Challenges and Opportunities: Probing Language Learning within Multilingual Milieus with a Focus on Affect
Öz
Considering the fact that "emotions are central to human life, and bilingualism provides a new perspective on emotions which promises to lead to new insights, as well as to offer crucial evidence for the old debates" (Wierzbicka, 2004, p. 94), it becomes increasingly important to explore the latent nature of emotions and affect as an area of research that has remained under-researched in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) until recently. Due to a longstanding trend favoring the study of emotions in L1 rather than L2 and L3, which are languages included in the scope of multilingualism, the study of emotions or affect in multilingual contexts has received relatively scant attention. However, not only the ongoing multinational migrations on a global scale but also unprecedented developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the advent of Positive Psychology have prompted researchers and practitioners to investigate a broader range of diverse emotions in multilingual learning contexts. Unsurprisingly, this exponential increase and interest in studying the emotional dimensions of multilingualism have almost reached maturity in applied linguistics in the past two decades. In line with this, numerous refereed journals, books, and conference proceedings characterized by increased theoretical and methodological diversity have focused on the fundamental role of emotions and affect in multilingualism, yielding results in the field of second or foreign language learning in recent years. Considering the determining role of affect and emotions in language learning and acquisition, it is crucial to maintain further inquiry into the influence of affective factors on L2 learning, emotionality of multilinguals, and the inter-relationship between multilingualism and emotions in the entire language learning or acquisition process. In this sense, the purpose of this article is to review current research on multilingualism and emotions, better understand the complex nature of affect in language learners or teachers, and provide more insights or directions for future research in multilingualism.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Second Language Acquisition, Multilingualism, Affect, Emotions, L2 learners
Kaynakça
- AKDEMİR, A. S. (2016). Willingness to Communicate WTC in L2 An Affective Construct of Language Learning Process. Atatürk University Journal of Social Science Institute, 20(3), 839–854.
- AKDEMİR, A. S., & İLHAN, B. (2019). EFL Instructors Majors and Their Speaking Activity Choices for Informal Oral Assessment. Anadolu Journal of Educational Sciences International - Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 9(1), 1–26.
- Arnold, Jane, ed. Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
- Borg, Simon. "The Distinctive Characteristics of Foreign Language Teachers". Language Teaching Research 10 (2006): 3-32.
- Bown, Jennifer. "Locus of Learning and Affective Strategy Use: Two Factors Affecting Success in Self-Instructed Language Learning". Foreign Language Annals 39 (2006): 640-659.
- Cook, Vivian. "Introduction: Background of the L2 user". Portraits of the L2 User. Ed. Vivian Cook. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2002. 1-28.
- Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- Dewaele, Jean-Marc. "Blistering Barnacles! What Language Do Multilinguals Swear In?!" Estudios de Sociolingüística 5 (2004a): 83-106.
- Dörnyei, Zoltán. Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
- Ewald, Jennifer D. "Foreign Language Learning Anxiety in Upper-Level Classes: Involving Students as Researchers". Foreign Language Annals 40 (2007): 122- 143.