The feeling classroom: diversity of feelings in instructed l2 learning

Abstract

In the field of second language (L2) research, there is a growing recognition of the vital need to explore the diversity of emotional experiences of learning. The current paper describes part of action research with two classes of Japanese first-grade university students (n = 47) in compulsory English as a foreign language (EFL) lessons. Participants wrote introspective journals, collected weekly over a semester of study. Initial analysis revealed that participants frequently wrote about their feelings in lessons. This development prompted the researcher to re-examine data from a more emotional angle. Reanalysis uncovered that 94 per cent of the total collected responses referred to feelings in some way. Seven positively-valenced feelings and three negatively-valenced feelings emerged from analysis. These feelings fluctuated connected with perceptions of classroom activities, other students, L2 identity, transportable identities, the teacher, and impressions of a lesson as a whole. Through the use of an innovative representational tool – multiple threading [Davis, B., and D. Sumara. 2006. Complexity and Education: Inquiries into Learning, Teaching, and Research. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates] – the findings allow insights to the diverse and frequently contrasting nature of L2 feelings during study. The article builds on existing research into learner feelings by also adding qualitative detail to this fundamental aspect of the experience of classroom L2 learning.

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