.Keywords Second language acquisition
Emotion
Flow
Strengths
Criticism

of positive psychology

One might say that the arrival of Positive Psychology (PosPsy) in the field ofSecond Language Acquisition (SLA) is overdue The topics of PosPsy fit like aglove within the zeitgeist of modern language pedagogy with its dual emphasis onsuccessful communication among people along with the development of the lan-guage learner as a person The emphasis in PosPsy is on the empirical study of the

Department of Psychology, Cape Breton University,

PO Box 5300, Sydney B1P 6L2, Nova Scotia, Canada

e-mail: peter_macintyre@cbu.ca

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, Second Language Learning

and Teaching, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32954-3_1

3

good things in life and the techniques that can be shown to promote living well(Peterson,2006) The goal of thefirst part of this paper is to provide an overview ofPosPsy with an eye toward applications within SLA that already are happening,along with future possibilities The second section of this paper considers some ofthe criticism of PosPsy and what SLA might draw from the critiques.

PosPsy can be said to have a short history and a long past (Peterson,2006) Thenarrative of modern PosPsy most often originates in 1998 when Martin Seligmanwas elected president of the American Psychological Association His focus duringhis year as president was on “prevention” (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000,

p 7) and the ideas that formed the pillars of PosPsy began to take shape Themillennial issue of American Psychologist featured 16 papers that served to intro-duce PosPsy as a subfield In their seminal article, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi(2000) outline the core issue:

since World War II, become a science largely about healing It concentrates on repairing damage within a disease model of human functioning This almost exclusive attention to

psychology is to begin to catalyze a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities (p 5).

Defined in this way, PosPsy represents a form of “rebirth” for humanistic chology (Funder,2010) Indeed, the term Positive Psychology wasfirst used by theeminent humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow Maslow (1954) noted, asSeligman and Csikszentmihalyi did later, that psychology has “(…) voluntarilyrestricted itself to only half its rightful jurisdiction, the darker, meaner half”(p 354) Maslow’s career-defining concern was with the positive qualities thatmake humans successful, fulfilled, and self-actualized However, the humanistictradition in psychology, compared to other subfields, tended to discount empiricalresearch as a way of building knowledge about positive human qualities (Funder,

psy-2010) Perhaps for this reason more than any other, the humanistic tradition did notbuild a cumulative knowledge base on which to support itself The founders ofPosPsy have emphasized that scientific grounding is required to advance knowl-edge Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) concluded their seminal article with aprediction for the future:

We believe that a psychology of positive human functioning will arise that achieves a

Perhaps the most straightforward definition of positive psychology was offered

by the late Peterson (2006) who said that positive psychology is “The scientific

study of what goes right in life” This definition succinctly captures two of the mainelements of positive psychology, the study of what goes right or the good things inlife and a reliance on a scientific perspective.

Psychology is not just a branch of medicine concerned with the illness or health; it is much larger Is about work, education, insight, love, growth, and play And in this quest for what

is best, positive psychology does not rely on wishful thinking, faith, self-deception, fads, or

that human behavior presents to those who wish to understand it in all its complexity

The proponents of positive psychology emphasized that scientific methods arerequired in thisfield, a stance that helps to define the procedures of positive psy-chology differently from its humanistic cousins (Waterman,2013)

The emphasis on the scientific method has been softened somewhat in recentyears as the diversity of rigorous research methods appropriate to study PosPsy hasbeen expanded The value placed on diverse research methods and the expandedrange of possible research questions they bring might be one area where SLAactually is ahead of mainstream PosPsy (MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer,2016)

According to Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000), PosPsy was founded on threepillars: (1) positive experiences (including emotions), (2) positive character traits,and (3) positive institutions Positive institutions have been the least well studied ofthe three pillars, with research in psychology focusing on issues such as positiveemotions and character strengths The second edition of the Oxford Handbook ofPositive Psychology (Snyder & Lopez, 2009) includes an impressive 65 chapterswithin its more than 700 pages Using the contents of the book as an index of therange of topics with which thefield has engaged shows the breadth and depth ofmaterial available in the area (see Table1) Many of these topics were being studiedprior to the naming of thefield, but PosPsy is serving as an umbrella under which tocollect a wide variety of topics In addition, the notion that deliberate and effectiveinterventions can be made to increase wellbeing for both individuals and com-munities is a central tenet in PosPsy and is a defining feature of education itself,with language at the very center of the process For this reason, and many others,there are connections between PosPsy and SLA that are well worth exploring.Over the past 15 years or so, there have been a number of significant contri-butions made within positive psychology There are four key contributions ofpositive psychology that can be highlighted here to show both the development ofknowledge surrounding key PosPsy concepts and applications to SLA By adopting

a PosPsy perspective, SLA is able to move in several interesting research directions

We will consider four of these emerging directions below

3.1 From Negative to Positive Emotion

Arguably the most significant contribution yet from PosPsy has been Fredrickson’s(2001,2013) theory differentiating positive and negative emotions Although allemotions serve to help persons adapt to their surroundings, Fredrickson (2003)made the valuable point that there is a qualitative, functional difference betweenpositive and negative emotion On the one hand, the role of negative emotion is tofocus behavior and produce a specific thought-action tendency For example, angerarises when one’s pursuit of goals is threatened and is accompanied by a focusedurge to destroy the obstacle (Reeve, 2015) Another negative emotion, anxiety, isassociated with fear which tends to produce avoidance behavior, as when anxiousstudents avoid using the target language On the other hand, the function of positiveemotions is fundamentally different from negative emotion The role of positiveemotions is to broaden and build, according to Frederickson (2001) Broaden meansthat when we are experiencing positive emotions we tend to have a broaderfield ofvision; we tend to take in more information and we tend to notice things that we hadnot noticed before Building means that the function of positive emotions is toassemble various types of resources for the future, resources that help individualsdeal with negative events and/or negative emotions down the road One of theconsequences of positive emotions is to undo the lingering effects of negativeemotional arousal

Already thefield of SLA has taken up the key distinction between positive andnegative emotion MacIntyre and Gregersen (2012) highlighted the role of positiveemotions that accompany the imagination of future selves, as in Dörnyei’s (2005)

influential L2 self-system theory Two types of emotion can be identified, the firsttype, anticipated future emotions, reflect what a person expects to feel in the future(e.g., expecting pride and satisfaction during a graduation ceremony) The secondtype, anticipatory emotions, reflects the emotions actually felt as one is imaginingthe future event (e.g., feeling excitement now at the prospect of graduating in the

future) Both types of emotion contribute to energizing motivation, providing thepositive energizing“kick” that is missing from the L2 self-system (Dörnyei,2005).Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) also examined the connections between positiveand negative emotion when studying enjoyment and anxiety in an internet-basedsurvey of language learners They found only a modest correlation between anxietyand enjoyment and reported evidence that suggests they are not opposing ends of aseesaw, but rather two separate dimensions of experience with different types ofeffects on learning These studies and others that are on the horizon suggest thatemotion may become a significant topic in SLA; future studies will benefit greatlyfrom the theoretical and empirical distinctions between positive and negativeemotion.

The second major contribution of positive psychology that can be identified asapplicable to SLA is the model of character strengths, including the VIA inventory

of character strengths and Seligman’s more specific concept of “signaturestrengths” In mainstream psychology, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (theDSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association is the major classifi-cation scheme for the field of mental illness used by psychologists, psychiatrists,and other mental health professionals worldwide If PosPsy has anything similar itmight be the VIA Inventory of Strengths According to its website, to date theonline VIA inventory has been completed by over 2.6 million people in 190countries making it a highly successful web-based research project (VIA Institute,

2015) If the DSM captures what goes wrong, the VIA inventory captures whatgoes right in personal development The list of strengths in the VIA inventory can

be categorized in a set of 6 broad virtues and 24 underlying character strengths thatare widely applicable across cultures and ages The classification scheme is sum-marized in Table2

• Gratitude

• Humour

• Spirituality

• Hope

Research is beginning to undertake an examination of strengths applicable toSLA In a recent paper, MacIntyre, Gregersen, and Abel (2015) consider what itmeans to take a strengths-based approach to dealing with anxiety in languagelearning Language anxiety has been the most widely studied emotion in SLA, with

a long list of sources and consequences that can seriously disrupt both learning andcommunication (Gkonou, Daubney, & Dewaele, in press) Language anxiety is asignificant concern for teachers, learners, and educational leaders because it affectsthe quality of teaching, learning, and assessment Traditionally, the approach tolanguage anxiety has been to focus on ameliorating its symptoms, includingreducing negative arousal, reducing distracting thoughts, countering exaggeratednegative beliefs, and so on (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) MacIntyre et al.(2015) contemplate what a strengths-based approach might look like, using thevirtue of courage as a focal point Interventions developed based on a model ofstrengths rather than dealing with learners’ weaknesses generates a very differentapproach to education “A strength-based approach to enhancing courage leavesanxiety to one side and encourages learners to acknowledge anxiety but take action

in spite of it In a metaphorical sense, courage provides a shield against waves ofanxiety” The authors propose four specific activities that are designed to facilitatethe development of learner courage: putting on a brave face, drawing on community

to persevere, imagining integrity, and zestful zeal MacIntyre et al recommend thatthese specific exercises be tested empirically, as would be required by the foundingtenets of PosPsy

The third key contribution of PosPsy is Seligman’s (2011) PERMA model.PERMA stands for Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning in life,and Accomplishment In a sense PERMA is the new“happy” Initially, as positivepsychology discussed happiness, the concept was so multifaceted, and generated somany different types of definitions, that the word happiness itself became quitedifficult to deal with Lazarus (2003b) noted that“(…) there is no muddier concept

in the history of at least 2000 years of philosophy and psychology than the nature

of happiness” (p 177) PERMA on the other hand is a multidimensional conceptwith greater definitional precision

Although PERMA has been around a relatively brief time, it already has beenapplied to SLA Helgesen (2016) has developed ELT classroom interventions thatare directly tied to PERMA, such as expressing gratitude, giving complements, andsavouring the good things that happen All of these activities also may serve thegoals of language instruction at various levels and with various types of students.Oxford and Cuellar (2014) used PERMA to understand the personal narratives ofadult learners of Chinese in Mexico, producing a rich account of the learners’experiences

In an extraordinary chapter that makes a significant contribution to advancingPosPsy in SLA, Oxford (2016) reviewed the literature on relevant concepts in thearea and she has expanded on PERMA in significant ways The resulting theoreticalmodel has been named EMPATHICS, and is composed of nine dimensions:

1 E: emotion and empathy

2 M: meaning and motivation

3 P: perseverance, including resilience, hope, and optimism

4 A: agency and autonomy

On describing the theoretical and pedagogical vistas that are opened by this newtheoretical orientation, Oxford (2016) notes:

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

resi-lience and intelligences, have rarely been discussed in relation to language learning Even the familiar aspects, such as emotions, motivation, agency, autonomy, time (in the sense of

positive psychology (p 11).

Space does not permit a full explanation of EMPATHICS and its rich conceptualofferings, so readers are encouraged to review Oxford’s original contribution

The fourth key contribution that will be highlighted here predates the naming ofPosPsy but should be seen as one of its founding concepts Csikszentmihalyi’s(1990)flow theory describes a state of positive well-being that ideally balances thedegree of challenge with the skill of a person Flow occurs when people areworking at the edge of their abilities, whether it is when creating music, engaged inathletic competition, or even making scientific discoveries Flow is a sweet spot

where challenges and abilities come together harmoniously, creating a sense thatone is fully enmeshed with the activity at hand, not self-focused or otherwisepreoccupied, and often participants often lose track of time Flow has not beenwidely studied in SLA, but has been a major topic in psychology and in particular

in PosPsy

Over the years there have been unpublished studies offlow in SLA presented atvarious conferences, but Egbert’s (2003) study ranks as the most prominent pub-lished contribution to date Egbert examined 13 learners of Spanish in afieldworkstudy conducted over several weeks of language lab experiences Participantsdescribed similar types of experiences while inflow, and Egbert argued that ele-ments of language task design contributed significantly to the likelihood of entering

aflow state More recently, Dewaele and MacIntyre (unpublished) developed a newmulti-item scale to measure bothflow (including feeling absorbed, fulfilled, happy)and anti-flow (including feeling distracted, frustrated, disengaged) in languagelearning They administered the scale using an internet survey and found respon-dents reporting more instances of flow than anti-flow Also, those with greaterexperience with languages tend to have had moreflow experiences In an unrelatedstudy conducted around the same time, Czimmermann and Piniel (2016) studied 85Hungarian first-year university-level students in a Bachelor of Arts foreign lan-guage (English) Using a questionnaire designed to measure classroom flowexperiences, the authors found that advanced learners experienced moderate to highlevels of classroom flow Czimmermann and Piniel also examined task-specificflow; learners were asked to complete a task in which they have to arrange indi-vidual drawings into a coherent story The task worked as predicted byflow theoryCsikszentmihalyi (1990), and worked best when challenges and skills were inbalance It was interesting, however, that classroomflow was not highly predictive

of specific task flow, with only a modest correlation between them

These four key contributions provide a basis on which SLA can begin to adapttheories of PosPsy to the study of second language acquisition There is fertileground for future research to investigate many of the PosPsy concepts and theoriesthat have been developed As one set of examples, the review of concepts aboveallows for the following propositions that can be tested in future studies

1 We need to better understand emotions in language learning and studying bothpositive and negative emotions together will provide a richer understanding thanfocusing on negative emotions alone To date, language anxiety has been wellstudied and there is considerable evidence of its effects on language learning andcommunication (Gkonou et al., in press; Horwitz & Young, 1991; MacIntyre,

1999) However, what does one do about anxiety? Already interest in positive

emotions is developing that will allow teachers and learners to complementanxiety-reduction strategies with applications of character strengths, such ascourage For example, Gregersen, MacIntyre, and Meza (2016) examined the

influence of interventions like gratitude, altruism, music, exercise, pets, andlaughter Although the initial evidence suggests that the interventions werewell-received, these ideas require testing in future research studies

2 Understanding character strengths and how specific individual learners adapttheir strengths to their learning will help create nuanced models that are tailored

to the individual; this approach may be preferable to trying to make up for

deficits and weaknesses Generally, students would likely find it a far morerewarding experience to use their signature strengths in new ways that facilitatelearning than to work primarily on remediating their weaknesses In this way,learners can capitalize on their individuality and choose when to exercise andexpand their boundaries by working on weaknesses (see Gregersen &MacIntyre,2014) A model of teaching dedicated tofinding new applications oflearners’ strengths would look very different from a model that seeks to reme-diate deficiencies It is necessary to further develop models of strengths-basedteaching and learning, for both the teacher and the learner

3 The EMPATHICS vision has the potential to capture and advance a number ofimportant dimensions in language teaching, including the positive emotions thatteachers want to see, such as engagement among students, positive relationshipsbetween teachers and students, and interaction between native speakers andsecond language speakers Using EMPATHICS as a guide allows for anemphasis on the accomplishments in the language that may enhance themeaning of the learning Some of the elements of EMPATHICS have been wellstudied in SLA while others have not yet been studied EMPATHICS has thepotential to guide novel questions and pedagogical activities for years to come,especially when taken from the dynamic approach that Oxford (2016) advo-cates EMPATHICS might also be applied to teacher training and the process ofdiscovering one’s capabilities as a teacher

4 Flow theory has strong potential to be relevant to the learning and cation processes in the target language For many learners there comes a timewhen they don’t even notice that they are using the new language This also isthat the heart offlow as a concept When the sense of self disappears and eventhe sense of time passing is distorted, the borderline between high engagementand a state offlow has been crossed One contribution from positive psychologywould be to better understand how the state offlow and language fluency worktogether The blending of research with learning interventions is a potentiallyrichfield to be explored

communi-4 Critiques of Positive Psychology

Every scholarly endeavor has its critics; the value of well-thought out critique foradvancing knowledge in an area cannot be overestimated PosPsy has been criti-cized along a number of dimensions, at times fairly and at other times unfairly Thefield also has been inappropriately characterized by some prominent critiques inboth the academic arena and the popular press Let us consider various types ofcritiques here, each of which offers a note of caution to the research and practice ofPosPsy in SLA

One of the most prominent scholarly critiques of PosPsy was offered by Lazarus(2003a,b) in what would be two of the last articles he wrote before he died in 2002.The journal Psychological Inquiry dedicated an entire issue to a debate that beganwith Lazarus (2003a) asking “Does the Positive Psychology Movement HaveLegs?” Lazarus has been an influential figure in psychology for his description ofappraisal and coping processes, and the role of emotion in those processes.However, he was no fan of positive psychology, taking it to task for severalreasons, some of which are worthy of close consideration In fairness, Lazarusrecognized that many of his criticisms apply to psychology more generally, and notonly to PosPsy Lazarus’ (2003a) critique is focused on four issues, each of which issummarized below

One issue Lazarus raised is the idea that positive and negative emotions areinseparable, and the labels themselves can be misleading given that the function ofall emotions, even unpleasant ones, is to aide adaptation to the present situation.This means that there is a positive side to negative emotion and vice versa—theyare best viewed as two sides of the same coin To take an example from SLA, astudent with high language anxiety likely thinks of it as a negative experience butthe information provided by the anxiety reaction itself (for example, that one is notcommunicating successfully in the TL) can positively contribute to adaptation (forexample, by repairing the language, code switching, or asking for help) As notedabove, the SLAfield is recognizing that positive and negative emotions are com-plex phenomena that can lead to feelings of ambivalence (MacIntyre,2007), and istaking seriously the impact of emotion on learning and communicating in the TL

In a second line of argument, Lazarus (2003a) noted that psychology rarelystudies the individual in any depth and that even studies of individual differencefactors (e.g., personality traits) are based on group averages or patterns of relativestanding within a group described by correlation Lazarus (2003a) suggests thatpsychology research in general makes too much of modest differences betweengroup means and fails to adequately consider both the variation within groups andoverlap between groups He argues that

elegant generalizations from observations, those who do research stubbornly display a de facto denial of the importance of individual variation and the value of detailed description

in science (p 103).

The studies already in the literature on PosPsy in SLA have displayed a diversity

of methodologies that are beginning to help to address this criticism For example,Hiver (2016) examined the development of hope and resiliency among noviceteachers in a context that presented significant difficulties Another author, Ibrahim(2016), examines long-term patterns of engagement under the heading of“DirectedMotivational Currents” (Henry, Davydenko, & Dörnyei, 2015) Ibrahim’s studyprovides some of the detailed description that Lazarus’ critique suggests is missing

in PosPsy A third example is Oxford and Cuellar’s (2014) analysis of the personalnarratives of adult learners, work that helps to underscore the tenets of PosPsy inSLA It seems clear that the type of depth that Lazarus and others seek will best befound in SLA by a triangulation of a diverse collection of rigorous research tech-niques from quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods epistemologies

In a third line of critique, Lazarus also identified an emotion measurementproblem whereby “(…) checklists and questionnaires that are administered onlyonce per participant (…) are inadequate for the purpose of providing accurate andfull descriptions of theflow of emotions that have been experienced or displayed”(p 96) It is obvious that the measurement approach used by any study must matchits research questions, and every method has its strengths and its limitations forparticular types of research questions The value of questionnaire measures ofemotion lies in their ability to collect information efficiently across a large sampleand to make statistical comparisons that address meaningful questions.Questionnaire measures of emotion in themselves are not a problem but drawinginappropriate conclusions from studies that use such measures would be a problem.Lazarus’ concern is well-founded when the measurement of emotion is mismatchedwith the research question, as when a simple cross-sectional design is used toanswer a research question about developmental processes In SLA, there has beenattention in recent years to the development of complex dynamic systems theoryand its applications to language development (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron,2008).For example, researchers examining motivation have started to address varioustypes of research questions using a diversity of methods, including two-stagequalitative interview design, longitudinal qualitative interview design, qualitativeinterviews on multiple timescales, qualitative comparative analysis, cluster analysis,Q-methodology, retrodictive qualitative modelling, latent growth modelling,change point analysis, variability analysis, trajectory equifinality model, and theidiodynamic method (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, & Henry, 2015) Although many ofthese methods are not yet well known in SLA, their presence in thefield and future

refinement points to a triangulation of methods that may sensitively address theproblem of measuring emotion and motivations, as well as other concepts that havebeen advanced in PosPsy

Although the three lines of criticism above are relevant to SLA and in somerespects already are being addressed, Lazarus’ major criticism concerns the quality

of research methods that are common in PosPsy and in psychology more generally

He questions the over-reliance on cross-sectional research designs that are notwell-suited to demonstrate either causality or fluctuations in the processes they

study It already has been noted that SLA features an eclectic set of methods thatwill allow for great diversity of research questions now and in the future.

More recently, the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine dedicated issue 39(vol 1, February 2010) to examining the health implications of PosPsy particularlywith respect to oncology The issue captured a debate that in many ways is similar

to the Lazarus critique, but with a more specific focus on physical health Thejournal editors acknowledge that research into the positive aspects of heath has beenexpanding rapidly but they expressed concern about the“(…) level of hyperboleand misrepresentation in the popular press; and the potential adverse effects onpatients, who may feel ill-served by injunctions to discern positive experienceswhile confronting harrowing health threats” (p 2) The target article in the issue(Aspinwall & Tedeschi, 2010a) outlined ways in which concepts generally con-sidered within the purview of PosPsy might be linked to improved health outcomes.The critique (Coyne & Tennen,2010) challenges the idea that positive charactertraits, and accompanying thoughts and emotions such as having afighting spirit andfinding benefit in negative events, have a causal role to play in health outcomes andspecifically in prolonging the life of cancer patients Results from large scale studieswith strong statistical controls are not consistently showing evidence for claims ofimproved mortality from positive states such as optimism The counter position byAspinwall and Tedeschi (2010b) suggest that some key studies were overlooked bythe critics, and that narrow health outcomes such as mortality rates do not captureimportant variables such as quality of life, social support, and reduced anxiety.The debate over health-related outcomes centers on a key issue that offers dif-ficulty for the scientific study of social phenomena: the need to statistically controlfor preexisting differences among treatment groups Using optimism as an example,Aspinwall and Tedeschi (2010b) argue that prior analyses“(…) controlled for some

of the very pathways—namely, health behaviors and psychological distress—through which optimism is thought to be related to health outcomes (p 29)” Theessence of the problem is that the prototype of the experimental method requiresrandom assignment to experimentally-controlled conditions In cases such as healthand education, experimental control and random assignment to conditions often arenot possible In such cases a researcher can attempt to control for extraneous factorsstatistically However, such a process risks artificially removing factors that arecorrelated with the process of most interest For example, optimists tend to beyounger, better educated, more often employed, and less likely to have diabetes, beoverweight, and to smoke These same factors are widely acknowledged to reducethe risk of mortality—so what does it mean to statistically remove the things thatoptimists tend to do from the correlation between optimism and health outcomes?Issues such as these must carefully be considered in the research process; thedifficulty inherent in dealing with them has produced more than its fair share ofscholarly conflict

One of the reasons that PosPsy has come underfire for overstated claims aboutits supposed benefits is that the iterative nature of research, the back-and-forthbetween studies that demonstrate a particularfinding and other studies that attempt

to replicate it, is not well captured by the popular press It takes time for knowledge

in a specific area to accumulate that shows the reliability of a phenomena and itsboundaries; all research results must be considered tentative, pending futureresearch The risk of overstating the case for PosPsy interventions in heath andother areas has been a concern since the outset of thefield (Peterson,2006) There issome concern that the popular press has simplified and overstated the results ofPosPsy research To take one example, Ehrenreich (2010) writes about dealing withcancer and her negative reaction to people who offered advice on the value ofpositive thinking Ehrenreich herself is a cancer survivor She describes in detailhow she felt when she was given advice such as to think of cancer as a gift thatwould make her a better person Ehrenreich acknowledges that the advice wasintended to make her feel better but it had the opposite effect She considersrelentless optimism a societal problem that prevents critical thinking, using theworld-wide economic crisis of 2008–09 as a prime example PosPsy is treated byEhrnreich as if it refused to acknowledge the complete scope of human experience,

a line of argument that serves to critique a mere caricature of PosPsy rather than thefield of research as it is

Other critiques of PosPsy have been directed at its key proponents andfindings,including Fredrickson’s concept of “positivity ratios” Fredrickson and Losada(2005) discussed the benefits of positive emotion, taking the uncontroversialposition that there are benefits to positive emotion, even as they also noted thatnegative emotions are both appropriate and necessary for successful functioning.Although they acknowledged the value of negative emotion, the authors empha-sized the survival value of positive emotion and its effects in a group setting Tosupport that argument they drew on research that showed that couples who wereheaded for divorce tended to have a ratio of positive to negative comments of lessthan 5–1 Other research showed that successful business teams that had a ratio ofpositive to negative comments during group discussion that was approximately 2.9–

1 This research was previously conducted by Losada with who described the 2.9:1ratio as“The Losada Line”

Fredrickson and Losada (2005) drew on the above evidence to describe aspecific ratio of positive to negative emotions that would be optimal, and theysettled on an implausibly exact ratio of 2.9211–1 Part of the justification for thishighly specific number was based on dynamic systems modeling using Lorenzequations The authors noted that“(f)rom a psychological standpoint, this ratio mayseem absurdly precise” and they were correct To make matters worse, in 2009,Fredrickson published a popular book called“Positivity” in which she promoted thenotion of approximately 3–1 ratio of positive to negative emotions Indeed, thecover of the book contains the following line:“Top notch research reveals the 3–1ratio that will change your life”

But there was a problem Brown, Sokal, and Friedman (2013) countered with apaper called “The complex dynamics of wishful thinking” The paper was ascathing critique of the mathematics behind the 2.9:1 positivity ratio Brown et al.argued that the Losada line is“(b)ased on a series of erroneous and, for the mostpart, completely illusory ‘applications’ of mathematics” Fredrickson (2013) re-sponded to the critique by retracting the part of the paper that dealt with the

mathematical proof of positivity ratio, but shoes to retain the core idea that the ratio

of positive to negative emotion is important for psychological health She wrote:Research on the full value of positivity ratios remains in its infancy Although in the wake

which to date he has elected not to defend, may well be the smudge that needs removing (p 820).

Perhaps this is the type of example that Peterson (2006) was suggesting as hisconcern for PosPsy: the popular press account of the research got ahead of thescience, and Brown et al (2013) provided a correction It is important for propo-nents for PosPsy in SLA to keep such criticism in mind as future research resultsturn into recommendations for teaching and learning languages

These critiques of PosPsy provide a basis on which SLA can proceed with cations of PosPsy concepts and methods, and hopefully avoid some of the knownpitfalls

appli-1 Develop and test language activities that are informed by prior research.One proposition emerging from the critiques is the need to balance the desire todevelop interventions with the practicalities of language pedagogy There is morethan minimal risk that pedagogical applications of PosPsy in SLA will get ahead ofthe research support Already there have been several activities adapted for use inSLA that are inspired by published research in PosPsy, including those offered byBelnap et al (2016), Fonseca-Mora & Machancoses (2016), Fresacher (2016),Gregersen et al (2016), Gregersen and MacIntyre (2014), and Helgesen (2016).From a teacher’s point of view, implementing a PosPsy activity or intervention aspart of an in-classroom or extra-curricular exercise based on prior research mightseem to be well-justified But it would be impossible to predict with precision theoutcomes of classroom activities with even the best research support because of thenumber of variables interacting among the learners operating within their con-text (see Dörnyei, MacIntyre, & Henry,2015) It would be a tremendous asset tothe field if teachers and researchers commit to systematically collecting data onPosPsy interventions, including classroom-based research that employs the bestavailable measures and is sensitive to both the contexts and individuals involved.The close ties between language and culture suggest that interventions in SLA thatare based on PosPsy must also take cultural similarities and differences intoaccount

2 Pay close attention to definitions and measurement of concepts while ering also the cultural dimensions that impact research and teaching

consid-One key lesson emerging from the above critiques is to pay close attention to the

definition and measurement of concepts, and to avoid over-generalizing the results

of a single study or data from a single context This is especially important sidering the close ties between language and culture, and the risks inherent inadapting psychological concepts cross-culturally Even as we consider common,ubiquitous, and possibly universal attributes of living well and the various specificconcepts of PosPsy, we must remain sensitive to the potential for cultural dimen-sions in those concepts and explicitly test assumptions about how they operate inany specific context For example, Seligman (2002) prefers to describe the characterstrengths and virtues described above (see Table2) as ubiquitous and possiblyuniversal because cultural variation must be taken into account

con-3 Allow for a diversity of rigorous empirical methods

Afinal lesson emerging from the intersection of the above critiques is the need toexpand the notion of a scientific basis for PosPsy to include a triangulation ofrigorous empirical methods that address ubiquitous processes, specific contexts, andindividual trajectories of development Several examples have been noted abovewhere a diversity of methods allows for a more nuanced understanding of the role

of common and unique factors to the language learning process Given the openness

to triangulating various research methods, MacIntyre and Mercer (2014) suggestthat we might be working “(…) at an optimal time for a wide ranging researchprogram devoted to study the role of PosPsy in SLA from both the individual andgroup perspectives” To do this work, however, requires appropriate researchquestions and methods to answer them

The principles of positive psychology suggest that the focus on previouslyneglected positive traits, emotions, and institutions is well worth pursuing Thepositive attributes of people are at least as worthy of rigorous research attention astheir negative attributes, and together provide a more comprehensive understanding

of teaching and learning processes than either can alone PosPsy is helping tobalance the focus on both addressing problems that people encounter and ways inwhich they flourish The field of SLA can benefit a great deal from carefullyconsidering the contributions of PosPsy, keeping in mind the need to balancetheory, research, and practice as we move forward along this potentially excitingpath

manuscript, and thanks also to Tammy Gregersen and Sarah Mercer for their comments on previous drafts of this paper Preparation of this chapter was facilitated by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Aspinwall, L G., & Tedeschi, R G (2010a) The value of positive psychology for health psychology: Progress and pitfalls in examining the relation of positive phenomena to health.

Aspinwall, L G., & Tedeschi, R G (2010b) Of babies and bathwater: A reply to Coyne and

Belnap, K., Bown, J., Dewey, D P., Belnap, L P., & Steffen, P R (2016) Project perseverance: Helping studentsbecome self-regulating learners In P D MacIntyre, T Gregersen, & S.

Brown, N J L., Sokal, A D., & Friedman, H L (2013) The complex dynamics of wishful

Coyne, J C., & Tennen, H (2010) Positive psychology in cancer care: Bad science, exaggerated

Csikszentmihalyi, M (1990) Flow: The psychology of optimal experience New York: Harper and Row.

Hungarian EFL classroom In P D MacIntyre, T Gregersen, & S Mercer (Eds.), Positive

Dewaele, J M., & MacIntyre, P D (2014) The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4(2),

publication.

language acquisition London: Routledge.

Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Fredrickson, B L (2001) The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The

Fredrickson, B L (2003) The value of positive emotions: The emerging science of positive

Fredrickson, B L (2009) Positivity Three Rivers Press.

Fredrickson, B L (2013) Updated thinking on positivity ratios American Psychologist, 68,

Funder, D (2010) The personality puzzle (5th ed.) New York: Norton.

Gkonou, C., Daubney, M., & Dewaele, J M (in press) New insights into language anxiety: Theory research and educational implications Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Gregersen, T., & MacIntyre, P D (2014) Capitalizing on language learner individuality Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Gregersen, T., MacIntyre, P D., & Meza, M (2016) Positive psychology exercises build social capital for language learners: Preliminary evidence In P D MacIntyre, T Gregersen, & S.

Helgesen, M (2016) Happiness in ESL/EFL: Bringing positive psychology to the classroom.

In P D MacIntyre, T Gregersen, & S Mercer (Eds.), Positive psychology in SLA

Exploring intense and enduring periods of L2 motivation Modern Language Journal, 99,

Hiver, P (2016) The triumph over experience: Hope and hardiness in novice l2 teachers.

In P D MacIntyre, T Gregersen, & S Mercer (Eds.), Positive psychology in SLA

Horwitz, E., Horwitz, M., & Cope, J (1986) Foreign language classroom anxiety The Modern

Larsen-Freeman, D., & Cameron, L (2008) Complex systems and applied linguistics New York: Oxford University Press.

Lazarus, R S (2003a) Does the positive psychology movement have legs? Psychological Inquiry,

Lazarus, R S (2003b) The Lazarus manifesto for positive psychology and psychology in general.

MacIntyre, P D (1999) Language anxiety: A review of literature for language teachers In D.

New York: McGraw Hill Companies.

MacIntyre, P D (2007) Willingness to communicate in the second language: Understanding the

dynamic systems research In Z Dornyei, P D MacIntyre, & A Henry (Eds.), Motivational

MacIntyre, P., & Gregersen, T (2012) Emotions that facilitate language learning: The positive-broadening power of the imagination Studies in Second Language Learning &

MacIntyre, P D., Gregersen, T., & Abel, E (2015) The courage to be a language learner.

mart03.htm

MacIntyre, P D., Gregersen, T., & Mercer, S (Eds.) (2016) Positive psychology in SLA Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

MacIntyre, P D., & Mercer, S (2014) Introducing positive psychology to SLA Studies in Second

Maslow, A H (1954) Motivation and personality New York: Harper and Row.

Oxford, R L (2016) Toward a psychology of well-being for language learners: The

“EMPATHICS” vision In P D MacIntyre, T Gregersen, & S Mercer (Eds.), Positive

Oxford, R L., & Cuellar, L (2014) Positive psychology in cross-cultural narratives: Mexican students discover themselves while learning Chinese Studies in Second Language Learning

Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M E P (2004) Strengths of character and well-being.

Peterson, C (2006) A primer in positive psychology New York: Oxford University Press Reeve, J (2015) Understanding motivation and emotion (6th ed.) Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Seligman, M E P (2002) Authentic happiness New York: Artia Books.

Seligman, M E P (2011) Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being New York: Atria Books.

Seligman, M E P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M (2000) Positive psychology: An introduction.

Snyder, C R., & Lopez, S J (2009) Oxford handbook of positive psychology Oxford: Oxford University Press.

of Language Learner Well-Being

Rebecca L Oxford

Abstract Positive psychology examines and promotes human well-being Thischapter describes the author’s quest to create a useful, understandable model of lan-guage learner well-being known as EMPATHICS The chapter offers some basicinformation about positive psychology, explains why the author at first used a lesselaborate model, PERMA (Seligman, 2011), and gives a rationale for devising theEMPATHICS model The bulk of the chapter outlines key elements of EMPATHICSand presents interdisciplinary research that serves as a foundation for the model Themodel, after further refinement and validation, can significantly enhance languagelearner well-being and seems to be adaptable to language teacher well-being and to thewell-being of learners and teachers outside of the languagefield

Keywords Well-being
Language learners
Positive psychology

Positive psychology is all about human well-being.1The goal of this chapter is todescribe my quest to create a useful model of well-being, a model that, after furtherdevelopment and validation, could become widely used in the field of languagelearning As this chapter will show, Ifirst considered a simple, well-known, pub-lished model of well-being (PERMA) developed by a premier positive psychologist(Seligman,2011), but I soon had to alter it to make it more meaningful, and even

psy-chology will eventually need to address this topic.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, Second Language Learning

and Teaching, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32954-3_2

21

then I found that it was still theoretically incomplete After that, I decided to create

my own model, EMPATHICS, which is more extensive, more grounded in thetheory of complex systems, and richer in related research (Oxford, 2016) Myultimate goal is to enhance the lives of language learners, although the model canalso relate to individuals in countless contexts At the same time, the EMPATHICSmodel seems broad enough to encompass the well-being of people who are formally

no longer learners, although all of us are arguably learners throughout the lifespan

This section provides some basics of positive psychology and describes my initialinvolvement positive psychology (with PERMA) before I devised my own model.Section2 portrays the PERMA model and how I revised it Section3 presents anabbreviated version of the EMPATHICS model (see Oxford, 2016 for completedetails), which I developed on the basis of published research, as well as myexperience as a language teacher educator, former language teacher, and educationalpsychologist Section4concludes the chapter with recommendations for the future

Positive psychology examines positive elements and strengths in the human psycheand human experience, not just the problematic, distressing aspects that have oftenbeen psychology’s stock in trade Focusing on human well-being, positive psy-chology faces human difficulties from the standpoint of strength instead of weak-ness Because ancient religious and philosophical leaders discussed virtues,happiness, and the good life, we might say that positive psychology has beenpresent for thousands of years It has certainly been reflected in humanistic theoryand research in the twentieth century (Linley, Joseph, Maltby, Harrington, & Wood,

2011) However, only during the last decade and a half has positive psychologybecome a coordinated, scientific field with intensive scientific sharing, institutionaland personal networking, and major handbooks and textbooks (see, e.g., Lopez &Snyder,2011; Peterson,2006; Seligman,2011)

I started studying positive psychology intensively a few years ago while workingwith Professor Lourdes Cuéllar in analyzing the rich, written narratives of herMexican university students These students were studying Chinese in their homecountry, and several of them also learned Chinese on trips to China They showed

an amazing love of the Chinese language and culture and of their teacher, as well asmotivation, inspiration, resilience, autonomy To analyze the data, we usedSeligman’s (2011) PERMA model (see Sect 2) We published a joint article thatcaptured the feelings and experiences of these intrepid, talented, spirited learners(Oxford & Cuéllar, 2014) However, for our research with Mexican learners, aswell as for a different positive-psychological study comparing two learners, asuccessful, satisfied language learner and a traumatized one (Oxford,2014), it wasnecessary to adapt the PERMA model significantly to correct some logical weak-nesses in the model.

Seligman (2011) stated that the purpose of his well-being theory, centered inPERMA, is to“increase flourishing by increasing positive emotion, engagement,meaning, positive relationships, and accomplishment” (p 12, emphasis added).Those factors are important, but I felt they sometimes needed to be rethought andreorganized (Oxford,2016), as shown below

onto the PERMA Elements

Seligman suggested that thefive PERMA elements are underpinned by 24 characterstrengths: creativity, curiosity, judgment or critical thinking, love of learning,perspective or wisdom, bravery or valor, perseverance, honesty or authenticity, zest

or vitality, love, kindness, social intelligence (emotional and personal intelligence),teamwork, fairness, leadership, forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation,appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality(Peterson,2006; VIA Institute of Character, 2014) Unfortunately, specific asso-ciations between the PERMA elements and the character strengths were not made

by Seligman or his colleagues.2

elements or vice versa, I created such a mapping by using logic and a knowledge of psychology For example, love, hope, and gratitude seem to be positive emotions Curiosity, perseverance, and zest are associated with engagement Honesty, kindness, social intelligence, teamwork, fairness, leadership, and (interpersonal) forgiveness are linked with relationships Perspective, appreciation

of beauty and excellence, and spirituality are yoked to meaning Creativity, judgment, bravery, love of learning, self-regulation, prudence, humor, humility, and once again perseverance and zest are tied to accomplishment I might even say that all of the virtues contribute to accomplishment to varying degrees Any theoretical mapping, including mine, needs examination by panels of experts