(Second Language Learning and Teaching) Katarzyna Budzińska, Olga Majchrzak - Positive Psychology in Second and Foreign Language Education (2021, Springer) - Libgen - Li

Second Language Learning and
Teaching
Series Editor
Mirosław Pawlak
Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz
University, Kalisz, Poland
The series brings together volumes dealing with different
aspects of learning and teaching second and foreign
languages. The titles included are both monographs and
edited collections focusing on a variety of topics ranging
from the processes underlying second language
acquisition, through various aspects of language learning
in instructed and non-instructed settings, to different
facets of the teaching process, including syllabus choice,
materials design, classroom practices and evaluation. The
publications reflect state-of-the-art developments in those
areas, they adopt a wide range of theoretical perspectives
and follow diverse research paradigms. The intended
audience are all those who are interested in naturalistic
and classroom second language acquisition, including
researchers, methodologists, curriculum and materials
designers, teachers and undergraduate and graduate
students undertaking empirical investigations of how
second languages are learnt and taught.
More information about this series at http://www.
springer.com/series/10129
Editors
Katarzyna Budzińska and Olga Majchrzak
Positive Psychology in Second

and Foreign Language Education
1st ed. 2021
Editors
Katarzyna Budzińska
Language Centre, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz,
Poland
Olga Majchrzak
University of Humanities and Economics, Lodz, Poland
ISSN 2193-7648 e-ISSN 2193-7656
Second Language Learning and Teaching
ISBN 978-3-030-64443-7 e-ISBN 978-3-030-64444-4
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4
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In loving memory of my Dad
Preface
As it has become a tradition that positive psychology
volumes begin with a personal story which inspired the
authors or editors, the editor of this volume will follow
suit:
A friend was visiting me and my daughter, Emilia, who
was six years old at the time. While I was tidying in the
kitchen, my little daughter jumped at the visitor and
demanded that he play with her. The visitor refused
explaining that he had already played with her before
lunch. Emilia made the most disappointed face and sadly
walked away. I looked into her disillusioned eyes and asked
the visitor, “Why did you do that?” I would
have understood if the child was asking for something that
was unsafe, unhealthy or unrealistic: like, “Can I ride an
elephant?”, but at that moment it took very little to put a
smile on my daughter’s face. The visitor defended himself,
“I just thought that if we let children have their way all the
time, they become spoilt.” To which I replied, “But why say
‘no’ if you can say ‘yes’? Why not make someone happy if it
takes so little?”
When I was wondering how to begin the preface to this
volume, this scene from the past came back to me, as for
me, the question: “Why say ‘no’ if you can say ‘yes’?” is the
essence of positive psychology.
This story is reflected in my everyday life as a language
teacher. Students make the same unhappy face when asked
to work with a partner they do not like, to give an answer
they do not have or are given a negative grade.
Teachers look equally disillusioned when they have to
use equipment that does not work, write an email to their
boss because their boss is too busy to speak to them, or do
overtime when they already feel overworked.
My colleague, who writes teaching materials, told me
about a meeting she had with teachers concerning their
preferences for progress tests. One of the teachers said that
a perfect test is one that 90% of the students fail. One
would ask, “Why”? Sadly, I believe some teachers choose to
say “no” when they can say “yes.”
Even though I believe the readers of this book will opt
for saying yes when they can say yes, there is still not
enough well-being and happiness among teachers and
learners. This is why positive psychology, whose key
feature is well-being, is thriving. Despite some initial
criticism that it is not a serious enough science, its
comparison to non-academic self-help books, and
accusations that it is a “‘tyranny of positive thinking’, an
unhealthy expectation that people must be happy all the
time” (MacIntyre, this volume), well-established scholars
continue working in this field, new positive psychology
academic journals, edited volumes, positive special issues
of academic journals, or just articles on the topic are being
written. New positive psychology conferences are held in
various parts of the globe, and the number of participants
at next year’s “Mobilizing Positive Psychology in SLA” to be
held in Canada has dramatically exceeded its expectations.
Positive psychology in education, and in Second
Language Acquisition (SLA) in particular, is a relatively
new branch of positive psychology. Consequently, any work
done in this field is still filling the gap in research. This
volume demonstrates how resources taken from positive
psychology can benefit both teachers and learners. It
explores further topics such as affectivity and positive
emotions, engagement, enjoyment, empathy, positive
institutions, a positive L2 self-system, as well as newly
added Positive Language Education. Some papers in this
collection introduce new topics such as the role of positive
psychology in international higher education, a framework
for understanding language teacher well-being from an
ecological perspective, or positive institutional policies in
language education contexts.
The contributions in this volume have been divided into
three parts: theoretical, empirical and applied. Peter
MacIntyre, who is the father of positive psychology in SLA,
opens the theoretical part with a chapter which focuses on
positive psychology and its application in second language
acquisition. In defining what positive psychology is, the
chapter also addresses what positive psychology is not and
explains in detail the risk of applying positive psychology
principles in an oversimplified manner. Furthermore, the
author examines the notion of positive language education
which would combine language and personal development
(well-being).
Following MacIntyre’s introductory chapter, Jun Jin
together with a pioneer of positive psychology in SLA,
Sarah Mercer, and two other colleagues Sonja Babic and
Astrid Mairitsch present a framework for understanding
language teacher well-being from an ecological
perspective. Such a perspective captures the holistic
interconnections between a teacher’s professional and
personal lives and recognizes the critical role played by
contexts of foreign language education.
The last two chapters in the first part of the book
address students. Eva Seidl calls for nourishing teacher-
student and student-student relationships in the context of
international higher education. Ewelina Mierzwa-
Kamińska closes the theoretical part of the volume
presenting the findings of selected empirical studies on
gender differences in foreign language enjoyment (FLE).
The second, empirical part of the collection is the most
extensive one. The first two chapters of this part focus on
foreign language learners. In the opening chapter, J. Lake,
one of the first scholars who applied positive psychology
concepts in his study of Japanese students (2013),
integrates positive psychology and L2 motivation through
showing relationships among key constructs from both
disciplines. This paper explains and partially replicates
positive psychology and motivational variables that
elaborate on aspects of a positive L2 self-system.
Anna Mystkowska–Wiertelak examines willingness to
communicate (WTC) taking into account actual
communicative behavior, quantified as language output
including word count and turn taking. The results are
correlated with scores for different facets of WTC and the
four dimensions of learner engagement, which are
considered the key precursor of success and achievement.
Engagement is one of the five components of the PERMA
model proposed by the founder of positive psychology,
Martin Seligman (2011).
The next chapter by Katarzyna Budzińska is structured
around all five elements of Seligman’s PERMA model. It
presents a study of a language education institution from
both the learners’ and the teachers’ perspective. The
author identifies features of the institution’s policy
reflecting PERMA and thus contributes to a framework of
Positive Language Education by adding to it the third
positive psychology pillar—positive institutions.
The remaining two chapters in the empirical section
look at pre-service teachers. Dorota Werbińska explores
the construct of trainee language teacher identity related
to aspects of positive psychology, which can shed light on
their future teaching practice. Olga Majchrzak and Patrycja
Ostrogska use a metaphor study to investigate the notion
of a teacher as a profession and identify the components of
English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher training
programmes that may increase teachers’ effectiveness and
positively influence the way they manage their resources.
The first of the two chapters in the third, applied part of
the collection, was written by Danuta Gabryś-Barker, a
scholar who has made a major contribution to the field of
positive psychology in SLA. Like the final chapter of the
empirical part, it focuses on the development of effective
teacher training programmes for pre-service teachers. The
author draws on reflections of trainee teachers on their
experience of positive psychology classes, introduced as
part of their programme to become foreign language
teachers. The author demonstrates the contribution of the
programme to affectivity awareness and altering the
students’ frame of mind in understanding what teaching a
foreign language embraces.
The second chapter in the applied part is not related to
language learning or teaching. Kamila Lasocińska and her
colleague Łukasz Zaorski present the results of an
educational and research project which uses biographical
narrative and metaphor during practical classes in
philosophical anthropology. The project is aimed at
supporting learners’ reflectiveness, self-cognition, the
ability to perceive the world and one’s own life from
different perspectives, becoming aware of important
values, and determining the sense and meaning of different
life events.
I hope this collection will help to increase the number
of practitioners of “Why say ‘no’ when you can say ‘yes’?”
and that among those will not only be teachers and teacher
trainers but also other stake holders, who will contribute
to the well-being of both learners and teachers. I believe
that this volume will be a valuable addition to research in
positive psychology in education, and in particular to
positive psychology in SLA. It is also my wish that it will
demonstrate the advancement of positive psychology in
SLA that MacIntyre, Gregersen, and Mercer (2016, p. 9)
argued SLA was ready for.
I would like to close this preface with many heartfelt
thanks to the contributors and reviewers of this volume,
many of which I am proud to call my mentors, colleagues
and friends. In particular, I would like to thank prof. Danuta
Gabryś-Barker for her friendly advice during various
stages of the volume’s development.
References
Lake, J. (2013). Positive L2 self: Linking positive
psychology with L2 motivation. In: M. Apple, D. Da Silva,
& T. Fellner (Eds.), Language learning motivation in
Japan (pp. 225–244). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
MacIntyre, P. D., Gregersen, T., & Mercer, S. (Eds.). (2016).
Positive psychology in SLA. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new
understanding of happiness and well-being. New York:
Atria.
Lodz, Poland
Contents
Theoretical
Exploring Applications of Positive Psychology in SLA
Peter D. MacIntyre
Understanding the Ecology of Foreign Language
Teacher Wellbeing
Jun Jin, Sarah Mercer, Sonja Babic and Astrid Mairitsch
From Culturally to Emotionally Responsive Teaching in
International Higher Education
Eva Seidl
Enjoyment in the Foreign Language Classroom: Does
Gender Matter? A Review of Selected Empirical Studies
Ewelina Mierzwa-Kamińska
Empirical
Positive Psychology, Positive L2 Self, and L2 Motivation:
A Longitudinal Investigation
Keita Kikuchi and J. Lake
The Link Between Different Facets of Willingness to
Communicate, Engagement and Communicative
Behaviour in Task Performance
Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak
Positive Institutional Policies in Language Education
Contexts: A Case Study
“What Kind of Teachers We Are (Becoming) and What
Kind of Teachers We Might Be”—Making Sense of
Duoethnographic Positive Psychology-Related
Experience by Preservice English Teachers
Dorota Werbińska
Between Expectations and a Sustainable Teaching
Career: The Results of a Metaphor Study
Olga Majchrzak and Patrycja Ostrogska
Applied
(Positive) Affectivity in a Foreign Language Classroom:
Trainees’ Response to an Introductory Course in
Positive Psychology
Danuta Gabryś-Barker
Developing Learners’ Reflectiveness Through
Biographical Narrative and Metaphor
Kamila Lasocińska and Łukasz Zaorski-Sikora
Editors and Contributors
About the Editors
Katarzyna Budzińska has a Ph.D. in applied linguistics
from the University of Lodz and a Cambridge Diploma in
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She
teaches at the Lodz University of Technology, where she is
involved in teacher training. She also works freelance at the
University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz, where
she teaches Positive Psychology and supervises MA
dissertations in Applied Linguistics. Katarzyna’s main
areas of interest are psychology in language learning and
positive psychology, whose third pillar, positive
institutions, she has been exploring recently.

Olga Majchrzak received her Ph.D. degree in Linguistics
from the University of Lodz, Poland. She works at the
University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz, Poland,
where she has been the Dean of Foreign Language Studies
since 2016. She is the author and supervisor of the Teacher
Training Programme for Foreign Language Teachers at
AHE. Her scientific interests include issues related to the
attitudes and identity of bilinguals, developing writing
skills in a foreign language, and recently emotions in the
writing process. She teaches courses in Creative writing,
Academic writing and Trends in Alternative Education.

Contributors
Sonja Babic
Department of English Studies, University of Graz, Graz,
Austria
Language Centre, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz,
Poland
University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
Jun Jin
Austria
Keita Kikuchi
Department of Cross-Cultural Studies, Kanagawa
University, Yokohama, Kanagawa-ku, Japan
J. Lake
Department of International Liberal Arts, Fukuoka
Women’s University, Fukuoka, Higashi-ku, Japan
Kamila Lasocińska
Peter D. MacIntyre
Department of Psychology, Cape Breton University, Sydney,
NS, Canada
Astrid Mairitsch
Austria
Olga Majchrzak
Sarah Mercer
Austria
University of Opole, Opole, Poland
Institute of English Studies, University of Wrocław,
Wrocław, Poland
Patrycja Ostrogska
Eva Seidl
University of Graz, Graz, Austria
Dorota Werbińska
Pomeranian University in Slupsk, Slupsk, Poland
Łukasz Zaorski-Sikora
Theoretical
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. Budzińska, O. Majchrzak (eds.), Positive Psychology in Second and Foreign Language Education, Second Language Learning
and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_1
Exploring Applications of Positive Psychology in SLA

Peter D. MacIntyre1
(1) Department of Psychology, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Road, Sydney, NS,
B1P 6L2, Canada

Peter D. MacIntyre
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
This chapter examines positive psychology and its potential application in second language
acquisition (SLA). The chapter first reviews the origins of positive psychology as a sub-field
and the reasons why it was developed. In defining what positive psychology is, the chapter
also addresses what positive psychology is not and explicates the risk of applying positive
psychology principles in an oversimplified manner, a so called ‘tyranny of positive thinking.’
There are strong inroads already being made for applying positive psychology in SLA. The
chapter concludes with a brief examination of the notion of positive language education which
would combine language and personal development (wellbeing).
Keywords Positive emotions – Character strengths – Positive language education – Individual
turn – Criticism of positive psychology
Peter D. MacIntyre is Professor of psychology at Cape Breton University. His research
focusses on the psychology of language and communication. He has published over 100
articles and chapters on language anxiety, willingness to communicate, motivation and other
topics. He has co-authored or co-edited books on topics including positive psychology in SLA,
motivational dynamics. nonverbal communication, teaching innovations, and capitalizing on
language learner individuality.

1 Introduction
The arrival of positive psychology in the study of second-language acquisition (SLA) signals a
growing of interest in the psychology of language learners and teachers (MacIntyre,
Gregersen, & Mercer, 2019), a potentially valuable addition to SLA for at least three reasons.
First, positive psychology casts light on new dimensions of the learners and their experience,
focusing on topics that have not yet been widely studied (MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014). Second,
we are seeing the development of somewhat novel approaches to research and its methods
that will broaden current theoretical perspectives and advance the field in new directions.
Third, there are new applications for language-teaching practice including exercises, activities,
and lessons that have been shown to be effective in positive psychology and are being adapted
to second-language teaching and learning.
2 What is Positive Psychology?

Perhaps the simplest definition of positive psychology was offered by the late Christopher
Peterson as “the scientific study of what goes right in life” (Peterson, 2006, p. 4). Defining
positive psychology in this manner allows us to look at the scientific method as a key source of
evidence for what would generally be considered positive. To call for the scientific study of an
area such as SLA means to appeal to methods derived from the so-called ‘hard sciences’ (such
as neuroscience) that involve hypothesis testing, but has also been taken to include rigorous
methods from the social sciences. For some readers, it might seem out of place to use science
as an approach to humanistic-oriented topics such as beauty, happiness, or joy (Waterman,
2013). Yet, the application of scientific methods to studying anxiety, depression, and stress has
long been accepted (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Positive psychology’s goal is to
better balance the psychological narrative; to use methods which are already in place for
studying more traditional psychology topics such as trauma to study factors that promote a
good life, flourishing relationships, and engaging institutions.
By defining positive psychology as the scientific study of what goes right in life, Peterson
(2006) has also highlighted the idea that psychology in general has focused too much on what
goes wrong in life. As an illustration of the imbalance in the topics addressed by psychology, a
glance at the website for the American Psychological Association (2020) under the heading for
topics addressed by psychology includes (under the letter ‘A’): Abortion, Addictions, ADHD,
Aging, Alzheimer’s, Anger, Anxiety, and Autism. All of these are treated as problems to be
addressed and corrected. In total, the APA website list names as topics anxiety but not
enjoyment, depression but not uplifts, post traumatic stress disorder but not post traumatic
growth. Psychology has long addressed both the negative and positive sides of life, but the
emphasis has been, and continues to be, disproportionally on the negative. Readers of the
present chapter are invited to ask a friend, ‘what do you think psychology is all about?’ Most
likely respondents will answer with the sort of illness-related factors featured on the APA
website. Although negative experiences certainly are worth studying, the founders of positive
psychology argued that there is a need to create a fuller picture of what it means to be human
—to study good mental health alongside mental illness, using the same proven methods
(Seligman & Csikzentmihalyi, 2000). It must be emphasized that health is not simply the
absence of illness; this idea is critically important in interpreting the topic area of positive
psychology.
Positive psychology has been described as a young field with a long history (Peterson,
2006). The modern narrative of positive psychology begins with the publication of a paper in
2000 in the influential journal American Psychologist, which set out to define the field. In the
seminal paper, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) presented their reasoning behind
creating a new branch of psychology that would focus squarely on the positive aspects of
human experience. They identified three key reasons for their initiation of positive
psychology: increasing well-being and happiness, balancing the research agenda, and avoiding
quack cures and unsubstantiated self-help advice.
2.1 Increasing Well-Being and Happiness

One of the key concepts in positive psychology, at least early on, was happiness. Very quickly,
however, the term ‘happiness’—and even ‘authentic happiness’ (Seligman, 2002)—was set
aside in favor of the idea of subjective well-being (SWB; Scorsolini-Comin, Fontaine, Koller, &
dos Santos, 2013). Lazarus (2003a) called happiness one of the muddiest concepts in all of
psychology and philosophy, so it is not surprising that positive psychology has had difficulty
unambiguously defining and measuring it.
2.2 Balancing the Research Agenda

Proponents of positive psychology argue that negative issues dominate the field of psychology
in general. As evidence, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) has developed into a
massive catalogue of disorders used in psychiatry, clinical psychology, and related fields
(American Psychological Association, 2013). It reflects decades of intensive research on
disorders and dysfunction. A comparable research effort has not yet been made to catalogue
the best assets of successful or flourishing persons (Seligman, 2011).
2.3 Avoiding Quack Cures and Unsubstantiated Self-help Advice

There is no shortage of advice literature in the self-help section of most bookstores. As with
fad diets, much of that advice is empirically unsupported and has the potential to be damaging.
Within the SLA field, teachers may have different ways of dealing with students based on their
own theories of how individuals learn. Such theories might be empirically grounded or they
might be misguided—we simply don’t know the effects of such theories being applied in the
classroom yet because they have not been systematically evaluated. Positive psychology insists
that before we make a claim about the efficacy of an intervention or treatment, we must
conduct research to find out whether or not that claim is justified. Seligman and
Csikszentmihalyi’s (2000) seminal paper summarized the importance of scientific research in
positive psychology as follows:
Psychology is not just a branch of medicine concerned with illness or health; it is much
larger. It 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 hand-waving; it tries to adapt what is best in the scientific method to the
unique problems that human behavior presents to those who wish to understand it in
all its complexity. (p. 7)
3 The Three Pillars of Positive Psychology

Positive psychology was founded on three pillars (see Budzińska, Gabryś-Barker, Seidl, &
Werbińska, this volume): (1) positive experiences such as emotions, (2) positive character
traits allowing us to capitalize on individual differences, and (3) positive institutions that
would suggest ways to set up schools, classrooms, families, and governments that facilitate
flourishing (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The first two pillars, positive experience and
positive character traits, have received a great deal more attention in research (Lindley,
Joseph, Harrington, & Wood, 2006). The study of positive emotions has rapidly generated new
knowledge and theories, the most influential theory being Fredrickson’s (2001, 2003, 2013)
broaden-and-build theory of positive emotion (see Jin et al., Majchrzak & Ostrogska, Mierzwa-
Kamińska, & Werbińska, this volume). In addition, the study of happiness has generated
research on how people find a sense of meaning in life, specifically eudemonic happiness that
reflects living life in accordance with deeply held values. The second major thrust of positive
psychology, character strengths, has also generated a considerable body of knowledge in a
short amount of time. The VIA inventory of strengths is a large-scale online survey with 240
items reflecting 24 strengths including appreciation of beauty, honesty, and zest for life. The
survey has been taken by over seven million respondents (VIA Institute, 2019). The third pillar
of positive psychology has been less studied, possibly because institutions themselves are not
as often the focus of research in psychology (notwithstanding such areas as industrial-
organizational psychology). However, positive institutions including schools, classrooms, and
government ministries/departments certainly are relevant to language teaching and language
policy (see Budzińska & Seidl, this volume). It would be a significant contribution if positive
psychology could help articulate and evaluate the principles to help establish policy that has
an impact on classrooms to facilitate the flourishing of both students and teachers alike.
The breadth of topics already studied in positive psychology is impressive. The field has
exploded with publications such as the Journal of Positive Psychology and the Journal of
Happiness Studies, and hundreds of articles have been published in numerous other journals
and in collections such as The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology (Snyder & Lopez, 2009),
Oxford Handbook of Happiness (David, Boniwell, & Ayers, 2014), Designing Positive Psychology:
Taking Stock and Moving Forward (Sheldon, Kashdan, & Steger, 2010), Positive Psychological
Assessment: A Handbook of Methods and Measures (Lopez & Snyder, 2003), Positive Psychology
in Practice (Linley & Joseph, 2004), and Handbook of Methods in Positive Psychology (Ong & van
Dulmen, 2006). In addition, popular books such as Authentic Happiness (Seligman, 2002), The
Myths of Happiness (Lyubomirsky, 2014), and Grit (Duckworth, 2016) have been best-sellers.
As a sample of the content of the field, Table 1 shows selected topics included in the Oxford
Handbook of Positive Psychology (Snyder & Lopez, 2009).
Table 1 A partial list of topics in positive psychology (based on Snyder & Lopez, 2009)
1 Attachment security
2 Benefit-finding
3 Character strengths
4 Compassion
5 Courage
6 Curiosity and interest

7 Emotional creativity
8 Emotional intelligence
9 Flow
10 Forgiveness
11 Gratitude
12 Happiness
13 Hope
14 Humility
15 Life longings
16 Love
17 Meaning in life
18 Mindfulness
19 Optimism
20 Optimistic explanatory style
21 Personal control
22 Positive emotions
23 Positive ethics
24 Positive growth
25 Reality negotiation
26 Relationship connections
27 Resilience
28 Self-determination
29 Self-efficacy
30 Self-esteem
31 Self-verification
32 Social support
33 Subjective well-being
34 Sustainable happiness
35 Toughness
36 Wisdomn
4 What is Positive Psychology Not?

In defining positive psychology and exploring its potential applications, it also is important to
consider what positive psychology is not, for two reasons. First, there is a risk of contagious
enthusiasm for topics such as those listed in Table 1 that leads to an uncritical approach to
them or to claims made about them. Second, the popular media seems eager to cater to such
enthusiasm by oversimplifying research results. Ehrenreich (2010) wrote a provocative
criticism of positive thinking in general called Smile or Die.1 In the book, Ehrenreich talked
about positive psychology, arguing that it may have contributed to the sense that a person
must be happy at all times, otherwise there is something wrong with that person. Ehrenreich
is a cancer survivor who reported being told at times to just embrace it, to find the positive
side, and to even consider cancer as a gift—she most certainly did not want to do so. She found
there was an expectation to embrace positive thinking that she described as extremely off-
putting.
Proponents of positive psychology and its applications must acknowledge that there is at
least the potential for an unintended ‘tyranny of positive thinking,’ an unhealthy expectation
that people must be happy all the time. There may be a crude line of thinking that asks, why
are people choosing to be miserable when all they have to do to be happy is smile more or
think happy thoughts or express gratitude more often? Ehrenreich and others have warned
that, ironically, positive psychology might be contributing to a form of victim blaming—if
happy thoughts make life better, then it is your duty to just think happy thoughts and your life
will be better. Conditions such as severe anxiety or depression are not well understood by the
general public or even by some caregivers; dealing with such conditions is far more complex
than admonishing someone to ‘just put on a happy face’ or to ‘fake it until you make it.’
Positive psychology is not intended to diminish the importance of the negative experiences
people encounter and it is not meant to belittle or demean anyone who experiences those
conditions, nor those who help people to deal with them. Yet, there is more than minimal risk
of unintended consequences with positive psychology. Every major author in the field has
discussed positive psychology in terms of balance and emphasis: a way of increasing
knowledge about positive character traits and emotions in addition to—not in place of—what
is happening in mainstream psychology or other areas of study. However, the so-called tyranny
of positive thinking must be acknowledged and avoided as much as possible.
The popular press bears some measure of responsibility for such a tyranny of positive
thinking. There is a continuing stream of articles on social media and over-simplified news
stories such as How to be happy: Follow these five easy steps (Cook, 2016), a headline
that appeared in the online version of The Guardian, a resource that is typically careful in
presenting positive psychology research. In addition, researchers also bear their share of
responsibility to be reasonable in their comments on the meaning of their research.
Fredrickson’s (2009) book Positivity has, on its front cover, the unfortunate and now
discredited claim, ‘Top notch research reveals the 3 to 1 ratio that will change your life’ (see
Brown, Sokal, & Friedman, 2013). It takes time for knowledge to accumulate but also for the
literature to be evaluated and stand the test of time, as in any field of research. The critical and
sometimes competitive side of scholarship in general—and science in particular—can help to
identify solid findings and the boundaries of knowledge in an area. The subject matter of
positive psychology lends itself to enthusiasm, but all research results must be considered
tentative. The concern for overstating the results of interventions in heath and other areas has
been present since the beginning of positive psychology (Peterson, 2006). There is a need to
be cautious with research-based claims, such that the public presentation of knowledge does
not get too far ahead of the science.
5 Second-Wave Positive Psychology: PP2.0

Recently, there has been a call for positive psychology to expand its focus on what is called
‘second-wave positive psychology’ or ‘PP2.0.’ Wong (2011) has suggested that PP2.0 is both
more social and more integrative than the original concept of positive psychology, in the sense
that it doesn’t emphasise positivity to the exclusion of negativity, rather it emphasizes how
positivity and negativity work together in social contexts. Wong suggested that the goal is not
only to understand topics that are not widely studied but also to integrate them into
mainstream psychology so that there is a discussion of dialectic between the positive and
negative that is not yet prominent in the literature; in other words, Wong has suggested
combining the study of the ‘me’ and the ‘we.’ Lomas and Ivtzan (2015) noted that PP2.0 “(…) is
characterised by an altogether more nuanced approach to the concepts of positive and
negative, and by a subtle appreciation of the ambivalent nature of the good life (…) epitomised
by an appreciation of the fundamentally dialectical nature of wellbeing.” This trajectory of
scholarly development is likely to be well received in SLA because PP2.0 is intended to be
more complex, more sensitive to context, and more socially and culturally aware than the bulk
of positive psychology has been thus far (MacIntyre, 2016).
With respect to SLA, PP2.0 mirrors issues raised in the so-called social turn in SLA (Block,
2003; Gregg, 2006). The idea of a social turn emphasizes that language happens in a social
context and that learning is a shared endeavour. However, to argue in favour of language as a
social experience does not necessitate abandoning the individual as a unit of analysis. To be
clear, the discussion of learners in SLA should not be to the exclusion of the individual, but
rather a combination of ‘me’ and ‘we’; the social turn must not discard the notion of the
individual, but incorporate individuality within social contexts. The individual has generally
been a point of emphasis in positive psychology, especially with its proposed interventions.
The specific forms taken by most positive psychology interventions are tailored to the
individual, as when asking someone to name ‘three good things’ or identify a ‘silver lining’ in a
difficult situation (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). The specific three good things and
the metaphorical silver lining extracted from a dark cloud cannot be generic or assigned by
another person; the points of emphasis in personal development must be chosen by the
individual.
SLA has a significant strand dedicated to examining individual differences, yet it does not
evaluate individuals as units of analysis very often. Thus far, applications of positive
psychology in SLA have combined both large and small sample studies, some of which report
detailed information on individual-level data. Positive psychology in general has not focused
on the individual very well in the existing literature, a condition from which psychology itself
has suffered for a long time (Allport, 1961; Lazarus, 2003a).
6 Positive Psychology in SLA

The emergence of positive psychology in SLA is already producing new knowledge. Some
implications emerging from this work in theory, research, and practice are already evident. Let
us consider each of theory, research, and practice.
The theory of positive and negative emotions, a cornerstone of positive psychology, is
becoming more complex. Rather than being opposite ends of the same continuum, it seems
better to view the relationship between the positive and the negative as two separate
interacting dimensions of experience. Positive and negative emotions are often described as if
they are in a seesaw relationship: when one goes up, the other goes down. However, studies of
anxiety and enjoyment are showing that the situation is not that simple. Anxiety and
enjoyment do not move together automatically—at any given time they both can be high, both
low, or one high and the other low. Anxiety and enjoyment can be correlated negatively,
positively, or not at all over a given period of time, even within the same person, as shown in
L2 communication by Boudreau, MacIntyre, and Dewaele (2018). When conflicting emotions
are better understood, their role in creating individual differences in both learning and
communication processes can be better addressed; unfortunately, positive emotion has not
been fully theorized. For example, prior willingness to communicate (WTC) theory
emphasized a lack of anxiety and feelings of self-confidence with language as immediate
influences on WTC. However, results from recent positive psychology studies seem to suggest
that enjoyment plays its own part in the process, and it may be a rather strong role (Dewaele &
Dewaele, 2017). In general, we need to better theorize what happens with positive emotions
and the role of enjoyment in facilitating communication is coming to the fore.
In addition to theory, positive psychology is having an impact on the collection of empirical
research methods being employed. Studies within the positive psychology of SLA are being
done in a healthy variety of ways. There are surveys of very large samples; Dewaele &
MacIntyre (2016) had over 1700 participants from all around the world. Experience sampling
methods also are being used that repeatedly study small samples, such as a classroom study of
teacher stress and uplifts (MacIntyre et al., 2019). Well-controlled laboratory studies also are
being done, and in the case of the idiodynamic method, the focus is on dense data from single
individuals over a short time as meaning is being made (Boudreau et al., 2018). Other methods
being used include case studies with interventions that allow detailed tracking of the effects of
interventions on particular persons (Gregersen, MacIntyre, & Meza, 2016) but which also
could be done at the group level with larger sample sizes. Naturalistic studies done in a ‘field’
setting test the applicability of positive psychology outside an institutional setting (Gregersen,
MacIntyre, & Macmillan, 2020). There is an openness in SLA to a wide variety of research
processes and methodologies that is not seen in psychology more generally (Lazarus, 2003a;
MacIntyre, Dornyei, & Henry, 2015; MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2016). This
methodological openness allows for a particularly rich description of learning and
communication processes across the various studies. The variety of methods being used is a
specific strength for this area because psychology tends to rely on a more limited set of
methods.
Theory and methods are also allowing new developments in education practices which can
take advantage of what is being learned about positive psychology in SLA. For example,
Dewaele and MacIntyre (2016) argued that teachers seem to be able to influence enjoyment to
a stronger degree than anxiety. This is an interesting finding for teaching practice. For many
years, empirical research has recommended interventions to reduce anxiety (see Gregersen &
MacIntyre, 2014). However, studies of enjoyment have been rare, and the evidence is not yet
available to examine interventions designed to increase enjoyment. If teachers are capable of
increasing WTC by fostering enjoyment, as suggested by studies mentioned above, then
activities in the classroom that are inspired by positive psychology may be especially valuable.
The interplay between anxiety and enjoyment is complex in practice. Dewaele and MacIntyre
(2016) noted the activities that learners reported as being most enjoyable, such as teasing
students, would probably be considered ‘risky’ by many teachers because their teasing can
easily be misinterpreted. It should not be assumed that any given activity is going to be
enjoyable in the future simply because it has been enjoyed in the past. Emotions are reactions
to what is going on in context, and sensitivity to context will help teachers plan specific
activities that might be enjoyable, depending on various local factors (Chaffee, Noels, &
McEown, 2014). The combination of positive and negative emotions together, therefore, is
more powerful for influencing teaching practice than looking at them individually.
Even more broadly, institutions can improve programs by applying the principles of
positive psychology. Brief interventions with a conversation partners program, for example,
shows that existing programs can be adapted to include positive psychology activities and
principles with positive outcomes (Gregersen, MacIntyre, & Meza, 2016). In addition, rather
than looking at the role of the teacher in a de-personalized way, considering ‘the person within
the role’ allows for variation to capitalize on strengths. Teachers in a study by Gregersen and
MacIntyre (2018) communicated with each other in ways that created bonds around
strengths, giving the mentor a specific context in which to provide advice to the novice teacher.
As an example, rather than giving generic suggestions for new teachers to take time for
themselves, the advice could be more specific such as exercising one’s strength in spirituality
to take time to pray during breaks in the school day. Perhaps such an approach on individual
strengths would alleviate some of the stress and burnout often faced by teachers and help new
teachers remain in the profession (Brown, Ralph, & Brember, 2002; Fantilli & McDougall,
2009; Hiver, 2016). It is important to fit activities to the learners as well to capitalize on their
individuality and to look at their unique network of strengths, examined both within the
learner and within the classroom (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014). Positive psychology
exercises in SLA emphasize that it is not a ‘one size fits all’ sort of endeavor; each exercise
must be adapted to fit the person who is undertaking it.
There has been a call for developing an approach called positive language education
(Mercer, MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Talbot, 2018) (see Budzińska, this volume). The authors
argue that wellbeing is a teachable skill and that language teachers are well-positioned to
influence the wellbeing of learners. In some cases, such as immigrants or refugees, language
teachers are one of the first points of contact between learners and a new way of life. Even in
less extreme settings, language teaching involves a double helix that intertwines linguistic and
non-linguistic goals, language and wellbeing. Language teachers may be called upon to engage
on a regular basis with both learning and wellbeing, suggesting a need to develop pre-service
and in-service training to facilitate the work that is ongoing. Mercer et al. (2018, p. 24) suggest
that
We need to work towards a framework of Positive Language Education that can be

empirically validated and further developed, and which can be practically implemented
in diverse cultural and linguistic settings without prescriptivism and in sustainable
ways. The wellbeing of learners and teachers should not be considered an optional
extra but is a fundamental foundation of the skill sets both need to cope in their
personal and professional lives in the future. The language learning context is ideally
positioned to facilitate the learning of wellbeing through language use and learning.
The question is whether this is especially ‘positive’ language education, or simply what
good language education ought to be anyway.
Language teachers obviously are not trained as psychologists. Indeed, most psychologists
are trained to deal with the types of problems and disorders listed at the opening of this
chapter, so the scope of practice is different. But positive psychology is not therapy; there is a
recognition that the processes underlying disorders are not always the same as those
underlying good health. To engage with the principles of positive psychology on a regular
basis, in a deliberate and reflective way, is one approach to integrating language and personal
development among both teachers and learners.
7 Conclusion
In summary, we can trace the origins of positive psychology as a sub-discipline to the turn of
the millennium, when Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) published their work in
American Psychologist. Research in the social science side of positive psychology has made
significant progress since then (Snyder & Lopez, 2009). Positive psychology has had a fast
start, partly because of its deep roots in humanistic traditions. The scientific study of what
goes right in life is not brand new, but there is a new emphasis on balancing research concern
for positive and negative experiences, a commitment to having a strong empirical base about
what makes life good, what makes people flourish, and how to do their best. Recent
developments under the banner of PP2.0 are leading to a more socially contextualized and
dialectic description of positive psychology, one that can better consider the reciprocal effects
of individuality within context. It can be suggested that the SLA’s social turn in one direction
should also be accompanied by an individual turn in the other (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2015),
taking the individual as a unit of analysis more seriously (Lazarus, 2003a; MacIntyre & Mercer,
2014; Molenaar & Campbell, 2009; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
Positive psychology in SLA is making rapid progress in each of the original three pillars of
positive psychology—character strengths, emotions, and institutions. New programs of
empirical research are examining areas of experience that have not been widely studied,
helping to better balance the scales of positive and negative language experiences. The
empirical research foundation dedicated to positive psychology in SLA is tied to innovation in
theory, methods, and teaching/learning. More importantly, developments in each are
influencing the others in productive ways. Considering the scope of possible future work on
topics such as those in Table 1, there is a bright future for studies exploring applications of
positive psychology in SLA.
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Footnotes
1 Smile or Die is the book title in the UK, elsewhere the book is called Brightsided.

and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_2
Understanding the Ecology of Foreign Language

Teacher Wellbeing
Jun Jin1 , Sarah Mercer1 , Sonja Babic1 and Astrid Mairitsch1
(1) Department of English Studies, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

Jun Jin (Corresponding author)
Sarah Mercer
Sonja Babic
Astrid Mairitsch
Abstract
This paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding language teacher wellbeing
from an ecological perspective. Such a perspective captures the holistic interconnections
between a teacher’s professional and personal lives and recognizes the critical role played by
contexts of foreign language education. In particular, we argue for research which considers
the unique stressors and strains faced by educators at different stages of their careers from
pre-service through mid-career and up to late career stage. We propose a useful construct to
help understand teacher wellbeing is ‘social-psychological capital,’ which refers to the social
and psychological resources which teachers can draw upon to manage their wellbeing. We
consider the implications for research of an ecological perspective on teacher wellbeing across
the career span through the lens of social-psychological capital.
Keywords Wellbeing – Language teacher – Social-psychological capital – Positive psychology
– Ecology
Jun Jin is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research
focuses on the issue of teaching and learning in different contexts. The ultimate goal of her
research is to improve and enrich teaching and learning experience in the process of
curriculum and professional developments.

Sarah Mercer is Professor of foreign language teaching at the University of Graz, Austria,
where she is Head of ELT methodology. Her research interests include all aspects of the
psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is the author, co-author
and co-editor of several books in this area.

Sonja Babic is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Graz and is looking into positive
psychological resources (psychological capital) that support third-age language teachers’ and
teacher educators’ well-being. She is working as a research assistant at the University of Graz
and is a certified TESOL teacher.

Astrid Mairitsch is a research assistant on the FWF-funded project “Psychological Capital of
Foreign Language Teachers” at the University of Graz, Austria. She is also a lecturer at the
Department of English and Psychology and a trained teacher for secondary education.
Alongside her work as a researcher, Astrid is pursuing her Ph.D.

1 Introduction
Robinson (2006) described teachers as “the lifeblood of any school.” Hattie’s (2009) meta-
study reinforced this by showing empirically that the most influential factor in education after
the learner themselves is in fact the teacher. Yet, in comparison to the volume and scope of
research on learners, relatively little time has been spent reflecting on or researching the lives,
needs, and psychologies of teachers themselves. Although some work has been done, typically,
the focus of empirical work is on what the teachers can do for learners, their teaching
methods, and their role in the classroom as opposed to them as unique complex human beings
(cf. Mercer & Kostoulas, 2018). Given the fact that teachers represent such a central
stakeholder in the learning-teaching processes, it is vital that we understand what helps them
to flourish as individuals and thus to teach to the best of their abilities.
One factor that stands out as being critically important for teacher efficacy is their sense of
professional wellbeing (Day & Gu, 2009). Research has shown that teachers who have high
levels of job satisfaction and wellbeing not only teach more effectively and have better rapport
and lower levels of discipline problems, but their learners also achieve higher and are more
academically successful (Dewaele, Chen, Padilla, & Lake, 2019; McCallum & Price, 2010; Roffey,
2012). It is thus important to understand what enables teachers to flourish in their
professional roles and what challenges can hinder their professional wellbeing. The
implications need to create guidelines for institutions and policy makers to ensure that
teachers are in the best position to be the best educators they can be.
It is important to begin by explaining how we understand wellbeing in this chapter.
Wellbeing has been defined in a variety of ways leading La Placa, McNaught, and Knight (2013,
p. 116) to conclude that the term, “has defied simple definition, because of its inherent
complexity.” The most common way to conceptualise the different approaches is to consider
whether they take a more hedonic or eudemonic approach to defining wellbeing (Ryan & Deci,
2001). In terms of a more hedonic perspective, a large number of studies have used the term
Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) which is defined as comprising the presence of pleasant/positive
affect, relative lack of unpleasant/negative affect, and life satisfaction (e.g., Diener, Suh, Lucas,
& Smith, 1999; Lucas, Diener, & Suh, 1996). However, this approach focuses largely on the
individual affective dimension of wellbeing without duly considering the social character of
wellbeing. In contrast, more eudemonic perspectives tend to concentrate more on individual’s
sense of meaning and self-actualisation, which inevitably involves social perspectives and
social relationships. One example of a eudemonic approach is the PERMA model of flourishing
(see Budzińska, Gabryś-Barker, Kikuchi & Lake, Mystkowska-Wiertelak, & Werbińska, this
volume) proposed by Seligman (2011), which has been empirically validated using the PERMA
profiler (Butler & Kern, 2016). PERMA stands for: Positive emotions, Engagement,
Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment (Seligman, 2011). A definition that we have
found useful in practical terms is proposed by Dodge, Daly, Huyton, and Sanders (2012) who
suggest that wellbeing emerges, “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 wellbeing,
and vice-versa” (p. 230).
In this paper, we make the case for the importance of research into teacher wellbeing from
an ecological perspective. We discuss the importance of understanding the interconnections
for educators between personal and professional contexts as well as the particularities of the
language learning domain and the need to take a holistic perspective of wellbeing. We also
argue for the importance of research not only investigating the typical population of pre-
service or early- career stage teachers, but also examining the situation of mid-career and late-
career stage teachers, who remain woefully under-researched as a population. Especially in
respect to wellbeing, each life stage is characterized by diverse tensions and demands which
can affect how teachers approach and experience their professional lives (Day & Gu, 2010;
Goodson, 2008; Gu & Day, 2013; Rauch, 2018). To help us understand how teachers manage
their professional lives and wellbeing, we propose the construct of ‘social-psychological
capital’ (cf. Ju, Lan, Li, Feng, & You, 2015; Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007; Luthans,
Youssef-Morgan, & Avolio, 2015; Roffey, 2012). This refers to the social and psychological
resources that a teacher can draw upon to help them manage their wellbeing. In this chapter,
we will present a conceptual framework for understanding language teacher wellbeing from
an ecological perspective and consider the implications for research.
2 The Importance of Understanding Teacher Wellbeing

Although the WHO has declared job-related stress to be a worldwide epidemic (Avey, Luthans,
& Jensen, 2009) affecting all professions, the teaching profession appears especially
susceptible (Education Support Partnership, 2018; Hong, 2010; Worth & Brande, 2019). It is
one of the professions with increasingly high rates of burnout and attrition with many
educators leaving the profession (European Commission, 2013; Parker & Martin, 2009). In the
US, the average length of a teacher career in the US is only 11 years (Stephens, 2001) and
around a quarter of all beginning teachers in the US leave within their first 5 years of teaching
(Benner, 2000), citing reasons such as underappreciation (Cohen, 2017) and an unbearable
workload (Skinner, Leavey, & Rothi, 2019). The figures in other countries worldwide paint an
equally dark picture (European Commission, 2013). For example, in the UK, 57% of education
professionals have considered leaving the teaching profession within the past two years due to
reported health pressures (Education Support Partnership, 2018). Across the Teacher
Wellbeing Index 2018, high workload, high levels of stress, and the need for a better work/life
balance were identified as key issues (Education Support Partnership, 2018). 67% reported
themselves as stressed and 58% work more than their contracted hours and 29% work more
than 51 h a week (Education Support Partnership, 2018).
The first studies in the field of applied linguistics looking at wellbeing examined areas such
as teacher stress and burnout (e.g., Coulter & Abney, 2009; Pearson & Moomaw, 2005) and
explored how to reduce stress levels in schools (Kyriacou, 1987). Teacher stress is defined as
“the experience by a teacher of unpleasant emotions, resulting from aspects of his work as a
teacher” and burnout is “the syndrome resulting from prolonged teacher stress, primarily
characterized by physical, emotional and attitudinal exhaustion” (Kyriacou, 1987, p. 146).
Influenced by the growing popularity of positive psychology (e.g., Seligman, 2018;
Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), research has recently expanded into new topics and
perspectives such as teacher wellbeing, happiness, flourishing, and constructs such as hope,
optimism, and character values (e.g., Gabryś-Barker, 2014; MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer,
2019a). A positive psychology perspective looks to see what contributes to flourishing as
opposed to what causes stress. The inherent notion is to build on the positives, rather than
repair the negatives. In respect to teachers, this has meant a shift in the focus of research from
concentrating on stressors and burnout to looking at what helps teachers to flourish in their
professional roles—two sides of the same coin but a fundamental shift in perspective.
A range of instruments have been used to measure wellbeing generally and also in relation
to teachers. Much literature has focused on negative indicators, such as work-related burnout
and stress. For example, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach & Jackson, 1981) is
widely used to assess the frequency and intensity of teachers’ perceived burnout levels (e.g.,
Aboagye, Qin, Qayyum, Antwi, Jababu, & Affum-Osei, 2018; Pillay, Goddard, & Wilss, 2005). The
Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI; Fimian & Fastenau, 1990) and the Educator Test Stress
Inventory (ETSI; von der Embse et al., 2015) have been developed specifically to assess
occupational stress in teachers. However, there has recently been a shift towards establishing
a greater understanding of positive aspects of teacher wellbeing and not just the problem
areas, since only measuring negative indicators cannot capture the whole picture of wellbeing
(Mankin, von der Embse, Renshaw, & Ryan, 2017; Renshaw, Long, & Cook, 2015). The ‘PERMA-
Profiler’ has been developed by Butler and Kern (2016) to examine wellbeing in terms of
Seligman’s (2011) PERMA model. It has been used in relation to teachers (e.g., Kern, Waters,
Adler, & White, 2014; Lovett & Lovett, 2016; MacIntyre, Ross, Talbot, Gregersen, Mercer, &
Banga, 2019b).
Various factors have been linked to teacher’s occupational stress and poor levels of
wellbeing, including emotional dissonance (Keller, Frenzel, Goetz, Pekrun, & Hensley, 2014),
high number of students per classroom (Ingersoll, 2006), students misbehaviours (Aldrup,
Klusmann, Lüdtke, Göllner, & Trautwein, 2018; Aloe, Shisler, Norris, Nickerson, & Rinker,
2014), time pressure (Hui & Chan, 1996), conflicts with parents (Prakke, Peet, & Wolf, 2007),
lack of support (Pickering, 2008), job insecurities (Forcella et al., 2007), poor payment
(Ingersoll & May, 2012), and low status in society (Falla, 2013). Furthermore, in an era of
standardised testing and increased accountability measures, extra pressure is not only placed
on students’ performance but also on their teachers who face increased scrutiny and
responsibility measures (Day & Gu, 2014). In contrast, many factors contribute to teachers’
flourishing and happiness, such as higher level of emotional intelligence (Vesely, Saklofske, &
Nordstokke, 2014), social support from colleagues, head teachers, and family (Aeltermann,
Engels, van Petegem, & Verheghe, 2007; Day & Kington, 2008), greater job control (Scott, Cox,
& Dinham, 1999; Stockard & Lehman, 2004), as well as rewards and respect (Dunlop &
Macdonald, 2004; Webb et al., 2004).
It is clear that when teachers suffer from poor wellbeing, learners suffer too. Therefore,
addressing teacher wellbeing and understanding stressors is not only vitally important for
teachers themselves but for the more general quality of education and levels of learner
attainment. In this paper, we make a plea for research which focuses on teacher wellbeing with
the aim of understanding, which factors can help a teacher flourish in their professional role
and prevent them from leaving their profession.
3 Teacher Wellbeing from an Ecological Perspective

An ecological perspective means understanding individuals within the broader contexts of
their lives. It means appreciating how the person functions within the various ecologies and
systems, which comprise their lives. This has four key implications: (1) we need to understand
how teachers’ personal and professional lives interconnect as their wellbeing emerges from
their lives inside and beyond school; (2) we need to understand the systemic and institutional
factors that can contribute to and detract from their wellbeing; (3) it means understanding the
unique characteristics of the subject-specific domain and what teaching a specific subject
involves; and (4) it implies that we must understand the effects of the unique characteristics of
each stage of a teacher’s career trajectory for their wellbeing.
Typically, teachers are known to have “blurry boundaries” (Day & Gu, 2010) between their
work and private lives, with both closely interconnected. Whether teachers compartmentalize
the domains or allow spillover is known to contribute to individual wellbeing although what
an individual prefers can vary (Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000; Clark, 2000; Desrochers &
Sargent, 2004). Goodson (2008) argues that teachers have different “centres of gravity” (p. 35)
at different periods in their lives and that each career phase brings with it its own tensions in
terms of the relationship between work and non-work domains. For example, it is possible
that a young teacher “exhausts herself in teaching.” while an older teacher “has accepted
teaching as her vocation” but “vocation is not the only concern; there is a life beyond work”
(Scheinfield & Messerschmidt, as cited in Goodson, 2008, p. 35). Teachers may also have
different priorities at different times of their lives such as when they care for small children or
elderly relatives. Their age and life phase inevitably impact on their wellbeing and approach to
work.
In terms of ecological systems, it can be useful to consider Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1994)
ecological system theory, which comprises five socially organised subsystems: microsystem,
mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. For teachers, an ecological
perspective means investigating teachers’ lives and wellbeing as part of the individual’s
ecologies. To illustrate, example of systems could be:
Microsystem: school or a classroom.
Mesosystem: interrelations between different contexts, e.g., school and home.
Exosystem: example might be a teacher’s union or association.
Macrosystem: the broader social, cultural, and political setting.
Chronosystem: example might be teacher career span.
There are a number of studies, which take an ecological perspective to understanding
teacher wellbeing. For example, Cross and Hong (2012) used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological
system framework to investigate how elementary teachers’ internal psychological
characteristics interact with external environments to produce emotion. They found that
individual pedagogical beliefs and well-developed professional identities play an important
role in teachers’ coping strategies. Also drawing on ecological theory, Price and McCallum
(2015) explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions of ecological influences in relation to their
wellbeing and “fitness.” Their survey shed light on themes at four levels: microsystem
(organisational); mesosystem (interrelationship between contexts); exosystem
(organisational); and macrosystem (societal and legislative influence), compounded by the
influence of time at the chronosystem level (Price & McCallum, 2015). They found that pre-
service teachers described proactive strategies to promote sustained careers, predominantly
at the microsystem and mesosystem levels (Price & McCallum, 2015). Roffey (2008) also used
an eco-systemic analysis to illustrate how elements of school systems interact with others over
time to create school wellbeing: “micro level (personal); meso level (interpersonal); exo level
(policies and practices that both acknowledge and develop positive relationships and
wellbeing); macro level (school culture and expectations); and the local and national socio-
political context” (p. 32). Roffey (2012) examined how social capital (relationships and
connections between people) in the learning environment impacts on all stakeholders within
an ecological framework. She argued that social capital in the school context is about the
quality of connections with others which impacts on teacher wellbeing. Her finding confirms
the key role of social factors in resilience and wellbeing throughout a school system (Roffey,
2012).
An additional benefit of the ecological perspective is the inclusion of the chronosystem,
which notes the effects of time on the system. It highlights how the present context is
constantly under the influence of the interpretations and conditions of the past as well as the
planning and anticipation of the future. If we see teacher wellbeing as emerging from the
various interactions of the individual within these different contexts and systems, it enables us
to conceptualise language teacher wellbeing as dynamic and emergent, never absolute but
constantly in a state of ‘becoming’ and deeply contextually bound (Price & McCallum, 2015;
van Lier, 2010).
4 The Language Learning Domain as an Ecological Factor

One aspect of the teacher’s ecology is the school subject that they teach. Each subject brings
with it its own unique characteristics as well as stressors, challenges, and joys. Teaching a
language has its own character in terms of how the language is taught, which language it is,
teacher-student relationships, and issues potentially between native and non-native speakers
(Borg, 2006). In foreign language education, there are also possible unique stressors such as
language anxiety, high intercultural demands, and in the private sector where many also work,
unstable job contracts, and precarious working conditions (e.g., Horwitz, 1996; Mousavi, 2007;
Nayernia & Babayan, 2019; Wieczorek, 2016). Increasingly, the role of language teachers as
authoritative linguistic models is being challenged given the wide access to other resources
and models of the language. In the case of teachers of modern foreign languages, additional
pressure is caused by the dominance of English as a Lingua Franca, which is associated with a
sharp decline in the teaching and status of other modern languages, compromising teachers’
professional standing and job prospects (European Commission, 2013). The effects of this
crisis are particularly acute in the UK, where, for instance, it was reported that the numbers of
students taking modern language degrees course steadily decrease, both at school and
university (British Academy, 2013; British Council, 2014). Bartram (2010) argues that
especially in countries where English is spoken as a first language, people have a low
motivation to learn other modern foreign languages. Other contextual issues include the social
status of the specific language being taught (Borg, 2006; Tinsley & Doležal, 2018), the status of
language teaching as a profession (European Commission, 2013), the institutional support
mechanisms (Skinner et al., 2019), the classroom setting (Chouinard, Roy, Archambault, &
Smith, 2017), and the personal context of the individual beyond their professional role (Day,
Stobart, Sammons, Kington, & Gu, 2007; Gu, 2015). Together, these studies show that language
learning generally and the specific language being taught need to be understood too as key
parts of the ecology defining a teacher’s wellbeing.
5 The Career Stage as an Ecological Factor

The majority of research examining teachers and teacher wellbeing typically focuses on pre-
service and early career stage teachers (e.g., Clandinin et al., 2015; Fisher, 2018). Novice
teachers are indeed an important population to understand as it is typically a period of
disruption and reflection as teachers adapt to their new roles and restructure their identities
(Gu & Benson, 2014). However, each career and life phase pose a unique set of challenges and
joys, which it is important to understand. Gu and Day (2013) explain that,
[the] outward, more easily measurable signs of attrition and stress among teachers in
their early years may mask a considerably more important problem among teachers in
the middle and later years of their careers who stay in the profession but whose
capacity for resilience may become eroded to the extent that survival in the classroom
rather than the continuing pursuit of quality becomes the main concern. (p. 24)
The body of research on mid-career or late-career stage teachers is more limited and there
is growing recognition of the importance of paying special attention to this population of
teachers, who face their own challenges different to those of early career stage educators (e.g.,
Day, 2017; Kane, Rockoff, & Staiger, 2008; Kirkpatrick & Johnson, 2014). Van der Want,
Schellings, and Mommers (2018) noted that those studies on mid-late career stages tend to
focus on attrition (Rolls & Plauborg, 2009), job satisfaction and work stress (Veldman, Van
Tartwijk, Brekelmans, & Wubbels, 2013), as well as feelings of disillusionment and frustration
(Day & Gu, 2009; Huberman, 1993). Relatively less attention has been given to examining how
and why late-career stage teachers have managed tensions and chosen to remain within the
teaching profession and reasons for their retention (Day, 2017). If these experienced teachers
remain in teaching profession, it avoids the potential loss of accumulated teaching expertise
and improves the return on investments in the initial teacher development programmes
(Acton & Glasgow, 2015; Roffey, 2012).
There have been a number of studies, which have raised awareness of the different
character of different career phases as well as dynamic nature of each phase (e.g., Day, 2012,
2017; Day & Gu, 2010; Huberman, 1989, 1993; Steffy & Wolfe, 2001). For example, drawing on
interview data, Huberman (1988) categorized five professional life phases or stages: 1.
Launching a career: initial commitment; 2. Stabilization: find commitment; 3. New challenges,
new concerns; 4. Reaching a professional plateau; and 5. The final phase. He further explained
teacher life cycles through three major divisions: novice teacher (student teaching; middle
novice stage; late novice stage); mid-career (stabilization; experimentation; taking stock); and
late-career (serenity; disengagement) (Huberman, 1989). Expanding on Huberman’s work,
Day et al. (2007) conducted a four-year mixed-method study with 300 teachers from 100
schools in England, in order to explore teacher effectiveness across their professional lives
(Day et al., 2007). They identified six professional life phases (PLP): early-career teachers (0–
3: Commitment: support and challenge and 4–7: Identity and efficacy in classroom); mid-
career teachers (8–15: Managing changes in role and identity: Growing tensions and
transitions; 16–23: Work-life tensions: Challenges to motivation and commitment); late-career
teachers (24–30: Challenges to sustaining motivation and 31+: Sustaining/Declining
motivation, ability to cope with change, looking to retire) (Day, 2017; Day & Gu, 2010). They
found that teachers’ wellbeing, job commitment, and passion related to PLP and these varied
within and between these PLP (Day, 2012). It is noted that teachers’ career paths are not
linear processes in which teachers move gradually from one ‘stage’ to another (Huberman,
1989). Describing teacher professional life cycles as ‘phases’ in which teachers move back and
forth between the phases allows for broader, blurry boundaries when a phase ends/starts for
an individual (Day, 2012).
In life cycles or at different career phases, teachers face different types of stressors and
conditions of work and lives (Day & Gu, 2010; Gu & Day, 2013). However, there has been little
research “which has investigated the ways in which teachers’ capacity to be resilient may be
nurtured, sustained or eroded over time” (Gu & Day, 2013, p. 22). For example, teachers with
over 20 years of teaching experience, even if working in highly stressful environments, are
perhaps less likely to feel able to change teaching profession for financial and domestic
reasons (Gu & Day, 2013). As mentioned earlier, Goodson (2008) proposes that teachers have
different, so-called, “centres of gravity” in their lives at different periods of time. This means
that in some periods of life and work, teachers predominantly place their focus and energy on
the school and their professional life, while at other points and periods, it may be their home
life. Since teachers’ challenges, opportunities, and stressors vary at different stages in their
professional cycle, it would seem critically important from an ecological perspective to
investigate teacher wellbeing across the career trajectory and identify the specific conditions
of their wellbeing during particular phases (Huberman, 1995).
6 Socio-Psychological Capital
Taking an ecological perspective on teacher wellbeing, we have concluded that wellbeing is
likely to be emergent in quality. By this, we mean it emerges from the interaction of multiple
intrapersonal, and contextual factors and is constantly shifting and changing as it adapts to
changes in the broader ecology. We propose the construct of social-psychological capital in
ecological systems as a useful notion to reflect on language teacher wellbeing and how to
promote it in practical terms. We will outline each aspect of this and present our theoretical
model.
6.1 Psychological Capital

One construct from positive psychology is known as ‘Psychological Capital’ (Luthans et al.,
2007, 2015). It has been described as the psychological resources which professionals can
draw on, in order to “navigate their ever-challenging work environment” (Avey, Luthans, &
Jensen, 2009, p. 678). The original multi-componential model of psychological capital is
comprised of: Hope, Efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism (HERO):
Hope: This is defined as a positive motivational state, which stems from having a sense of
successful agency (goal-directed energy) and goal-oriented pathways (future planning)
(Luthans et al. 2015; Snyder, 2000; Snyder, Rand, & Sigmon, 2002).
Self-efficacy: This is defined as the teachers’ beliefs about their “ability to mobilize the
motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action necessary” to perform their teaching
duties within their professional context (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998, p. 66).
Resilience: This is defined as a set of personal qualities or protective factors that facilitate
the teachers’ positive responses to adversity in their professional context (Connor &
Davidson, 2003; Rutter, 1987).
Optimism: This is defined as an explanatory style in which negative experiences are
perceived as situation-specific and caused by changeable external circumstances leaving the
potential for future growth (Buchanan & Seligman, 1995; Luthans et al., 2015).
Psychological capital has been linked to numerous positive psychological outcomes in
organisational psychology such as employee creativity (Huang & Luthans, 2014), problem
solving and innovation (Luthans, Youssef, & Rawski, 2011), and wellbeing (Avey, Luthans,
Smith, & Palmer, 2010; Baron, Franklin, & Hmieleski, 2013; Luthans, Youssef, Sweetman, &
Harms, 2013; Roche, Haar, & Luthans, 2014). In education, Hansen, Buitendach, and
Kanengoni’s (2015) study sampled 103 educators in South Africa and measured whether
psychological capital mediates the relationship between subjective wellbeing and burnout.
They found that there is a statistically significant relationship between psychological capital,
wellbeing, burnout, and job satisfaction. In another study, Li (2018) recruited 412 university
teachers in China in order to investigate the relationship between meaning in life,
psychological capital, and wellbeing. In his quantitative study, he found that teachers’
psychological capital not only directly influenced wellbeing but also indirectly predicted
wellbeing via meaning over time. The studies from within and beyond education suggest that
understanding psychological capital and how to promote it could play a key role in supporting
teacher wellbeing.
It should be noted that the HERO model is open-ended, and can theoretically be extended
to additional constructs that can be shown to be sufficiently grounded in theory or empirical
data, subject to valid measurement, relatively distinct, open to development, and positively
correlated to professional well-being (Luthans et al., 2015). Specifically, we suggest
complementing the HERO model with constructs derived from the PERMA model of wellbeing
which emphasize a more eudemonic view of wellbeing, namely, positive emotion, engagement,
relationships, meaning, accomplishment, plus physical wellbeing (Seligman, 2003, 2011).
Positive emotions: They are triggered by environmental influences and enable
individuals to ‘broaden-and-build’ their physical, intellectual, psychological and social
resources (Fredrickson, 2001) (see MacIntyre, Majchrzak & Ostrogska, Mierzwa-Kamińska,
& Werbińska, this volume) and can powerfully influence the teachers’ professional action.
Engagement: It connects to the tasks teachers perform in their professional context, has
an impact on their own job satisfaction, as well as on the learners’ engagement through
processes of ‘contagion’ (Skinner & Belmont, 1993).
Relationships: They are critically important since they represent the foundations of the
social network within and beyond the school from which they may draw support and
motivation. Social support has indeed been found to be one of the primary resources to
combat stress (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2015).
Meaning: For teachers, relationships with pupils are known to be especially important
for both teacher and learner wellbeing (Split, Koomen, & Thijs, 2011). Through meaning,
teachers can find a bigger purpose of why they work in their profession, which again may be
expected to give them fulfilment and job satisfaction (Dik, Byrne, & Steger, 2013).
Accomplishments: Accomplishments or continuing professional development is known
to support teachers in their ability to thrive and flourish in their professional roles.
Physical wellbeing: It refers to optimal wellbeing, healthy bodies, including physical
activity, nutrition, and sleep (Seligman, 2003).
This extended PERMA model of wellbeing serves to connect the intra-personal aspects of
psychological capital to aspects of the teachers’ overall subjective wellbeing, by highlighting
the reciprocal influences between the teachers’ psychology and the environment(s) in which
they are embedded as well as adding physical health as an important element (e.g., Iasiello,
Bartholomaeus, Jarden, & Kelly, 2017).
6.2 Social Capital

Although an expanded notion of psychological capital has great potential to inform
educational studies, we are concerned that it remains largely informed by a view of
psychology that is primarily intrapersonal. From an ecological perspective, all teacher
wellbeing must be understood as a social phenomenon. As such, psychological phenomena are
not solely bounded within the individual; rather, they emerge from a complex web of
relationships, in which the boundaries between the individual, others and the environment are
‘fuzzy’ (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008; Mercer, 2013). Ecological thinking stresses that
human activity is embedded in social contexts and is inherently shaped by them. For example,
research by Fiorilli, Albanese, Gabola, and Pepe (2017) shows the importance for teacher
wellbeing of having social support in the workplace. Specifically, their results suggested that
primary school teachers’ satisfaction with social support received was predicted by burnout
symptoms (Fiorilli et al., 2017). In another study by Väisänen, Pietarinen, Pyhältö, Toom, and
Soini (2016) examining social support as a contributor to student teachers’ wellbeing in
Finland, they found that an appropriate social support network of peers and teacher educators
in teacher education made a contribution to student teachers’ sense of empowerment, whilst a
lack of inadequate support was experienced as burdensome. Ju, Lan, Li, Feng, and You (2015)
also investigated the mediating effect of Chinese secondary school teachers’ workplace social
support on the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and teacher burnout. They
pointed out that teachers with higher trait emotional intelligence are able to form supportive
interpersonal relationship with others, so the increased perceived workplace social support
can further protect teachers from burnout (Ju et al., 2015).
Another dimension to the ecological and social perspective concerns ‘affordances’ which
refer to the possibilities for action that teachers perceive in their ecologies. Resources and
constraints in a person’s ecology are defined by an individual’s perception of them as such
(Chemero, 2003). In other words, it is how a teacher thinks about opportunities and resources
in their ecologies which gives them meaning and not everyone may perceive things in the
same way. It means that ecologies represent social capital potential for individuals and what
use a person makes of these possibilities is potentially unique for each person.
6.3 Teacher Social-Psychological Capital

Bringing the psychological and social together has led us to conceptualise the notion of ‘social-
psychological capital’ (Ju et al., 2015; Luthans et al., 2007, 2015; Roffey, 2012), which refers to
the social and psychological resources which teachers can draw upon to manage their
wellbeing. Drawing on work by Luthans (Luthans et al., 2007, 2015), we have added the notion
of ‘social capital’ because the psychological and social cannot be separated meaningfully and
teachers can gain considerable strength from drawing on social resources, not just intra-
psychological ones (Hobfoll, 2002). Furthermore, understanding psychology as embodied, this
means that psychological states are always interlinked with physical states. Together, this
means we define social-psychological capital as the social and contextual affordances as well
as embodied psychological traits. We also include the notion of affordances to represent the
interplay between a person’s psychology and their perceptions of their ecological
environments. Figure 1 presents our understanding of the construct of teacher social-
psychological capital.
Fig. 1 The construct of teacher social-psychological capital
7 Conclusion and Implication for Research

This paper has argued that there is a need for a programme of research, which seeks to
understand language teacher wellbeing from an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979,
1994). We stress the need to consider ecological factors including the language being taught,
as well as the broader holistic contexts of teachers’ lives across their life and career span. We
propose the theoretical construct of social-psychological capital as a useful way of thinking
about the kinds of resources that teachers can draw upon to ensure they flourish in their
professional roles and we add the importance of reflecting on affordances which integrate
teacher perceptions and ecological contextual factors (Gibson, 1979, 2014). The next steps are
to empirically validate the nature of the construct in field work which is conducted in
contextually sensitive manners in diverse settings across the globe with teachers of different
subjects working in different educational settings and with varying degrees of teaching
experience. We could envisage that mixed-methods studies will be particularly suited drawing
on established wellbeing measurement tools, such as the PERMA Profiler (Butler & Kern,
2016) or the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). These can be combined
with context sensitive interviews to complement the holistic understanding of language
teacher wellbeing.
If we really wish to support educators in promoting and supporting their professional
wellbeing and ability to teach well, we need to also understand their particular needs as well
as the strengths and resources that they can utilize to help them flourish as educators. Only
then will we be in the position to create interventions and support structures specifically
targeting and enhancing their real rather than abstracted wellbeing. To teach well, teachers
need to be well and to be well, they need to be individually and systematically supported to
enable them to flourish and teach to the best of their abilities.
Funding
This work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [Grant number P 31261-G29].
Disclosure Statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_3
From Culturally to Emotionally Responsive Teaching

in International Higher Education
Eva Seidl1
(1) University of Graz, Graz, Austria

Eva Seidl
Abstract
Positive psychology, with its focus on strengths rather than deficits and on individuals’ well-
being and flourishing lends itself particularly well as an empowerment perspective on
international higher education. Too often, in the scholarly discourse the emphasis lies on
foreign students’ difficulties, weaknesses and problems. In addition to this deficit perspective,
the role of educators in international education has been controversially discussed. Scholars
differ on whether university teachers are responsible for the creation of an emotionally
literate learning environment in the so-called international classroom. Here, it is understood
to be a place for developing intercultural competence, for a variety of peer relationships and of
socioemotional caregiving relationships between teachers and students. As such, it offers
numerous opportunities for personal and intellectual growth, for well-being and flourishing.
Teaching and learning at the university level will be discussed through two lenses: one being
international education and the other being positive psychology. Focusing on the educator’s
role, the aim of the chapter is to advocate for empathic teachers who are willing to question
their own assumptions and to assume their roles and responsibilities for nurturing and
nourishing teacher-student and student-student relationships.
Keywords Positive psychology – Emotional intelligence – International education –
International classroom
Eva Seidl is a language teacher educator and a teacher of German language and culture at
the Department of Translation Studies and the Centre for Language, Plurilingualism and
Didactics at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests include the transition from
secondary school to university, study abroad, and language teaching in Interpreting and
Translation Studies.

1 Introduction
In the last decades, teaching and learning at university level have been subject to profound
changes due to processes of globalisation, internationalisation and thus increased mobility of
students and academic staff. In the so-called international classroom, different academic
cultures with particular attitudes, values and ways of behaving come together in the
microcosmos of a lecture hall or seminar room. Throughout this chapter, the international
classroom is understood in line with Teekens (2000) as a teaching setting for both foreign and
local students. More often than not, the international classroom is also one where second
language acquisition (SLA) takes place. For Kreber (2009), an internationalised higher
education serves “a more profound educational purpose,” such as “fostering intercultural
understanding, greater empathy and action towards those most in need” as well as
“international cooperation on climate change” (p. 5). The latter is a phenomenon which affects
us all, thus demonstrating our interconnectedness as vulnerable human beings.
Against the backdrop of the notion of a basic connection between individuals and a sense
of mutual responsibility, this chapter seeks to combine perspectives from research on
international education and positive psychology in SLA. Unfortunately, sometimes
international education is understood to be simply the provision of education in the English
language. Contrary to this too simplistic view, in this chapter international education is
conceptualised as the promotion of international-mindedness, global awareness, respect for
difference, and commitment to peace with a focus on world citizenhip (see, e.g., Cambridge &
Thompson, 2004; Tate, 2013). In their seminal article, introducing positive psychology in the
year 2000, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) call for a deeper understanding of what
helps “individuals and communities, not just to endure and survive, but also to flourish” (p.
13). As a consequence of the desire to better understand–but in a scientific way–“what goes
right in life” (Peterson, 2006, p. 4), the concept of flourishing is key in this relatively new
approach to psychology. Hence, the notion of flourishing is also a recurring theme throughout
this chapter.
The first section deals with teachers’ roles and required skills in international higher
education through the lens of positive psychology. As the title suggests, the chapter is then
divided into one part on culturally responsive teaching, followed by another part on
emotionally responsive teaching. It ends with a call for teachers to be authentic, to connect to
their students through empathy and to embrace suggestions from positive psychology by
adopting them in the international classroom.
2 The Teacher’s Role in International Higher Education

During the last decades, universities across the globe have experienced an increase in
international student mobility. In the European context, for example, the Erasmus programme
successfully promotes academic cross-border exchanges. Interestingly, though, in the
literature on internationalised universities and increased diversity in academia, one issue has
been the subject of controversial discussion, namely the role of educators. Scholars differ on
whether university teachers are responsible for the creation of an emotionally literate learning
environment in the international classroom. Biggs and Tang (2011, pp. 4–5) consider
international students’ problems of studying abroad in another language, of cultural isolation
or homesickness as “areas that need to be addressed by other supportive specialists and
structures, not necessarily by their classroom teachers.” Contrastingly, Jabbar, Teviotdale,
Mirza, and Mswaka (2019) advocate for empathic teachers who socially connect with their
students by sincerely caring and providing an affective, supportive climate of trust and
respect.
2.1 Essential Teaching Skills

This support for international students in the fields of language, culture or academic
conventions requires also some kind of scaffolding from the university for its academic staff,
since such supportive skills should not be implicitly presupposed. Teekens (2003) stresses the
fact that “teaching in the international classroom requires lecturers to master specific skills
that they cannot be expected to possess on the basis of their general academic background,
which they have acquired by and large under national conditions” (pp. 112–113; emphasis
added). Understandably, “academics who are unsure of themselves are unlikely to develop the
ability to support international students” (Jabbar et al., 2019, p. 9). If teachers take their
responsibility in the international classroom seriously, they are requested to welcome and
integrate foreign students in the host university, thus avoiding feelings of disorientation,
disengagement, vulnerability or powerlessness. By adopting a focus on growth that prohibits a
deficit view towards students from abroad, Ryan and Viete (2009) identified decisive
principles for successful learning in unfamiliar linguistic and cultural environments, such as
“feelings of belonging; being valued as a person with knowledge; and being able to
communicate effectively, creatively, and with confidence” (p. 309).
This is where positive psychology comes into play, as communication is inherent in
education and instruction. MacIntyre, Gregersen, and Mercer (2016) state that some of the
goals of language pedagogy are at the same time topics of positive psychology, e.g., self-
development, enjoyment and positive interactions. These principles can be equally adopted for
the international classroom, even if language learning is not the primary focus. In a recent
publication, the same authors describe language learning as a “long-term, gradual acquisition
process necessitating perseverance, optimism, and resilience” (MacIntyre, Gregersen, &
Mercer, 2019, p. 262). Again, these requirements are also needed for university studies as
such, as their absence is often the reason for student dropout rates.
2.2 Transformative Higher Education

With its focus on individuals as well as on communities, positive psychology also resonates
with perspectives on education which are socially empowering, promote well-being, mental
and physical health and foster competences for global justice. Such approaches to higher
education encourage civic engagement in students–and teachers–to reflect on “who they are,
who they want to become and how they can make the world a better and fairer place” (Kreber,
2016, p. 136). A civic-minded, transformative higher education can promote “a civic spirit and
the enactment of a truly democratic professionalism (…) [and] “a flourishing deliberative
democracy” (ibid., p. 150). Unfortunately, instead of focusing on flourishing and growth, many
educational settings seem to focus solely on competence and performance (O’Quinn &
Garrison, 2004). There seems to be little space for the emotional energy that constitutes
educational relationships. From the perspective of democratisation processes, O’Quinn and
Garrison (2004) stress the fact that by nurturing “loving recognition and response (…) [and]
by having the courage to take risks and exhibit their own vulnerabilities, teachers can create
the loving relations in their classrooms that may convey to the larger society” (p. 64). In the
same vein, Barcelos and Coelho (2016) maintain that love and compassion play a key role in
(language) learning and teaching. They underline the value of listening to students with
compassion, accepting that, in the end, we are all “imperfect perfect human beings” (p. 139).
Moreover, teachers should build “a loving environment in which [students] can learn to trust
themselves and each other more and recognize their own potential for growth” (ibid.).
Also from a teacher-centred perspective, Sanderson (2011) posits that it takes “personal
and professional commitment to become both a better teacher and someone with a well-
developed cosmopolitan disposition” (p. 669), by incorporating international and intercultural
perspectives into one’s academic work. It is important to understand that the more attention
is directed to the roles and responsibilities of university teachers in their daily teaching
practices and social interactions, the wider the understanding of internationalisation beyond a
strategic level becomes. As a consequence of a growing awareness of the challenging social,
professional and personal requirements that accompany international education, there has
been a growth in publications with a teacher-centred approach (Otten, 2003; Teekens, 2003;
Korhonen & Weil, 2016). Therefore, in the following sections, an international campus and
classroom climate will be discussed at the level of the individual teacher instead of strategic
organisational models of internationalisation. Two approaches to teaching will be centred
upon. Both of them reflect principles of positive psychology and of cultural and emotional
responsiveness towards international students.
3 Culturally Responsive Teaching

One characteristic of the culturally responsive teaching approach is that it cultivates a
demanding academic ethos while at the same time fostering in students a sense of community,
kindredness and reciprocity towards working collaboratively for their mutual well-being and
academic achievement (Gay, 2018, p. 291). Based on Gay’s seminal work on school-based
culturally responsive pedagogy with pupils of colour (2000; in this chapter cited in its third
edition from 2018), Jabbar and Hardaker (2013) adopted her ideas to support cultural
diversity in a university setting. The authors advocate for using students’ cultural and
academic background as a resource against a deficit view when considering international
students’ potential difficulties with academic and cultural differences. They developed a five-
pillar framework as a model for culturally responsive teaching in higher education, where
individual differences are honored and valued. These pillars are (1) cultural consciousness
(empathy, caring), (2) resources for learning (meaningful content, cultural analysis of teaching
material), (3) moral responsibility (validation and empowerment of students), (4) cultural
bridging (mutual respect and trust, acknowledgement of students’ knowledge and resources),
and (5) educational strategies (curriculum and organisational climate) (Jabbar & Hardaker,
2013). This framework is intended to facilitate a teaching practice that is culturally responsive
with special emphasis on teaching and learning in higher education.
3.1 Meta-Cultural Sensitivity

In the context of culturally inclusive pedagogies, the reflection of one’s teaching style and the
recognition of differences in teaching and learning due to cultural background and
conditioning are key. Even countries that are neighbours and/or share a language can
nevertheless differ when it comes to academic cultures (Teekens, 2003, p. 115). Louie (2005)
reminds us that both teachers and students alike carry cultural baggage, and that developing a
meta-cultural sensitivity would enable each to engage in a process of personal growth. He
describes the presence of international students on campus as an “extraordinary learning
opportunity for both (…) to accept and ‘own’ each other’s culture” (Louie, 2005, p. 24). If
individuals take this opportunity, they can develop meta-cultural sensitivity, i.e., the awareness
that “within all cultures, there are changes, contradictions and ambiguities (…) [and that]
[d]ifference occurs not just between, but also within, cultures” (ibid., emphasis in the original).
In this regard, Mercer (2016) reminds us to empathically explore similarities between
cultures, since, irrespective of cultural differences, people still experience similar worries and
joys and are, after all, connected in the sense of oneness as human beings (p. 101).
3.2 Cross-Cultural Learning and Teaching

If the dynamic interactions between international students and their teachers in the host
university have the potential for personal growth, this applies all the more for student-student
interactions (Seidl, forthcoming). Again, we can look at these culturally bound social
interactions from a positive psychology perspective. One of the main goals when striving for
personal and professional well-being and flourishing in life is the development of positive
interpersonal relationships (MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2019). According to Otten
(2003), the “need for foreign students to develop positive relationships within the hosting
culture is obvious” (p. 20), as the lack of close social relationships may have “negative effects
on their readiness for learning” (ibid.). For internationalisation to become more than lip
service and more than simply flavouring classes with a touch of international and global
aspects (De Vita & Case, 2003), educators should accept their responsibility for enhancing
authentic cross-cultural learning encounters between students. By organising and feeling
responsible for effective multicultural group work that demands emotional as well as
intellectual participation, teachers can empower students for a life in a diverse and pluralistic
society, one that sees diversity as a source of enrichment rather than as a problem (De Vita,
2005).
With respect to positive interpersonal relationships, teachers are responsible for at least
promoting a group culture of mutual respect, trust and authentic commitment. If group
members do not feel safe in expressing their views, which–in a foreign language–may require
additional time and courage, a chance for a truly intercultural learning space, a socio-
emotionally and academically rewarding experience, may be missed. In this case, we cannot
speak of culturally responsive teaching, but only of the co-existence of personally, culturally,
academically and linguistically diverse individuals within the same university classroom. For
engaged participation and critical thinking in classroom discussions and multicultural group
work to occur, a new culture of learning must be promoted. Students and teachers can
experience such a new culture in intercultural learning spaces, “which results from the
interaction among diverse learning cultures” (Welikala & Watkins, 2008, p. 61). If genuine
interaction takes place, a “shift from a more passive recognition of ‘the world in the classroom’
to the active creation of ‘a new world in this classroom’” (ibid.) can be created. Put differently,
a place where different cultures meet (an international classroom) can transform into a place
where different cultures meet and learn from each other (an internationalised classroom)
(Harrison & Peacock, 2010, pp. 139–140), which requires the “proactive management of the
groupwork component” (ibid., p. 140). The importance of teachers’ attitudes, behaviours and
skills leads us to the second teaching approach, whose key prerequisite is teachers’ emotional
intelligence.
4 Emotionally Responsive Teaching

This section addresses the role of emotions in international higher education with an
emphasis on the individual, (ideally) self-aware and authentic university teacher. Furthermore,
it deals with the teacher’s relationship management with and between students and discusses
the university as an institution. These core areas resonate with the three main pillars of
positive psychology (see Budzińska, Gabryś-Barker, MacIntyre, & Werbińska, this volume)
which MacIntyre and Mercer (2014) describe as “the workings of positive internal experiences
such as emotions, positive individual characteristics such as traits associated with living well,
and institutions that enable people to flourish” (p. 154). After discussing the value of emotions
in the international classroom, of authenticity and responsiveness, the importance of caring
relationships will be addressed in this section. Finally, it will be taken into consideration which
role caring plays in the relationship between the university and its academic staff.
4.1 Emotional Dynamics in the International Classroom

In learning and teaching contexts, students and teachers alike may experience a wide range of
emotions. Yet too often, the emotional component is ignored, “resulting in relatively emotion-
free (and therefore often boring) classroom sessions” (Dewaele, 2015, p. 14). Although
Dewaele (2015) focuses on the language learning classroom, even for a more subject-oriented
international classroom it can be stated that “success depends in large part on learners’
affective fuel tanks, and (…) as teachers we have to keep the affective tank full” (ibid., p. 13).
Not surprisingly, Mortiboys (2012) dedicates an entire chapter of his book on emotional
intelligence in further and higher education especially to teaching international students in an
emotionally intelligent way. In doing so, he focuses on six common challenges that research on
study abroad has identified: (1) being seen as deficient, (2) not having knowledge and
experience valued, (3) difficulties with everyday and academic language, (4) unfamiliar
conventions for classroom participation, (5) confusing conventions for teacher-student
relationships, (6) loss of self-esteem and identity (ibid., p. 145). Despite his warning not to
think of international students as a homogeneous group with identical needs and strengths,
he, however, makes a point of adopting a culturally and emotionally responsive teaching
approach in international higher education. In the same vein, Moore and Kuol (2007) assert
that in higher education, the emotional dynamics of teaching should be given more attention,
in both research and practice, since they play an important role in the development of learning
processes that are effective and emotionally satisfying. From a practitioner researcher point of
view, Pugh (2008) makes a claim for emotional intelligence as being recognised in professional
standards for teaching.
4.2 Emotionally Intelligent Teaching

The findings of Brackett, Rivers, and Salovey (2011) in this field of research are promising,
insofar as they attest that “emotional intelligence can be measured objectively, it predicts
important life outcomes, and it appears that the skills that comprise the construct can be
learned” (p. 99). These four inter-related skills, or mental abilities, are (1) the perception of
emotion, (2) the use of emotion to facilitate thinking, (3) the understanding and analysis of
emotion, and (4) the management of emotion through reflective regulation (p. 91). Goleman
(2004) distinguishes five components of emotional intelligence, i.e., self-awareness, self-
regulation, empathy, social skills and motivation which–in a learning and teaching context–
should be fostered in teachers and students alike. Emotional intelligence appears to be a key
teaching qualification that goes hand in hand with reflection on self and identity. This leads us
to the notion of self-awareness of teachers, which is for Mortiboys (2012) “at the heart of
being emotionally intelligent” (p. 92).
4.3 Self-awareness and Authenticity

The importance positive psychology places on positive interpersonal relationships resonates
with Cranton’s (2001) call for teacher authenticity as a precondition for an authentic
connection with students that can lead to meaningful learning. In her words, “to interact well
with others, we need to be genuinely ourselves (…), [therefore] [t]he teacher needs to know
herself as a person in order to know herself as a teacher” (pp. 13–14). This merging of “Self as
teacher, teacher as Self” (ibid., p. 43) reflects a whole-person approach to teaching and living
with self-nurturing and personal and professional well-being at its core. Only teachers who
look after themselves well can truly care for their students. Authentic teachers care about
teaching, and caring teachers focus on their students. They are “concerned with establishing a
warm and friendly atmosphere in the classroom, providing support, encouraging good
relationships among students, and making sure the needs and feelings of each individual are
considered” (ibid., p. 30, emphasis added).
5 Caring Relationships
Emotionally responsive teaching means building strong relationships with, and also among
students. The former are enhanced by rapport-building behaviours, such as active listening,
expressing genuine respect and interest, encouraging participation or offering help (Barr,
2016). The latter, i.e., student connectedness, depend on the co-construction of a comfortable,
supportive learning environment that encourages active student participation and their
willingness to take responsibility for a connected classroom climate. The more connected
learners feel with each other, the more willingness to talk in class and to actively participate in
classroom activities they demonstrate (Sidelinger & Booth-Butterfield, 2010). In order for
student engagement to take place, particularly in the international classroom, the teaching and
learning environment should be inviting, offering a climate of mutual support, but also
strengthening the importance of reciprocal responsibility, not only for one’s own academic
achievements (Crose, 2011). Gay (2018) describes the importance of psychoemotional factors
in the classroom as follows.
I think interpersonal relations have a tremendous impact on the quality of teaching and
learning. Students perform much better in environments where they feel comfortable
and valued. Therefore, I work hard at creating a classroom climate and ambiance of
warmth, support, caring, dignity, informality, and enjoyment. Yet these
psychoemotional factors do not distract from the fact that my classes are very
demanding intellectually. (p. 269)
Goldstein (2004) claims that for a long time the role of caring relationships within
institutions of higher education has received little scholarly attention, although “teacherly
love” (p. 39) does not depend on students’ age, since supportive, caring classroom
atmospheres, “are conducive to learning and growth regardless of the age of the learners
involved” (ibid., p. 41). She describes caring as being neither a feeling nor a personality trait,
that one does or does not have, but as a relation that we choose to enter into nor not. In other
words, every interaction can be interpreted as an opportunity to enter in a caring relationship.
Consequently, teachers can make a professional decision to approach their interactions with
students as “opportunities to engage in caring encounters” (ibid., p. 38).
In this respect, two different manners of caring can be distinguished, i.e., natural caring (I
want) and ethical caring (I ought), without implying that the latter is a diminished form of
caring or a less authentic one (ibid., p. 40). Goldstein (2004) concludes that both entail
commitment and a sense of responsibility, and that both are sources of satisfaction and great
joy (ibid.). In cases in which teachers find it difficult to encounter challenging students in a
caring way, the distinction between natural and ethical caring can ease the feeling of pressure.
It is obvious that teachers do not always like all their students as well as not all students like
all their teachers. Thus, making the professional decision to encounter also difficult students
in a caring manner, i.e., approaching them in an ethical caring relationship in the sense of ‘I
ought,’ teachers are capable of maintaining a relationship with their students, instead of losing
students’ affective involvement along the way.
The influence of class size and assessment are two further aspects that should also be
taken into account when it comes to caring relationships. For university classes to facilitate
personally and academically rewarding educational experiences that enable growth and
flourishing, learners and teachers need to put a great amount of physical and psychological
energy into coursework and relationship management. Sidelinger and Booth-Butterfield
(2010) found out that a supportive and connected learning environment in the sense of a
positive classroom climate that nurtures a range of positive interpersonal relationships,
promotes student involvement, regardless of class size (p. 180). Similarly, O’Brien (2010)
stresses the fact that caring relationships are definitely possible, even when teaching large
classes. She acknowledges, however, that it can be challenging, if not impossible, “to keep a
caring relationship intact when one person has the power to assess (read: judge) another” (p.
113, parenthesis in the original).
5.1 Dynamics of Power and Status
Kreber (2013) argues that the power differential between teachers and students is a given,
since teachers typically know more about the subject they teach and assess students in this
area (p. 50). Nevertheless, with increasing global competition between universities for
students, rising tuition fees in many countries or end-of-course evaluations, more power than
in the past has been bestowed on students (ibid.). Yet, if teachers wish to reduce this factual
power differential, they can simply actively listen to students, by showing them that their
contributions and ideas–as legitimate members of the learning and knowledge community–
matter (ibid., p. 52). Kreber (2013) further argues that:
[T]eachers who genuinely care about fostering the development of students will seek to
minimise their control over students, (…) to enhance the students’ expertise power by
sharing their knowledge and (…) to create an environment in which students feel
validated and ready to take risks as they engage in knowledge construction (…). Taking
risks will involve the students in trying to find their own meaning and voice in relation
to the subjects they are studying. (p. 52)
Giving voice and power to students is Kreber’s (2013) approach to caring relationships.
Värlander (2008) approaches the dual role of higher education teachers as being both a tutor
and assessor of achievement by underlining the value of feedback situations. Through such
one-on-one reflections, positive relationships can be maintained, if power and status are
addressed as dimensions, that are necessarily involved in student-teacher relationships.
5.2 Feedback and Empathy

In order to make the feedback situation a positive experience for both parties involved,
Värlander (2008) suggests activities such as “feedback-on-the-feedback” (p. 154) which she
describes as active discussion and dialogue between the teacher and his or her students. If
teachers find it hard to maintain caring and nurturing relationships in assessment situations
or if students withdraw into themselves and reject a once established positive relationship, the
author suggests asking written comments related to the teacher feedback: “How did you
perceive the delivery of the feedback? How did you feel when receiving the feedback? Did you
perceive the feedback to be helpful to you? What was good and what could have been done
better?” (ibid., p. 153). Such feedback from students on the feedback given by their teachers
may help sustain mutual trust, openness, and the strong believe that assessment happens with
good intentions to support students in their academic work. If trust can be established in a
reciprocal manner, the same applies to empathy.
Feedback situations lend themselves for “empathically sharing the various emotions
related to feedback−anxieties, frustrations, confidence, proud and joy” (ibid.). Approaching the
teaching experience of the international classroom with empathy means speculating on and
trying to understand what lies behind a behaviour or reaction, from a student or oneself. As
far as second language learning is concerned, Mercer (2016), by pointing out the links
between emotional and cognitive components of empathy, underscores the decisive role
empathy plays in SLA, “with its focus on communication, cultural diversity and the centrality
of social interactions” (p. 106). These characteristics, i.e., communication, diversity and
interactions, depict the international classroom just as well.
Returning to the interdependence between caring relationships, assessment and feedback,
along with empathy, Värlander (2008) suggests sharing one’s own personal experiences with
receiving feedback. Teachers could demonstrate empathy for and trigger empathy in their
students if they try to make them understand that they personally know what it feels like to be
evaluated and assessed. For this purpose, higher education teacher-researchers could show
students how they perceive and handle feedback which they get on their research articles. In
Värlanders words, “[s]howing to students that emotions of joy, frustration, anxiety, and
confidence are closely related to learning, makes the role of emotions more ‘legitimate’” (p.
153).
Similarly, Uhl and Stuchul (2011) attribute central importance to the concept of empathy,
particularly in the context of teachers’ efforts to shape a classroom culture of safety, mutual
trust, and inspiring challenges. The authors suggest the establishment of a code of conduct for
the classroom with, among others, the following shared commitments: “Our shared intention
is to foster personal and collective empowerment. (…) As a member of this learning circle, I
give my word that I will listen to each of you with empathy and with an open heart and mind”
(ibid., p. 149). They call this approach, where the teacher joins his or her students in a
conscious co-shaping of the educational experience they share, as one where educators teach
“as if life matters” (ibid., p. 150). Teachers can inspire their students as a role model through
their behaviours by allowing learners “to feel the positive effects of empathy so that they in
turn are enabled to empathise with others” (Mercer, 2016, p. 95). As a final aspect of
emotional responsiveness in higher education, the third pillar of positive psychology–positive
institutions (see Budzińska, & MacIntyre, this volume)−(the others being positive experiences
and positive individual traits) will be discussed.
5.3 Caring Institutions?

In the context of empathy and caring relationships, O’Brien (2010) stresses the importance of
higher education teachers clearly communicating their care to students, to make sure that
students know that they care about them. She cautions that deliberately creating and nuturing
caring relationships with students by conveying genuine interest in their well-being and
success in the academic world can be very demanding. Nonetheless, the better the teachers
know their students, the more responsive they can be. And the more students understand that
their teachers care about them and their achievements, the more responsive they are in
return. According to O’Brien (2010) “the investment appears to pay great dividends” (p. 112),
since we all strive to be cared for. She describes this investment as giving “our best ‘teacherly’
selves so that [the students] are able to maximize their potential” (ibid., p.110). So then, in
which way are universities–from a positive psychology perspective–institutions that enable
people to flourish? O’Brien states clearly:
It is sometimes a challenge to stay focused on students as people deserving our best

selves when competing demands drain our energies and deplete our limited resources.
(…) Teachers might feel more cared for if institutions were more caring; if they were
seen as more than interchangeable workers in the academy’s market economy.
(O’Brien, 2010, p. 114)
This statement finds support in the work of Kreber (2013, 2016) and Cranton (2001). They
see the “transformative potential of the scholarship of teaching” (Kreber, 2013, p. 173)
expressed through “critically reflective teachers (…) [who] do not only question their own
practices but the larger contexts in which they work, including the policies that influence and
partially define that context” (ibid.).
It is to be hoped that universities as institutions that have the potential to enable teachers
and students to flourish are not only tolerating, but rather welcoming such critical reflection.
After all, teachers should be role models for students as authentic, inspiring, passionate and
caring individuals and through teachers’ daily practices the institutions could also be
perceived as culturally and emotionally responsive.
However, a culture of caring and responsiveness is by no means the sole responsibility of
educators but equally one of educational institutions, i.e., through their daily practices and
routines (Gay, 2001, 2018). Thus, an ideal spiral of positivity could imply, in the words of
Peterson (2006), that “[p]ositive institutions facilitate the development and display of positive
traits, which in turn facilitate positive subjective experiences” (p. 20).
6 Concluding Remarks
In this chapter, some of the main ideas of positive psychology were discussed in relation to the
international classroom, e.g., positive relationships with oneself and others or the concept of
positive institutions. In the learning and teaching setting of the international classroom,
students from abroad attend classes together with local students. This can entail a variety of
social, cultural and academic traditions, or differing role expectations and behaviour in and
outside of the classroom. The developments over the last decades have shown, that in an
increasingly internationalised academia, university teachers have to deal with greater
diversity and variety. Therefore, teachers need to recognise that they are also shaped by their
academic and cultural traditions which are by no means universal. As regards cultural
responsiveness, Tisdell (2003) maintains that, “when educators attend to cultural issues, are
more their own authentic selves (including more aware of their cultural selves), and invite
others into their own authenticity by attending to cultural issues, they are engaging in
culturally relevant education” (p. 42).
This invitation also to others for becoming more authentic can also be found in Kreber’s
work on the reciprocal nature of authenticity (2013). By stressing the role of authenticity in
and through teaching in higher education, she states that “we work towards our own
flourishing, or authenticity, by helping others with their flourishing” (p. 48). That means that if
“teachers provide opportunities for students to become authentic, they, in turn, will benefit
from the opportunity to further grow into their own authenticity” (ibid., p. 52). Section three,
therefore, discussed the roles of culturally responsive, authentic teachers. These kind of
teachers demonstrate meta-cultural sensitivity, are willing to question their own assumptions
and help individual students as well as entire groups to establish positive interpersonal
relationships. What is asked of them is to etablish and maintain caring and nurturing student-
teacher and peer relationships, while at the same time demanding the best academic work
students can accomplish. Obviously, such a teaching approach can be very
demanding−primarily for the teachers−and their emotional investment can be very high.
Accordingly, sections four and five of this chapter, addressed the topic of emotional
responsiveness in relation to authenticity, and the institutions’ role in culturally and
emotionally responsive teaching in higher education. Mortiboys (2012) analysed five
strategies for emotionally intelligent teaching in the international classroom: (1) develop self-
awareness of your own culture, (2) explain the conventions of your academic culture, (3)
develop and demonstrate empathy, (4) be respectful and valuing of what students bring with
them, and (5) reflect students’ possible needs (ibid., p. 146). Since empathy was a concept that
proved relevant in various aspects throughout this chapter, Värlander’s (2008) reminder on
this matter should not be forgotten. She calls our attention to the fact that after becoming an
expert in a certain field, teachers need to deliberately think back to their beginnings to be
capable of empathy for the difficulties students may experience with the subject they teach (p.
152).
To conclude, the primary objective of this chapter was to combine the internationalised
university classroom with core concepts of positive psychology and international education.
Teaching and learning at university has the potential to be an inspiring and transformative
experience that allows for personal and intellectual growth. If the relationships between
teachers and students and students and their peers are even built within the context of an
international classroom–full of linguistic, social and cultural diversity–the opportunities for
intercultural and socio-emotional learning and for the development of critically thinking,
flourishing individuals are that much greater.
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and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_4
Enjoyment in the Foreign Language Classroom: Does

Gender Matter? A Review of Selected Empirical
Studies
Ewelina Mierzwa-Kamińska1
(1) University of Opole, Opole, Poland

Abstract
The present contribution offers an overview of a new research avenue in the field of second
language acquisition (SLA) which began to flourish with the advent of Positive Psychology
(PP). The study presents the findings of selected empirical studies on foreign language
enjoyment (FLE) conducted in various countries, among foreign language (FL) learners at
different ages, and at different proficiency levels. As there is a relatively small body of
literature that directly concerns gender differences in FLE, the main aim of the present study is
to fill the existing research gap in the field. One of the most significant findings to emerge from
this study is that the relationship between FLE and gender is not entirely clear but a complex
and intricate one. Statistically significant gender differences in FLE have been found only in a
few studies thus far (female learners experience a higher level of FLE than their male peers).
In all the remaining studies reviewed, gender did not have any significant effect on FLE, or the
researchers did not refer to gender differences while reporting their results. It is therefore
advised not to treat gender as a determinant of either high or low FLE but to focus on other
factors that may boost FLE in all FL learners, regardless of gender.
Keywords Foreign language enjoyment – Foreign language classroom anxiety – SLA – Positive
psychology
Ewelina Mierzwa-Kamińska is a doctorate student in English Language and Literature at
the University of Opole, Poland. Her specialization is applied linguistics. However, her main
research interests concern psychology, psycholinguistics, and the role of affective factors in
SLA. She has been running two elective courses at the university (“Positive Psychology” and
“Gender differences in FL classroom”). Since 2018, she has actively participated in a number of
international conferences and published articles in the field of SLA (mainly on enjoyment and
anxiety in the FL classroom). Apart from studying, she teaches English as a FL to teenagers and
adults (e.g., psychologists and psychotherapists).

1 Introduction
In response to the call for more the research in the field of affective factors and emotions, the
researchers approaching the twenty-first century shifted their attention to the role of positive
emotions experienced in the educational context (Pekrun & Perry, 2014). The current
approach to language education advocates that the relationship between emotions and
cognition is reciprocal (Piniel & Albert, 2018), learning environment abounds with a variety of
positive emotions (Pekrun & Perry, 2014), educational setting is replete with affective
experiences (Fiedler & Beier, 2014), and eventually, learning is inevitably an emotionally
charged experience (Oxford, 2015).
During the ongoing classroom interaction, emotions are involved in the exchange of
information, transfer of knowledge, interaction between learners and teachers, atmosphere of
the classroom, learners’ engagement and motivation. Thus, taking into account the affective
nature of learning environment (Gabryś-Barker, 2019), it is fair to believe that language
learners differ in their susceptibility to emotions depending on the context. Whereas some of
them flourish in the learning environment and remain resilient in the face of challenging tasks,
the others languish if exposed to stressful and/or anxiety provoking stimuli. At the heart of the
present article lies the group of those language learners who experience positive emotions in
the classroom and are able to regulate them in order to enhance thinking and drive effective
behaviors.
An example of such a positive emotion prevailing in the foreign language classroom is
foreign language enjoyment (FLE). The very concept of FLE was coined by Dewaele and
MacIntyre (2014). Since that moment, FLE has sparked the interest of many researchers in the
field, who believed that affective variables do not operate independently of one another but
are interrelated. For that reason, FLE has been widely investigated in relation to other affective
factors, such as foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA). Concomitantly, FLE has been
examined in relation to a number of learner-internal (e.g., age, gender, proficiency, etc.), and
learner—external factors (e.g., learning environment, atmosphere in the classroom,
relationship with peers and teachers, attitude of the teacher). Nonetheless, there is a relatively
small body of literature that directly concerns gender differences in FLE, which might be
caused by a desire to avoid simple and stereotypical concepts of gender differences.
Nonetheless, in relation to emotional dimensions in language learning, gender differences
have been identified. The present article aims to investigate them in relation to foreign
language enjoyment and fill the existing gap in the field. The starting point for the present
study was the assumption that female FL learners experience a higher level of FLE than their
male peers, which was reported and strongly emphasized in the pioneering research on FLE
(Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele et al., 2017). Nonetheless, the author of the present
paper believes that a closer analysis of selected empirical research on FLE may offer a better
understanding of the complex relationship between FLE and gender. Additionally, an overview
of the articles in this new research avenue exploring FLE creates the opportunity to examine
the development of empirical instrument for the measurement of FLE, that is, Foreign
Language Enjoyment Scale developed by Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014).
2 The Advent of Positive Psychology

Learning occurs within the socio-emotional context of the relationship between teachers and
students. Although it has been widely advocated that the relationship between emotions and
cognition is reciprocal and learning is an emotionally charged experience (Pekrun & Perry,
2014; Oxford, 2015), due to the overwhelming dominance of cognitive perspectives in the field
of applied linguistics, emotions had been perceived disruptive and maladaptive to the
educational process for a long time (Shuman & Scherer, 2014). For the last decades, however,
the research on affect and emotions has been vibrant in the SLA (Dewaele, Witney, Saito,
Kazuya, & Dewaele, 2018) and for approximately four decades the research on emotions has
focused primarily on negative emotions regarded as a hindrance to the learning process in
general and to the SLA process in particular (Daubney, Dewaele, & Gkonou, 2017).
This situation has changed with the advent of Positive Psychology (PP) when the attention
of researchers in the field shifted into a new, positive direction, both literally as well as
figuratively (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012). Dealing primarily with the concept of well-being,
flow, optimism, creativity, happiness, etc., PP started to be perceived as an alternative, or, more
adequately, as a supplement to the original and primal objective of psychology aimed to
understand suffering, heal pathology, relief misery, treat depression, etc. At the heart of PP lies
the assumption that, in contrast to negative emotions which are important at the time they are
experienced, positive emotions and the resulting changes they cause in the organism are
significant over a longer time scale as they exert a broadening effect on learners’ mind-set over
time (Dewaele & Alfawzan, 2018). It does not mean, however, that the advocates of PP refuse
the existence of negative emotional states. On the contrary, they claim that psychology should
be as concerned with weaknesses and problems of individuals as with their strengths, talents,
passions and abilities (Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivich, & Linkins, 2009). In the educational
context, it is crucial to focus not only on the learner’s weaknesses, anxieties and frustrations,
but on every factor that a learner may derive joy and satisfaction from. It is due to the fact that
FL learning abounds with variety of positive emotions which may operate as a fuel, an
amplifier, and a driving force behind SLA (Dewaele, 2017; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014;
Dewaele et al., 2017; Oxford, 2015). Further, positive emotions strengthen intrinsic motivation
(Pekrun & Perry, 2014), expand acquisition of adaptive knowledge (Fredrickson, 2001), enable
learners to prioritize their attentional resources and fully concentrate on the activities they
are dealing with, strengthen learners’ awareness of language input (MacIntyre & Gregersen,
2012), and play a protective function against deleterious effects of negative emotions
(MacIntyre, 2017).
3 Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE)

Among a plethora of positive emotions lies foreign language enjoyment (FLE), which deserves
a thorough investigation due to the crucial role it plays in the achievement setting
(Piechurska-Kuciel, 2017). Learners who experience FLE feel in control of achievement
activities they are involved in and/or perceive activities’ outcomes as personally significant
(Pekrun, Frenzel, Götz, & Perry, 2007). Thus, FLE can be perceived as the pleasure experienced
once a FL learner appreciates the learning material (positive appraisal) and feels capable of
dealing with the FL activity (control). In this sense, FLE is believed to be of the utmost
importance for the subsequent sense of satisfaction, which complements academic
achievement (Ainley & Hidi, 2014; Piechurska-Kuciel, 2017).
FLE has been conceptualized as “a complex emotion capturing interacting dimensions of
challenge and perceived ability that reflect human drive for success in the face of difficult
tasks” (Deweale & MacIntyre, 2016, p. 216). The challenging nature of FLE might be partially
explained by the flow theory and the concept of optimal challenge introduced into the field by
Csikszentmihalyi (2004). In line with the aforementioned theory, in order for the foreign
language learner to experience enjoyment, he/she needs to be faced with an optimal
challenge. That is to say, with such an activity that is slightly demanding, arouses curiosity and
generates interests. Such an activity needs to be carefully tailored to the learning capacity,
otherwise it would imply a certain risk to the learning process. Namely, if the task is too easy
for the learner, it could lead to boredom, yet if it is too difficult, it may arouse anxiety—both
being undesirable emotions in the classroom. What is more, in order to experience enjoyment
in language learning, some realistic objectives must be set. It means that a learner needs to be
confronted with a tangible goal, that is, with such a task that he/she is capable of completing
with the use of an increased attention and a slightly greater mental effort than with the
previous task he was faced with. Once a learner approaches such a FL task, a deep interest is
generated, he/she becomes fully immersed in the activity, experiences positive affective state
and most importantly, he/she learns more efficiently.
As a multidimensional construct, enjoyment is composed of five components: affective,
cognitive, motivational, expressive and physiological (Hagenauer & Hascher, 2014). Briefly
illustrating, FLE might be described as the feeling of excitement and spontaneous joy derived
from learners’ participation in a novel and challenging FL activity (affective component), which
arouses student’s curiosity and generates interest (cognitive component). Thus, it is reasonable
to believe that FLE actively and positively stimulates learners in the FL classroom. Further, it
plays a fundamental role in the cognitive processes that are instrumental for learning in
general and for language learning in particular, e.g., attention, memory and problem solving
(Fredrickson, 2001; Pekrun, Goetz, Frenzel, Barchfeld, & Perry, 2011). Subsequently, the
motivational component of enjoyment signifies students’ willingness to sustain that positive
experience, propelling them into action and motivating to take up future challenges. The two
remaining components of enjoyment, physiological and expressing, embrace the bodily
reaction to the positive emotional experience.
Discussing FLE, three main dimensions can be distinguished which may enable its further
conceptualization. These are: FLE-atmosphere, FLE- teacher and FLE- private. Regarding the
first one, FLE is believed to create community, play a mediating role in building relationships
with other pupils and create a supportive atmosphere in the FL classroom. FLE- teacher, in
turn, deals with the fundamental role of educators, their recognition and support, the
encouraging atmosphere they create in the FL classroom and the constructive feedback they
offer, all constituting necessary conditions for students to flourish and experience FLE. The
last dimension, FLE-private, coalesces around cognition, a genuine curiosity awakens in the
learner and the accompanying sense of accomplishment (Dewaele & Dewaele, 2017; Li, Jiang,
& Dewaele, 2018). It is connected with the realization of personal progress, positive changes in
one’s FL performance, the sense of fulfillment and satisfaction derived from participating in
the FL activity and/or overcoming FL difficulties (Li et al., 2018). To conclude, FLE, regarded
as a positive activating emotion, should be perceived as a vehicle for an individual growth as
well as for the development of rich and satisfying social connections (Seligman, 2002).
The crucial role of FLE has been grounded on the Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory
of Positive Emotions (2001) (see Jin et al., MacIntyre, Majchrzak & Ostrogska, & Werbińska,
this volume) as well as the Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions (Pekrun, Frenzel, &
Goetz, 2007). In line with the former theory, enjoyment, along with other positive emotions
(happiness, curiosity, interest, etc.) is not only accompanied by the sense of well-being, but
among all, it brings a number of long-term benefits for the learning process. It is due to the fact
that positive emotions are believed to expand the attention scope, stimulate and accelerate
cognitive processes (Schultheiss & Köllner, 2014). Further, positive emotions may broaden
learners’ awareness and result in novel thoughts and actions, while negative emotions may
have a narrowing effect. With regard to the impact of positive emotions on the social
resources, Fredrickson (2001) claims that they are generated by social interactions and thus,
they may encourage the development of new relationships. These, in turn, build stronger and
long-lasting personal resources, such as solid social support, knowledge and resilience which,
in the long- term perspective, may lead to health enhancement and personal fulfillment. This
process seems to be self-perpetuating, as once individuals experience positive emotions, they
are strengthened and enriched and the process starts over. From the point of view of the
Fredickson’s theory, it can be stated that positive emotions contribute to the development of
personal and social resources to a large extent.
Taken together, recent studies, geographically located primarily in the Western contexts,
revealed that a high level of FLE is one of the most fundamental factors affecting learners’
academic achievement and is strongly, positively correlated with learners’ proficiency in a FL
(Dewaele & Dewaele, 2018). It is due to the fact that a good command of FL is linked with
greater control perception, particularly when FL learners attribute value to the FL they study
(Piechurska-Kuciel, 2017). For that reason, FLE constitutes an educationally relevant emotion
and might be perceived as a requisite for all learners to unlock their full FL potential and, in
this sense, it might be treated as a legitimate, multipurpose ‘tool’ facilitating FL learning.
Before presenting an overview of selected empirical research on FLE and its plausible
relationship with gender, it is worth to briefly conceptualize gender as well as to present some
major gender differences in the FL classroom.
4 Gender Differences in the FL Classroom

Male and female learners differ significantly at various levels, which may directly or indirectly
affect the way they learn and perform in the FL classroom.
First of all, significant differences are found in their emotional experience. It has been
found that males experience a higher level of pride, assertiveness and openness to experience
than their female peers, and females report significantly higher levels of extraversion,
neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness (Else-Quest et al., 2012). Although the
relationship between gender and positive emotion in the context of SLA has not been deeply
investigated, much has been written on gender in the context of negative emotions. To give an
example, Piechurska-Kuciel (2012) argues that girls are generally more anxious when it comes
to FL performance than boys, regardless of their level of proficiency. A plausible explanation
for these results might be the fact that females display a deeper sensitivity to anxiety than
males and they tend to perceive the process of FL learning as a nerve-racking and stressful
experience.
As to the academic performance, gender dissimilarities are found in terms of motivation
(Daif-Allah, 2012), attribution orientation (Else-Quest et al., 2012), and learning styles and
strategies (Radwan, 2014). Women appear to be more interactively and socially oriented than
men who tend to be instrumentally motivated (Dair-Allah, 2012). Thus, it is reasonable to
believe that in the context of FL learning, females, compared to male learners, would derive a
greater satisfaction and more enjoyment from completing tasks aimed at developing a positive
relationship with other pupils (social orientation).
When it comes to positive emotions, recent research revealed that females enjoy language
learning significantly more than males (Radwan, 2014), which may indicate that they are more
probable to experience a higher level of FLE than males. This view was supported by Dewaele
and MacIntyre (2014) in their pioneering research on FLE. The researchers demonstrated that
female FL learners experience a higher level of FLE than their male peers. Nonetheless, it is
crucial to mention that male students are likely to experience a high level of FLE as well as
they are more open to new experience than girls, they seek excitement in learning (Vianello et
al., 2013) and they put a greater emphasis on the teacher’s relaxed attitude and his/her sense
of humor (Lavin, 2012), all factor being intertwined with enjoyment.
Taking into account gender socialization processes, classroom practices and the
uniqueness of the FL learning process, it is fair to say that FL learning is a stereotypically
female domain (Piechurska-Kuciel, 2012). Nonetheless, when it comes to positive emotions in
the FL classroom, the relationship between FLE and gender is not entirely clear, it is rather
intricate and in need of further investigation. On the basis of the theoretical findings presented
above, there are reasonable grounds to believe that both female and male learners are likely to
score high on FLE, as both display features interrelated with enjoyment.
5 Review of Selected Empirical Studies on FLE

The present chapter offers an overview of a new research avenue in the field of SLA which
began to flourish with the advent of PP. It aims to present the findings of selected empirical
studies on FLE conducted in various countries, among learners and teachers at different age
groups and command in a FL (see Appendix for the summary of research reviewed in the
present study). Although a description of the chronological development of research on FLE
lies beyond the scope of the present chapter, the present contribution will briefly present the
development of the studies on FLE since the year 2014 to the present moment. It will briefly
present their major results, the instruments adopted for FLE measurement, yet most
importantly, it will focus on gender differences in FLE.
The first paper to explicitly introduce the concept of FLE to the field of SLA was co-
authored by Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) who investigated the relationship between FLE
and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA). For the needs of their research, the authors
developed the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale, a measure of FLE, based on Likert scale
ratings of 21 items, which further became the main instrument used to measure FLE. In order
to determine FLCA, a shortened version of Horwitz’s FLCAS (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986)
was used. As to the results, the authors claimed that FLE and FLCA are essentially separate
dimensions. They were also the first ones to point to the statistically significant gender
difference in FLE and FLCA in favor of females, claiming that female learners experience
significantly more FLE and FLCA than their male peers. As a consequence, females have
become credited with experiencing more positive and negative emotions in the FL classroom
than males.
Since that moment, the research on FLE began to flourish and expanded epistemologically,
methodologically and geographically. In Dewaele, MacIntyre, Boudreau, and Dewaele (2016)
using the aforementioned instruments, investigated gender differences in FLE and FLCA at the
item level. In accordance with the previous research, the results revealed that female
participants reported significantly more FLE in the FL class than males (they had more fun,
they were prouder of their achievement and appreciated the positive atmosphere in the FL)
and slightly more FLCA, especially a significantly stronger worry about making mistakes and
feeling less confident in speaking the FL. Males, in turn, reported having significantly less fun
and more boredom in the FL class, agreed less often than females that they had learned
interesting things in the FL classroom. The authors came to the conclusion that the subtle
combination of strong positive and negative emotions might be more beneficial and
motivational for the FL process than would weaker emotions.
The combined effect of positive and negative emotions on the process of learning a foreign
language captured the attention of the researchers in the field of SLA in the subsequent years.
In 2017, Dewaele and Dewaele adopted a pseudo-longitudinal design to see whether FLE and
FLCA remained stable during secondary education. The participants of the study were divided
into three groups: 12–13 year olds (1), 14–15 year olds (2) and 16–18 year olds (3). The
results revealed that despite the fact that the weak negative relationship between FLE and
FLCA remained quite constant over the course of time, the causes of positive and negative
emotions were dynamic and did change over time. To give an example, the effect of FL teacher
grew over time in the case of FLE but not of FLCA. As to gender gap, the only statistically
significant difference was found in age group of 12–13 with females experiencing a higher
level of FLE than their male counterparts. No gender differences were found in all the
remaining age groups of learners.
Piechurska-Kuciel (2017) investigated the relationship between L2 enjoyment, L3
enjoyment and proficiency among Philology students in Poland. Although gender differences
were not of the main interest of the study, the author managed to confirm the theoretical
model of enjoyment proposed by the control-value theory (described in the previous section
of the present paper), therefore demonstrating the fundamental role of FLE in language
achievement. The study revealed that FLE was significantly, positively, linked to self-perceived
EFL proficiency and L2 enjoyment was assessed at a significantly higher level than L3
enjoyment. The discrepancy between L2 and L3 enjoyment was attributed to the participants’
lower language proficiency levels in L3.
Statistically significant gender differences in favor of females were found in the study co-
authored by Dewaele, Witney, Saito, and Dewaele (2018) who investigated whether, and to
what extent, FLE and FLCA were connected with learner-internal and teacher-specific
variables. The results revealed that learner-internal variables (e.g., age, gender, FL proficiency)
were more often linked with FLE and FLCA than the teacher-centered ones. Interestingly,
teacher’s predictability turned out to have a deleterious effect on learners’ FLE. The remaining
results supported previous research which showed that FLE increases with learners’
proficiency in a FL and girls report more FLCA and FLE than boys, which might be result from
females’ greater emotional involvement in the FL learning process.
In a similar vein, the effect of FLE and FLCA on FL performance was at the heart of
investigation of Dewaele and Alfawzan (2018) who found that FLE was significantly, positively
linked to self-perceived EFL proficiency. Moreover, the positive effect of FLE on FL
performance was stronger than the negative effect of FLCA. The authors concluded that
positive emotions, with enjoyment in particular, seem to be more strongly linked to
performance in the FL than negative emotions.
De Smet, Mettewie, Galand, Hiligsmann, and Mensel (2018) investigated FLE and FLCA in
CLIL while learning a L2 or FL in Belgium. The results revealed that bilinguals scored higher
on FLE than monolinguals as CLIL pupils experience less anxiety than their non-CLIL
counterparts. Nonetheless, English learners reported significantly less FLCA and more FLE
than Dutch learners, which may suggest that target language may play a fundamental role in
emotional engagement in the classroom.
Although the pioneering research on FLE were conducted in the Western context primarily,
the researchers became interested in the influence of other cultural and geographical context
on learners’ FLE. Since 2018, an increasing number of studies on FLE have been carried out in
Asian countries. Li, Jiang, and Dewaele (2018) made the first empirical attempt to investigate
FLE in a Chinese EFL context. They did not focus on gender differences. They pointed to the
fundamental role of the teachers in the classroom interactions as well as in establishing a
positive atmosphere which boosts learners’ FLE. Li et al. (2018) claimed that teachers shaped
their students’ FLE to a greater extent than peers did. One year later, Li, Dewaele, and Jiang
(2019) found out that FLE of Chinese EFL students was significantly, positively, linked to self-
perceived EFL proficiency and negatively correlated to learners’ FLCA. Wei, Gao, and Wang
(2019) investigated the mediating role of FLE and classroom environment (CE) in the
relationship between Grit and Foreign Language Performance (FLP). The participants of the
study were again Chinese EFL learners. The results revealed that gender was significantly
positively correlated with Grit, FLE, CE, and FLP with females reporting higher scores in those
scales than their male peers.
The relationship between FLE and gender among secondary grammar school students in
Poland was at the heart of investigation of Mierzwa (2018). In contrast to the previous studies
on FLE (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele et al., 2018), Mierzwa (2018) did not reveal any
statistically significant gender differences in the overall scores on FLE, while such differences
were found in terms of the sources of FLE each gender perceived as the most crucial ones. In
case of female participants, the following factors had the strongest correlation with FLE: self-
development, demanding activities, and perspective of authentic use of English. For males, in
turn, authentic use of language, teacher’s sense of humor and interesting topic of a class had
the highest correlation with the level of FLE. Furthermore, it has been proved that FLE
increases with the level of students’ proficiency, and a high level of FLE results in students’
greater academic achievement. The author concluded that despite having different sources of
enjoyment, FLE is possible to be at a high level for all students and learners’ gender turned out
to have a less significant influence on FLE than expected.
The effect of FLE and FLCA on Willingness to Communicate (WTC) was investigated by
Dewaele and Dewaele (2018). In line with the previous studies, FLCA proved to dampen
learners’ WTC to a large degree. Contrary to expectations, however, FLE was not a significant
predictor of WTC indicating that negative emotions may have a stronger effect on WTC than
have positive emotions. The authors concluded that highly anxious FL learners might be less
likely to use the FL, disappointingly, however, this effect is not compensated by enjoyment.
While gender difference in neither FLE nor FLCA were not of the interest in the study, the
researchers focused on gender gap in WTC. Contrary to previous studies where females scored
higher on WTC, the authors did not find any significant gender differences in WTC.
Gender was unrelated to FLE and FLCA in the study of Dewaele, Franco, and Saito (2019a)
who aimed to explore the relationship between FLE and FLCA and a number of teacher-
centered variables within the Spanish classroom context. In line with the previous research,
FLE and FLCA turned out to be separate dimensions but not opposite ends of a single
continuum. Interestingly, Dewaele et al. (2019a) claimed that FL teachers shape their learners’
FLE to a larger extent than they shape learners’ FLCA indicating that teachers might be better
able to boost positive emotions in the FL classroom than to limit negative emotions.
A moderate negative correlation between participants’ FLE and FLCA was also found in the
study of Dewaele and Jiang (2019) who investigated to what extent FLE and FLCA of Chinese
EFL learners differ from learners outside China. The results revealed that FLE was more
prevalent than FLCA among EFL learners, which echoes the findings of previous studies
(Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele et al., 2018; Khajavy, MacIntyre, & Barabadi, 2018). As
to gender differences in the FL classroom, they turned out to be insignificant for neither FLE
nor FLCA.
Mierzwa (2019) made the first attempt to investigate the level of FLE among FL teachers in
Poland and to look into sources of FLE, yet from the perspective of teachers. The results
revealed statistically significant gender difference in favor of female teachers, not learners.
The results indicated that FL teachers perceive themselves to be the strongest predictors for
their learners’ FL enjoyment as they are believed to be ‘managers’ of the emotional tenor of
the FL classroom. A qualitative analysis of participants’ emotional experiences in the FL
classroom confirmed previous research on FLE to a certain degree. That is, FLE was more
related to learner-internal and teacher-specific variables than to the behavior of peers and the
atmosphere created in the FL classroom, which corroborates the finding of Li et al. (2018).
The same year, Dewaele, Ozdemir, Karci, Uysal, Özdemir, and Balta (2019b) focused on the
relationship between FLE and FLCA of Kazakh learners of Turkish. The results pointed to
insignificant gender differences in FLE but a significant gender difference in FLCA,
surprisingly, in favor of male learners. FLE and FLCA were weakly positively correlated. This
finding was contrary to previous studies which have suggested the negative correlation
between FLE and FLCA (Dewaele & Dewaele, 2017; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele,
MacIntyre, & Dewaele, 2016; Dewaele et al., 2018). Eventually, the participants of the study
conducted by Dewaele and MacIntyre (2019) claimed that their FLE depended mostly on their
FL teacher and the statistical analysis proved that FLE and FLCA are weakly negatively
correlated but that they are definitely separate emotions which also accords with earlier
observations.
5.1 Development of Foreign Language Enjoyment Measures

The common denominator in all the studies presented above is the instrument adopted for
FLE measurement. Nonetheless, it is hard to say about any remarkable development of FLE
measures, as all the aforementioned studies were based on the very same scale, that is Foreign
Language Enjoyment Scale (FLE Scale), the first reliable instrument introduced into the field
by Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014). The original FLE Scale consists of 21 positively phrased
statements which the participants of the study need to respond to on a standard 5-point Likert
scale. The FLE Scale includes items which might be divided into three groups coherently
reflecting the multidimensional nature of Foreign Language Enjoyment. That is, there are
items reflecting the private dimension of FLE, the social dimension, and eventually those
referring to the FL teacher. The first group coalesces around cognition and personal progress
of a learner; thus items are formulated in the first person singular (e.g., “I feel proud of my
accomplishments”). The second group includes items reflecting the atmosphere in the
classroom and treats a FL learner as a member of learning community (e.g., “We form a tight
group,” “We have common “legends,” such as running jokes,” “We laugh a lot”). Teacher-
centered items, in turn, are formulated in the third person singular (“The teacher is
encouraging,” “The teacher is friendly,” “The teacher is supportive”).
Nonetheless, only a few research thus far has adapted the complete 21-item FLE Scale
(Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014, 2016; Dewaele MacIntyre, Boudreau, & Dewaele, 2016;
Piechurska-Kuciel, 2017; Mierzwa, 2018). In very many cases, the researchers used a
shortened version of FLE Scale. That is, they used only 10 items extracted from the original
FLE Scale, which focus exclusively on its private (e.g., “I don’t get bored,” “I’m a worthy
member of the FL class,” “In class, I feel proud of my accomplishments”) and social dimension
(e.g., “The peers are nice,” “There is a good atmosphere,” “We laugh a lot”) (Dewaele &
Alfawzan, 2018; Dewaele & Dewaele, 2017, 2018; Dewaele & Jiang, 2019; Dewaele &
MacIntyre, 2019; Dewaele et al., 2017, 2018, 2019a, b; De Smet et al., 2018).
Although the aforementioned items capture the reliability of the original FLE Scale by
Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) without sacrificing the reliability of the measurement, the
shortened version of FLE Scale does not reflect the dimension of FLE related to teacher (“The
teacher is encouraging,” “The teacher is friendly,” “The teacher is supportive”). This comes as a
slight disappointment, as it has been proven that FL teachers play a fundamental role not only
in the classroom interactions but also in establishing a positive atmosphere which may boost
learners’ FLE. What is more, what recent research in the field has highlighted is that teachers
shape their students’ FLE to a greater extent than peers (Dewaele, 2019; Li et al., 2018;
Mierzwa, 2019) and FLE is better predicted by teacher-related variables than peers-related
ones (Dewaele & Jiang, 2019).
In the remaining studies, conducted in the Asian context, 11-item Chinese version of FLE
Scale was used (CFLES) (Li, Jiang, & Dewaele, 2018; Li et al., 2019; Wei, Gao, & Wang, 2019).
CFLES (Li et al., 2018), which proved to be a sufficiently reliable and valid tool for FLE
measurement in the Chinese context, had a different and supposedly much more complete
factor structure. FLE was composed of its all dimensions, that is, of FLE-Private, FLE-Teacher
and FLE-Atmosphere. What the present study aims to emphasize is the importance of
validating a shortened version of FLE Scale in a context different than where the original one
was developed.
5.2 The Dynamic Interaction Between FLE and FLCA

The vast majority of the studies presented above have focused on the dynamic relationship
between FLE and FLCA (Dewaele & Alfawzan, 2018; Dewaele & Dewaele, 2017, 2018; Dewaele
& Jiang, 2019; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014, 2016, 2019; Dewaele et al., 2016, 2017, 2018,
2019a, b; De Smet et al., 2018; Li, Dewaele, & Jiang, 2019). The growing tendency to measure
FLE and FLCA simultaneously may help to understand the intricate relationship between these
two emotions and to verify whether they are separate dimensions, they converge from time to
time, or might be experienced simultaneously within a FL learners. The results of the studies
reviewed point to: a significant negative relationship between FLE and FLCA (Dewaele &
Dewaele, 2017; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele et al., 2018; Li et al., 2019), a moderate
negative correlation (Dewaele & Jiang, 2019), and a weak negative correlation between these
two emotions (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2019), which may suggest that FLE and FLCA might be
partially inter-related but essentially separate dimensions.
Surprisingly, in the study on Kazakh FL students conducted by Dewaele et al. (2019a), FLE
and FLCA turned out to be weakly, yet, positively correlated. These results corroborate with
the idea of Seligman (2002), who claimed that the presence of positive emotions does not
simply guarantee the lack of negative emotions. Thus, these two may work along separate
pathways and their trends can converge and diverge from time to time (Boudreau, MacIntyre,
& Dewaele, 2018; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). Once we assume that FL classroom is an
emotional place and we bear in mind the emotional dynamics, it is reasonable to believe that
FLE and FLCA might be experienced simultaneously e.g., at the moment when a FL learner is
faced with an optimally challenging task, or none of them might be experienced, e.g.,
disinterested student with both low FLCA and FLE.
5.3 Is There a Gender Gap?

It has conclusively been shown that female learners experience a higher level of FLE than their
male peers (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele et al., 2016, 2017, 2018; Mierzwa, 2019; Wei
et al., 2019). Nonetheless, the analysis of the studies reviewed pointed also to insignificant
gender differences (Mierzwa, 2018) or the situation when gender proved to be unrelated to
learners’ FLE and FLCA (Dewaele & Dewaele, 2017; Dewaele & Jiang, 2019; Dewaele et al.,
2019a, b). In very many cases the authors either did not focus on gender gap in FLE at all
(Dewaele & Alfawzan, 2018; Dewaele & Dewaele, 2018; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2016, 2019; De
Smet et al., 2018; Li et al., 2018, 2019; Mierzwa, 2019; Piechurska-Kuciel, 2017), or avoided
sweeping conclusions about the effect of gender on FLE or on FLCA. This may suggest that
gender differences might only be found on a detail-oriented, microscopic level.
6 Discussion
Through a careful examination of major empirical research in the field, the present chapter
summarized selected research on FLE and principal research methods used in the studies
reviewed. The main aim of the current study was to determine the effects of gender on FLE.
This study has identified that the relationship between FLE and gender is vague. The
researchers in the field either point to females’ superiority in FLE over man, or to insignificant
effect of gender on FLE, or they did not measure gender differences in FLE at all. Thus, it
would be a deceptively simple assumption to treat gender as a determinant of FLE, and to
perceive females as predisposed to experience more FLE than males, even if we take into
account females’ heightened emotionality in the FL classroom. It is more reasonable to believe
that males and females do not necessarily differ significantly in FLE but they may differ in
terms of what each group perceives as the most crucial sources of enjoyment (Mierzwa, 2018).
To put it different way, there might be different paths to enjoyment (FLE-private, FLE-social,
FLE-atmosphere), but gender should not be perceived as a determinant of either high or low
level of FLE. Moreover, if there are no gender differences to be found in FLE, then a language
teacher does not have to focus exclusively on either females or males in order to boost their
language enjoyment and teacher’s attention might be distributed equally between the genders.
If this assumption was to be confirmed, then it is worth to focus on other (affective) factors
that may translate into a high/low level of FLE experienced by students. Since FLE is a
relatively new concept and there is a substantial research gap on positive emotions in the field
of SLA in general, it can be only speculated what factors may directly and/or indirectly affect
FLE.
It is reasonable to believe that FLE is positively correlated with intrinsic motivation, as it
refers to performing an action for the sake of enjoyment. Further, it is worth to continue
investigation on: the effect of various independent variables on FLE (e.g., age, gender, length of
learning experience, FL proficiency); the effect of bilingualism on FLE (initiated by De Smet et
al. 2018); the relationship between WTC and FLE measured by Dewaele and Dewaele (2018);
learners’ motivation and FLE, etc. It is also worth to investigate FLE in different geographical
contexts to verify any regional differences in the FLE experience.
In terms of pedagogical implications, it is recommended to focus more on teacher and
learner psychology. That is, to investigate which aspects of L2 teaching are directly related to
learner’s psychology. The emphasis should not be placed on implementation changes in EFL
methodology exclusively, but rather on focusing on learners’ and teachers’ emotions in the FL
classroom. The research points to the crucial role of the teacher whose role is to manage the
emotional tenor of the FL classroom and to create a positive classroom atmosphere where
learners can blossom and experience FLE (Dewaele & Dewaele, 2017; Dewaele et al., 2017).
More specifically, the teachers who are supportive, positive, well organized, funny and
respectful of students are likely to boost students’ FLE (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). The key
to effectiveness in FL teaching is to make learning a positive and enjoyable experience for all
the students, regardless of gender, as the best academic results are achieved by those students
who enjoy learning a FL.
Similarly to the previous studies, FL teachers are encouraged to focus more on increasing
FLE rather than decreasing FLCA, as recent research emphasizes that the effect of FLE on
performance is significant, positive and slightly bigger than the significant negative
relationship between FLCA and performance (Dewaele & Alfawzan, 2018) and that feelings of
enjoyment are more prevalent in the FL classroom than those of anxiety (Dewaele & Jiang,
2019; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele et al., 2018; Khajavy et al., 2018). It might be due
to the fact that FLE is explained by teacher-related factors such as the classroom atmosphere
and evaluation methods, while FLCA is a rather context-independent emotion. Further,
teachers should bear in mind that their predictability may have a deleterious effect on FLE
(Dewaele et al., 2017), yet not in the case of Chinese students—here—Dewaele and Jiang
(2019) descried a positive relationship between Chinese students’ FLE and their teachers’
predictable behavior.
The present study is not free from limitations that must be addressed. First of all,
presenting a complete overview of research of a field in the full expansion is undeniably a
challenging task. The present contribution has focused on selected empirical research. Since
the research on FLE and its dynamic relationship with FLCA continue to thrive, it was beyond
the scope of the study to focus on all studies on FLE conducted in the field thus far.
Second of all, although it has been mentioned that the chapter analyzes the major results of
the studies conducted in various geographical and cultural contexts and among learners of
different age, proficiency level, etc., the study focused exclusively on gender differences in FLE
and the relationship between FLE and FLCA. All the remaining results were neither analyzed
nor presented. Further, the present study did not focus on an in-depth description of the study
design, methodology, or statistical procedures adopted in each of the aforementioned
research.
7 Conclusions
The major aim of this paper was to shed more light on the role of gender in foreign language
enjoyment (FLE). One of the most significant findings to emerge from this study is that the
relationship between FLE and gender is not clear-cut, and female learners are not predestined
to experience a higher level of FLE than their male peers. Since significant differences between
male and female learners in FLE have been found only in a few research thus far, gender
should not be treated as a determinant of either high or low FLE. As such, teacher’s attention
to boost FLE in the FL classroom should be distributed equally between female and male
students.
To conclude, FLE, nested in the PP movement, proved to be a promising and rapidly
blooming research avenue. Nonetheless, it is still a “crawling” field of knowledge. While the
deleterious effects of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) on the learners’ progress,
motivation, and performance in a FL seem to be well-established (Horwitz, 2010, 2017;
MacIntyre, 2017; MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012), much is still unknown about the mechanism
behind SLA related to positive emotions. Thus, further PP-inspired research is needed in the
FL classroom as it is crucial not only to increase FL learners’ linguistic skills but also provoke
positive emotions, boost FLE, alleviate deleterious effects of negative emotions and thus foster
their well-being.
Appendix
Summary of research on FLE, instruments development and main results

Aim Instrument Results
Dewaele To investigate the relationship between FLCA & FLE scale – Females experience more FIE and
and FLE FLCA than males
MacIntyre
(2014)
Dewaele et To investigate gender differences in FLE & FLCA FLE scale – Females report more FLE and (mild)
al. (2016) at the item level FLCA than males

Dewaele To examine whether FLE & FLCA constitute FLE scale – Gender differences were not of the
and opposite dimensions main interest
MacIntyre – FLE and FLCA constitute separate
(2016) dimensions
Dewaele To investigate how FLE & FLCA evolved 10 items extracted – Girls scored higher on FLE than
and overtime across different age groups from FLE scale boys in age group 12/13
Dewaele – Weak negative relationship between
(2017) FLE & FLCA
Piechmka- To investigate the relationship between L2 and FLE scale – Gender differences were not of the
Kuciel L3 enjoyment, L3 enjoyment and proficiency main interest
(2017) among Philology students – L2 enjoyment was at a higher level
than L3 enjoyment
– FLE was significantly, positively, linked
to proficiency
Dewaele et To investigate FLE & FLCA in relation to learner- 10 items extracted – Females scored higher on FLE/FLCA
al. (2017) internal and teacher-specific variables from FLE scale than males
– FLE increases with students’
proficiency
Dewaele To investigate the effect of FLE & FLCA on FL 10 items extracted – Gender differences were not of the
and performance from FLE scale main interest
Alftman – FLE more strongly linked to
(2018) performance than FLCA
De Smet et To investigate FLE & FLCA in CLIL while 5 item scale – Gender difference were not of the
al. (2018) learning a L2/FL in Belgium measuring main interest
extracted from FLE – Bilinguals score higher on FLE than
scale monolingual
Li et al. To investigate FLE in the Chinese EFL context Chinese Version of – Gender differences were not of the
(2018) the FLE scale main interest
(CFLES) – Teachers shaped their students’ FLE
more than peers
Li et al. To examine the interaction between FLCA & FLE CFLES – Gender difference were not of the
(2019) of Chinese students main interest
– FLE & FLCA are negatively correlated
– FLE was significantly, positively, linked
to proficiency
Mierzwa To investigate the relationship between FLE and FLE scale – No statistically significant gender
(2018) sender anions Polish EFL students differences in FLE
Dewaele et To examine FLE & FLCA in relation to learner- 10 items extracted – Females reported higher FIE and
al. (2018) internal and classroom-specific variables FLE scale FLCA than males negative correlation
between FLE and FLCA
Dewaele To measure the effect of FLE and FLCA on WTC 10 items extracted – Gender differences were not of the
and FLE scale main interest
Dewaele – Gender had no effect on WTC
(2018)
Dewaele et To explore the relationship between FLE & FLCA 10 items extracted – Gender was unrelated to FLE &
al. (2019a) and teacher-centered variables of Spanish FL from FLE scale F1CA
students – FLE & FLCA are separate dimensions
– Teachers shape their learners’ FLE to
a larger extent than FLCA
Dewaele To investigate FLE & FLCA of Chinese EFL 10 items extracted – Gender differences were not
and Jiang learners from FLE scale significant for FLE & FLCA
(2019) – A moderate negative correlation FLE
and FLCA

Mierzwa To investigate the level of FLE among FL FLE scale – Female teachers experience more
(2019) teachers in Poland FLE than male ones
– Teachers shape their learners7 FLE to

a great extent
Dewaele et To focuses on FLE and FLCA of Kazakh learners 10 items extracted – Insignificant gender differences in
al. (2019b) of Turkish from FLE scale FLE
– FLE and FLCA are weakly positively
correlated
Dewaele To investigate the relationship between FLE & 10 items extracted – Gender differences were not of the
and FLCA from FLE scale main interest
Maclntyre – FLE & FLCA are weakly correlated, but
(2019) separate emotions
– FLE depended mostly on their teacher
Wei et al. To assess the role of FLE in the relationship CFLES – Females reported higher scores in
(2019) between Grit and FL performance (FLP) FLE, FLP and Grit
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Empirical
and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_5
Positive Psychology, Positive L2 Self, and L2

Motivation: A Longitudinal Investigation
Keita Kikuchi1 and J. Lake2
(1) Department of Cross-Cultural Studies, Kanagawa University, 3-27-1, Rokukakubashi,
Yokohama Kanagawa-ku, 221-8686, Japan
(2) Department of International Liberal Arts, Fukuoka Women’s University, 1-1-1,
Kasumigaoka, Fukuoka Higashi-ku, 813-8529, Japan

Keita Kikuchi
J. Lake (Corresponding author)
Abstract
The academic field of positive psychology has been rapidly growing in the past few years.
Recently, a burgeoning interest in applying positive psychology to learning a second language
(L2) has developed. One way to integrate positive psychology and L2 motivation is through
showing relationships among key constructs from both disciplines. This paper explains and
partially replicates positive psychology and motivational variables that elaborates on aspects
of a positive L2 self-system. In previous studies, it has been theorized but empirically
unknown if aspects of a positive L2 self-system are stable or malleable. This longitudinal study
is the first to provide evidence for the stability and susceptibility to change for aspects of a
positive L2 self-system in students in an educational context. After the presentation of the
results, some implications based on the study are discussed.
Keywords Character strengths – L2 motivation – Positive L2 self – Self-changes over time –
Self-system
Keita Kikuchi is Professor at Faculty of Cross-Cultural and Japanese Studies, Kanagawa
University, Japan. He obtained an MA in ESL from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and an
EdD in TESOL from Temple University. His research interests include curriculum development,
educational psychology, and second language acquisition, especially individual differences.

J. Lake, Ph.D., is a lecturer at Fukuoka Women’s University in Fukuoka, Japan. He has taught
in universities in Japan for many years. His research interests include educational psychology,
positive psychology, and language assessment.

1 Introduction
Research in positive psychology has been outlining and detailing numerous human strengths
and how people can build psychological resources to thrive and flourish in life (Peterson &
Seligman, 2004; Seligman, 2011; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). As interest in positive
psychology grew in academic contexts, Siegel (2016) notes, “Positive psychology conferences
are held around the world, academic journals showcase the research, and hundreds of colleges
and universities offer classes on the topic” (p. 5). Applying positive psychology to education is
a more recent development (e.g., Furlong, Gilman, & Huebner, 2014; Mercer, MacIntyre,
Gregersen, & Talbot, 2018; White & Murray, 2015). A few researchers have applied it to the
field of second language (L2) learning in a variety of contexts and a range of identity or self-
levels from general trait-like to the specific state-like (e.g., Gabryś-Barker & Gałajda, 2016;
MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014; MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2016, 2019).
Since the beginnings of the field of positive psychology much research has been done to
identify positive constructs, that is, constructs that help people function optimally. These
construct are sometimes called character strengths or strengths. One weakness was the lack of
organization of strengths, so various classification schemes have been proposed. Peterson and
Seligman (2004) created the Values in Action inventory of strengths that was composed of 24
strengths organized around six virtues. The define character strengths as being similar to
personality, trait-like but more flexible as with “individual differences that are stable and
general but also shaped by the individual’s setting and thus capable of change” (p. 10). Linley
(2008) offers another classification scheme with a larger number of 60 strengths and a
broader definition of strengths that are “a pre-existing capacity for a particular way of
behaving, thinking, or feeling that is authentic and energizing to the user, and enables optimal
functioning, development and performance” (p. 9). Another way to look at strengths is as
aspects of the self-system (Lake, 2016) composed of various self-concepts, which are a
person’s perspectives of their own self. That is, they are identity-like concepts that can refer to
the global-self or self-as-a-whole, or it can refer to the self in particular domains, or the self
can be even more specific as in relation to certain tasks or situations.
An attention to levels of specificity is common to hierarchical models of self (Marsh &
Craven, 2006; March & Shavelson, 1985). This study is concerned with aspects of the self at
three broad levels: a global level, a domain level, and a situational self level. The aspects at a
global level have no domain (other than the self); for example, a curious self is curious about
many things. The aspects of a domain level self has a specified domain; for example, a positive
L2 self has the domain of second language learning. The aspects of a situational self is
concerned with a particular situation or task within a domain, not the domain in general; for
example, reading self-efficacy relates to the ones competence to do specific reading tasks.
These levels help form the self-system, that is, a motivated self-relevant meaning system that
informs, constrains, and guides interpretations of experience, goals, and self-regulation
(Mischel & Morf, 2003; Swann & Bosson, 2010). In addition, this study focuses on aspects of
positive selves, not negative aspects (e.g., anxiety), not deficit or discrepancy driven
approaches (e.g., ideal or possible selves). Positive psychology offers an approach that differs
from these previous approaches.
This study uses self-levels to help clarify the relationships among constructs. The self-
levels refer to the specificity or “grain size” of the self-construct under investigation (Swann &
Bosson, 2010). Swann, Chang-Schneider, and McClarty (2007) argue that self-researchers use
the specificity matching principle that “holds that the specificity of predictors and criteria
should be matched” (p. 87). Lake (2013) used this specificity-matching principle to show how
constructs from positive psychology could connect aspects of a global positive self, and narrow
skill and task specific self-efficacy motivations through links of aspects of a positive domain
level self, that is, a positive L2 self.
Lake (2013, 2016) examined aspects of a global positive self with constructs of flourishing,
curiosity, and hope; aspects of a domain level positive L2 self used constructs of interested L2
self, passion for L2 learning, and L2 mastery goal orientation; aspects of a more narrow,
specific motivational level used L2 speaking self-efficacy, L2 reading self-efficacy, and L2
listening self-efficacy. He found that relationships or correlations within levels were stronger
than between levels. This shows that taking levels of specificity into account is a meaningful
way to organize constructs. He also found aspects of positive L2 self had stronger relationships
with aspects of a positive self than with aspects of L2 self-efficacy. This shows that aspects of
positive self had little or no relationships to aspects of L2 self-efficacy as would be expected
from the theory, that is, global self is further removed from situational constructs. In theory,
global aspects of a positive self that are general in that they relate to the whole self should be
relatively stable and trait-like. The aspects of a domain level self are less general in that a
domain is specified and less stable or fixed, that is, domain level aspects are dispositional in a
particular sphere or field of activity. The aspects of self at a motivational level are more state-
like, dynamic, situational, contextual, or task specific (Lake, 2013, 2016). In the following
section, we outline constructs of positive L2 self tested in this study.
The constructs used for modeling are all selected within the context of an learning
environment where students are studying English as a second language. Learning can be
considered Janus-faced, that is, facing forward or backward in time. Constructs in this model,
that is, curiosity, hope, flourishing, interest, passion, mastery goal orientation, and self-efficacy
are situated in the present but are oriented to the future. Constructs such as self-esteem,
satisfaction, and happiness are situated in the present but are oriented to the past in the
context of learning. Ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self are based on the idea of discrepancies
between some future state and present state (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009). In positive psychology the
emphasis is on being authentic and true to oneself (Ryff & Singer, 2008; Schlegel & Hicks,
2011; Seligman, 2002; Sheldon, 2002), rather than an emphasis on reducing the discrepancy
between present and a future ideal. Although constructs oriented toward the past and the
future may correlate, and outcomes such as satisfaction and happiness are desirable, the
educational setting of a learning context with participants beginning to live life on their own
determined the orientation toward the future in this model.
1.1 Flourishing
Flourishing is a psychological construct that refers to being mentally healthy. Flourishing
people display some observable signs of an unobservable underlying self that persists over
time. One perspective on flourishing comes from Seligman (2011) who in his 2011, reworking
of positive psychology, advocated for an updated model that focuses on well-being composed
of five elements of: positive emotion (of which happiness and life-satisfaction are aspects),
engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement (PERMA) (see Gabryś-Barker, Jin et al.,
Mystkowska-Wiertelak, & Werbińska, this volume). For Seligman (2011), the target of positive
psychology is flourishing, that is, well-being through having high levels of PERMA in life.
Positive emotions consist of emotions such as happiness, joy, amusement, interest, and
gratitude. Engagement refers to being absorbed, and finding flow, that is, using strengths to
meet challenges in life. Relationships have to do with having and maintaining positive personal
relationships in life. Meaning refers to having purpose in life.
Other theories of psychological flourishing overlap considerably with Seligman’s PERMA
model (2011). Ryff and Singer (1998, 2008), for example, included dimensions of: self-
acceptance, purpose in life, environmental mastery, positive relationships, personal growth,
and autonomy. Some theories are more parsimonious with fewer elements. For instance, Deci
and Ryan (2000) proposed that differing dimensions of well-being can be subsumed by three
basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Diener et al. (2010, p.
144) created a flourishing scale, used in this study, that includes the “major aspects” of these
theories.
1.2 Curiosity
Curiosity is a trait-level construct that, unlike interest in this study, is not focused on an object,
skill, or domain and is distinctly different from enjoyment and happiness. Curiosity as used in
this study refers to “recognizing, embracing, and seeking out knowledge and new experiences”
(Kashdan et al., 2009, p. 988). In their study on the development of a curiosity measure,
Kashdan et al. found that curiosity correlated positively with various other positive measures
such as openness to experience, happiness, personal growth, autonomy, positive relations with
others, and purpose in life. Curious people tend to look for opportunities to acquire knowledge
and pursue new experiences. Curiosity helps learners to seek to fill in knowledge gaps,
recognize potential learning material, and seek new learning situations thus leading to
increased achievement and competence (Kashdan, 2004, 2009).
Curiosity has been shown to have positive relationships to both well-being and learning.
Kashdan, Rose, and Fincham (2004) demonstrated that curiosity leads to personal growth
through an orientation to stimuli that are: novel and challenging, rewarding, and flow-like, in
addition, through assimilation or accommodation that integrates novel experiences. They
found curiosity to be associated with hope and well-being. In another study, Kashdan and Yuen
(2007) found that when the school environment was supportive of growth and learning,
higher levels of curiosity was demonstrated to be associated with higher scores on national
achievement exams and school grades. Von strum, Hell, and Chammorro-Premuzic (2011)
conducted a meta-analysis and found that curiosity had as much influence on academic
achievement as intelligence., that is, “prime a hunger for knowledge” (p. 971).
1.3 Hope
The hope construct is composed of elements of clearly defining goals, thinking about ways to
achieve those goals, and motivating oneself to act toward goals. Hope can be characterized and
measured of as a trait or state.
Hope is composed of two subcomponents that act toward goals, agency or agentic thinking
and pathways or pathway thinking. Agency refers to the belief that one has the ability to
initiate, act, persist, and exert effort toward valued goals. It is the belief that one has volition
and is in control of making progress toward goals. Pathways refers to the belief that one can
find a way or multiple ways, even in the face of obstacles, toward a goal. Hope has been shown
to have effects on academic achievement in a number of studies (Lopez, 2013; Snyder, 1994,
2000). For example, Snyder et al. (2002) found that hope predicted academic achievement in
college.
Hope has been associated with well-being and learning in a number of studies. Curry,
Snyder, Cook, Ruby, and Rehm (1997) found that hope in college students predicted athletic
performance beyond training, academic ability, and global self worth. Chang (1998) found in
his sample of college students that hope had a positive influence on well-being. Ciarrochi,
Heaven, and Davies (2007) tested hope, self-esteem, and attributional style for effects on
academic achievement and well-being and found that hope had the strongest effect in
predicting school grades in high school and was the only variable to have predictive utility
across all outcome measures.
1.4 Three Positive L2 Self Levels

Components of positive L2 self are composed of L2 domain level dispositional constructs that
are positively related to both well-being and second language learning. Constructs at this level
are specific to the academic domain or academic language-learning domain, but they are more
general than classroom situations and specific language skills and tasks. For the purpose of
understanding aspects of the psychology of the language learner relating to positive
psychology and learning, three core aspects of a positive L2 self are elaborated: an interested-
in-L2 self, a harmonious passion for L2 learning, and mastery L2 goal orientation.
1.5 Interested L2 Self

Interested L2 self is short for an interested-in-L2 self as a domain-specific mid-level self-
concept that can be defined as the disposition to find learning a second language interesting
and enjoyable. It is a consequence of believing that one is competent in the L2, and
experiencing repeated positive experiences of discovering novel aspects of the language and
successfully learning them. The interested L2 self construct differs from trait-level interest or
curiosity, in that trait curiosity does not necessarily have a domain or an object. Interested L2
self also differs from more specific interest states where, interest comes first, triggering
learning, and then enjoyment comes from having learned. Instead after frequent instances of
state interest and subsequent positive affective states, a more solidified mid-level dispositional
interest develops (Silvia, 2006). It is only at the mid-level that interest has a domain and is
diffuse enough to overlap with enjoyment and be interpreted as a unitary construct. In other
words, feelings of interest and enjoyment intertwine at the domain level. This domain level
interest is also similar to the construct of flow, but interested L2 self is a more longer-term,
more general cognitive and affective dispositional structure that may produce states of flow.
Domain level interest is central to the construct of a positive L2 self because the
psychological construct of interest is important in positive psychology (e.g., Kashdan & Silvia,
2009; Fredrickson, 2001, 2009) and learning theories (e.g., Dewey, 1913, 1916; Hidi, 1990;
Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Silvia, 2006, 2008).
1.6 Harmonious Passion for L2 Learning

The harmonious passion for L2 learning construct has similarities to but is different from
interested-in-L2 self. Passion is defined as a strong inclination toward activities that are liked
or loved. Whereas interest theory developed over time from the “bottom-up” based on decades
of empirical research, passion theory was created “top-down” from self-determination theory.
The model developed by Vallerand and colleagues (2003, 2010) posited two types of passions,
a more self-determined harmonious passion and a more self-uncontrolled obsessive passion.
Harmonious passions are associated with adaptive behaviors and obsessive passions with
maladaptive behaviors. Passions differ from interests in that it has these two types,
harmonious passion and obsessive passion, but also in that passions are valued and they are
activities in which time and energy are spent. Interests might or might not be valued and the
time and energy are unspecified. Also, as in self-determination theory, harmonious passions
are developed under conditions of autonomy, positive relationships, and competence.
Vallerand et al. (2007) found that harmonious passion predicted mastery goals, which, in turn
led to deliberate practice and higher performance. Harmonious passion was also found to be
related to subjective well-being.
1.7 Mastery L2 Goal Orientation

Mastery goals, which are also known as learning goals, are based on goal orientation theory or
achievement goal theory (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Elliot, 2005; Kaplan, Middleton, Urdan, &
Midgley, 2002) and have to do with building competence. Mastery goals are defined by the
purpose or orientation toward absolute gains in learning within an individual. Mastery goal
orientation is also called task or learning goal orientation, and involves an orientation towards
mastery of a task or learning domain (Anderman & Wolters, 2006; Maehr, 1984; Meese,
Anderman, & Anderman, 2006). The focus is on learners “concerned with increasing their
competence” (Dweck & Leggett, 1988, p. 256). Outcomes are measured as growth from self-
comparisons of previous abilities with gained abilities. Kaplan and Maehr (1999) found that
mastery goal orientations were positively related to well-being measures and academic
achievement. Woodrow (2006) found that mastery goal orientations correlated with speaking
proficiency as measured by a section of the IELTS, a test of English proficiency. Based on the
goal orientation literature, a mastery goal orientation that is associated with self-
improvement, interest, effort, learning, and self-efficacy can contribute toward a positive self.
A mastery goal orientation toward learning another language is an aspect of a positive L2 self.
1.8 Self-efficacy Motivation

Bandura’s (1997) social cognitive theory of human behavior relates an individual’s actions and
cognitions with environmental influences. As a part of social cognitive theory, competence
perceptions and control beliefs are important agency components of human development and
change. The emphasis of this theory is on competence beliefs or self-efficacy beliefs that one
can exercise control and is capable of doing a task in a given situation and domain. As defined
by Bandura (1997, p. 3), self-efficacy refers to “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and
execute the corners of action required to produce given attainments.”
Linnenbrink and Pintrich (2002, p. 315) note that, “Students who have more positive self-
efficacy beliefs (i.e., they believe they can do the task) are more likely to work harder, persist,
and eventually achieve at higher levels.” In the field of foreign language learning, Hsieh and
Schallert (2008) found that among self and differing attributional beliefs, self-efficacy was the
greatest predictor of achievement.
Lake (2013) found that L2 reading self-efficacy had positive relationships with positive
self-concept variables, positive L2 self variables, and L2 proficiency. In a study with French as a
second language, Mills, Pajares, and Herron (2006) found reading self-efficacy correlated with
L2 reading proficiency. They found in their study that “reading self-efficacy positively
influences reading proficiency” (p. 284). L2 speaking self-efficacy is the belief that one has the
means and ability to successfully do a speaking task in the L2. Speaking self-efficacy as used
here refers to being capable of successfully engaging in speaking performances at different
levels of difficulty. Listening self-efficacy as used here refers to the belief in being capable of
successfully listening and understanding at different levels to different sources of spoken
language. Mills et al., (2006) found that listening self-efficacy was associated with listening
proficiency in the female participants of their study.
In theory, the more global, trait-like positive self-constructs should be relatively stable. The
L2 motivational, self-efficacy constructs should be less stable with the L2 positive self
somewhere in-between. Lake (2013, 2016) was a cross-sectional study based on female
college students However, this has yet to be tested in longitudinal research based on a
different sample.
2 Present Study
The measurement instruments used in this study were analyzed using the Rasch rating scale
model (Bond & Fox, 2015; Boone, Staver, & Yale, 2014; Engelhard, 2013; Engelhard & Wind,
2018). See Lake (2013, 2016) for the details of the development of instruments.
2.1 Research Questions

1.
Do the relationships replicate the research in Lake (2013, 2016) among the positive self,
L2 positive self, and L2 self-efficacy variables in a Japanese context?
2.
Do the positive self-measures for the different levels change over time?
2.2 Participants
Participants in this study attended a private college in Tokyo area. The college has two
campuses in Kanagawa prefecture. About 14,000 undergraduate students attend this college.
Their academic major varies from law, economics, foreign language, human sciences to
engineering. Most of the students undertake a two-year English program in which they take
four courses focused on the four skills. The L2 ability can of most students range from high
beginner to upper intermediate. During the speaking section in the first year and the writing
section in the second year, they responded to the questionnaire.
2.3 Measurement Instruments

For this study the scales originally in English were translated into Japanese with six response
options. Self-report instruments at three levels of specificity were used to measure
components of positive self, positive L2 self, and motivational variables. In this study, a
longitudinal design is used where all scales are administered at the same time with the scale
items randomly mixed together into a single questionnaire on five separate occasions. All
scales were modified or written to have 6-item responses that ranged from: Definitely not true
of me; Not true of me; Slightly not true of me; Slightly true of me; True of me; Definitely true of
me.
2.3.1 Measures for Aspects of the Global Positive Self

The Curiosity and Exploration Inventory II (CEI-II; Kashdan et al., 2009) is a scale designed to
measure trait curiosity. The CEI-II contains five items measuring a dimension of curiosity
about seeking new knowledge and experiences (e.g., I actively seek as much information as I
can in new situations) and five items that measure a dimension of curiosity about a general
willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain and unpredictable in life (e.g., I am the type of
person who really enjoys the uncertainty of everyday life). Kashdan et al. reported alpha
reliabilities of 85 and 86.
The Hope scale (Snyder, 2000; Snyder et al., 1991) is an eight-item scale that measures
trait-level hope. The hope construct consists of two factors. Four items reflect agentic thinking
about ones goals (e.g., I meet the goals that I set for myself) and four items reflect a pathways
thinking about the ways to achieve goals (e.g., There are a lot of ways around a problem).
Reported alpha reliabilities have ranged from 74 to 88.
The Flourishing scale (Diener et al., 2010) consists of eight items describing aspects of
positive functioning and human flourishing (e.g., I actively contribute to the happiness and
well-being of others). The alpha reliability reported was 87.
2.3.2 Measures for Aspects of the Positive L2 Self

Seven items from previous studies (Lake 2013, 2016) were used as an Interested L2 Self scale
(e.g., English is an interesting field of study). The reliability from previous studies was 91 and
92.
For the L2 Mastery Goal scale, items from previous studies (Lake 2013, 2016) were used
(e.g., I like learning difficult things in this class). The reliability from previous studies was 87
and 94.
Items from the Harmonious Passion subscale were adapted from the Harmonious Passion
scale (Vallerand et al., 2003) were adapted for English study (e.g., I am passionate about
learning English) to create a seven item Passion for L2 scale used in previous studies (Lake,
2013, 2016), reliability was 90 and 90.
2.3.3 Measures of L2 Self-efficacy

The L2 self-efficacy variables are specific to L2 learning, skills and tasks. Variables at this level
are more dynamic or less trait-like because of their specificity and the situational nature of the
contexts, processes and specific tasks. The self-efficacy items were taken from previous
studies (Lake, 2013, 2016).
The L2 Self-Efficacy in Speaking scale consisted of nine items. Items from previous studies
were used (e.g., I can give a speech in English). The L2 Listening Self-Efficacy measure used
nine items in this study (e.g., I can understand the main ideas when listening to English songs)
(Lake, 2016). The L2 Reading Self-Efficacy measure used seven items in this study (e.g., I can
read and understand a menu in English).
2.4 Procedures
Teachers participating in this research were given the questionnaire to distribute to students
to complete during class time. Participants took approximately 20–25 min to complete the
questionnaire. Rasch analysis was done to get measures for each student and then
relationships were examined using SPSS.
Rasch analysis uses what is known as the Rasch model that is based on a probabilistic
procedure where a person with a greater quantity of an attribute will have a higher probability
of endorsing an item than someone with less of the attribute under consideration, while items
that are more endorsable will have a greater probability of being endorsed than those that are
less endorsable. The person and item are then put on the same log odds (logit) scale. Rasch
analysis then returns information on all participants, an individual person, the scale as a
whole, or single items, as well as how information is organized through a measure. Rasch
analysis for this study was done with Winsteps software (Linacre, 2011).
The analysis was done on five occasions. First the measures were analyzed with the total
participants (N = 1,023). This was done to get item and person parameters. In subsequent
times, the measures were analyzed with the item parameters anchored to the first analysis so
that changes could be detected with the persons. Incremental gains and total gains were
subtractions from each subsequent time and the final from the initial time for the total gain.
3 Results
Descriptive statistics and alpha reliabilities for the initial analysis are presented in Table 1. The
items and scale measures met the requirements of the Rasch rating scale model for a well-
formed scale. The statistics of these requirements were similar to that found in past research
(Lake, 2013, 2016). In other words, item fit statistics were acceptable, average measures
advanced monotonically with categories, step calibrations or thresholds advance with
appropriate higher values, and no additional dimensions to each measure were found to
suggest violations of unidimensionality.
Table 1 Descriptives, alpha, and incremental and total gains
Measures M SD α G1 G2 G3 G4 G Tot
Curiosity −0.16 1.13 0.89 0.11 0.07 −0.09 −0.05 0.03
Flourishing −0.27 0.91 0.79 0.07 0.08 −0.03 −0.06 0.05

Measures M SD α G1 G2 G3 G4 G Tot
Hope −0.03 1.18 0.88 0.01 0.09 −0.06 −0.11 −0.07
Interested in L2 Self 0.34 1.80 0.92 −0.04 0.01 −0.20 −0.16 −0.40
Mastery Goal Orientation −0.17 1.74 0.91 −0.10 0.03 −0.19 −0.14 −0.39
L2 Harmonious Passion −0.22 1.59 0.90 −0.01 0.11 −0.20 −0.11 −0.21
L2 Listening Self-efficacy −2.25 1.69 0.91 0.75 0.32 −0.18 0.12 1.01
L2 Reading Self-efficacy −2.05 2.06 0.91 0.71 0.37 −0.15 0.18 1.11
L2 Speaking Self-efficacy −2.26 1.82 0.91 0.77 0.45 −0.15 0.11 1.17
Note n = 1,023; G = Gain

Measurement of the positive self-variables were done on five occasions, at the beginning of
year one, at the end of semester one or the middle of the academic year, at the end of semester
two or the end of the academic year, year two at the end of semester one or middle of the
second academic year, and at the end of year two second semester as seen in Table 1. Gains are
reported for each variable after each semester of learning or “treatment” so, for example, G 1 is
equal to the gains from the beginning of the semester in year one to the end of the semester in
year one. Also reported is the total gain from the beginning of year one to the end of year two.
Table 2 reports on the correlation matrix of all the variables used in the first
administration. For convenience it is divided into three sections representing the three levels
examined in this study, a global positive self level, a positive L2 self level, and motivational or
L2 self-efficacy level.
Table 2 Correlation of positive variables within and between levels
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Positive Self – – – – – – – – –
1. Curiosity 1 – – – – – – – –
2. Flourishing 0.71 1 – – – – – – –
3. Hope 0.80 0.82 1 – – – – – –
Positive L2 Self – – – – – – – – –
4. Interested in L2 Self 0.54 0.45 0.51 1 – – – – –
5. Mastery Goal Orientation 0.61 0.53 0.60 0.83 1 – – – –

6. Passion 0.59 0.49 0.56 0.88 0.86 1
L2 Motivation – – – – – – – – –
7. L2 Listening Self-efficacy 0.44 0.37 0.41 0.46 0.49 0.53 1 – –
8. L2 Reading Self-efficacy 0.41 0.36 0.38 0.42 0.49 0.50 0.82 1 –
9. L2 Speaking Self-Efficacy 0.46 0.42 0.45 0.48 0.52 0.54 0.80 0.79 1
Note n = 1,023
4 Discussion
When the results of Tables 1 and 2 are compared to the findings of Lake (2013, 2016) the
descriptive statistics and correlations show a similar values and patterns. Each of the variables
had high alpha reliability. The L2 self-efficacy variables are being reacted to more negatively
than the positive self-variables. There is more variance in the positive L2 self-variables and the
L2 self-efficacy variables than in the positive self-variables. Even though the students in
general may seem to have low L2 self-efficacy motivation, the higher variance values show that
students vary considerably in their L2 self-efficacy.
The correlation matrix in Table 2 showed within a level, variables had very strong
correlations and weaker correlations between levels. As mentioned before, this demonstrated
the importance of grouping constructs by level. In addition, the global positive self-variables
correlated with the L2 domain self variables stronger than the positive L2 self-efficacy
variables. The positive L2 domain self variables in turn correlated higher than the positive
global variables with the L2 self-efficacy variables.
The research in this study supports the theory that global positive self-variables should be
more stable, L2 positive self-variables, less stable, and L2 self-efficacy least stable or most
susceptible to change. The positive self-variables changed a maximum of 11 logits but mostly
much lower for the semester or total gains. If we use 30 as a criterion for a substantive
significant difference (Engelhard & Wind, 2018) then we can see that the positive self-
variables remained stable over the two-year period. The less stable positive L2 self-variables
made small incremental changes did not make any substantive changes semester to semester
but the changes added up, the two variables Interest in L2 Self and the L2 Mastery Goal
Orientation, showed substantive accumulated differences from initial to final occasions,
although they were negative. The motivational L2 self-efficacy variables showed substantive
gains both semester of the first year and this has a cumulative effect that showed strong total
gains over 1 logit over the two-year period.
The reasons for the reductions in identifying positively with the second language are
unknown. However, we can see from Table 1 that the drop happened over two semesters in the
second year. It may be that students were identifying more with their major or school subjects
more or it may be that the reality of the long and slow process of learning a second language
sunk in, to cause a distancing in identifying positively with the second language.
5 Conclusion
This study provided replication evidence by reproducing similar results from previous studies
(Lake, 2013, 2016). Similar results were found for variable means and variances. Also, similar
patterns of relationships were found that showed progressively more distal relationships as
level of generality/specificity grew, that is, positive self variables had a stronger relationship to
positive L2 self variables than to motivational L2 self-efficacy variables. It was noteworthy that
this study empirically showed that a global aspects of a positive self-level was stable over time,
a domain level aspects of a L2 positive self less stable, and a more specific motivational L2 self-
efficacy even less stable or susceptible to change.
This study shows the stability of positive self and positive L2 self. However, this stability is
a double-edged sword; while it is comforting that they are not easily lost, it also shows that
development may take some time and effort. School systems and teachers might give some
concern and attention to developing positive self-constructs. Teachers may be able to help
learners develop a positive L2 self by not making relative comparisons of L2 learners but
stress the importance of all students making incremental gains and giving feedback that helps
develops competence (Da Silva, 2007; Dweck, 2000). In addition, teachers can help learners
develop practices that directly relate to learning, such as breaking up a distal goal into
proximal sub-goals, deliberate practice, time management techniques, staying aware of the
importance of persistent effort over long time periods. Teachers can help students increase
their self-efficacy by regularly measuring student progress through sensitive assessments and
giving feedback that demonstrates competence, thus making learning gains salient (Brown &
Hudson, 2002; Da Silva & McInerney, 2008; Rouault, 2007).
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and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_6
The Link Between Different Facets of Willingness to

Communicate, Engagement and Communicative
Behaviour in Task Performance
Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak1
(1) Institute of English Studies, University of Wrocław, Kuźnicza 22, 50-138 Wrocław, Poland

Abstract
Research into language learners’ willingness to communicate (WtC) has demonstrated a
profound complexity of the processes underlying communicative behavior and its dynamic
character. While many of such studies relied on self-report data, the present investigation
takes into account actual communicative behavior, quantified as language output including
word count and turn taking. These results were correlated with scores for different facets of
WtC and four dimensions of learner engagement, considered the key precursor of success and
achievement. Engagement is also a vital component of the PERMA model proposed by
Seligman (2011), one of the founders of Positive Psychology. The framework, whose main aim
is promoting human well-being, offers promising implications for language learning and
teaching as well. Language data from 12 advanced learners of English were collected by means
of audio-recordings of interactions, post-task questionnaires, and post-task interviews.
Quantitative analyses showed that correlation between communicative behavior and
questionnaire scores were insignificant. Qualitative data indicated a link between the
students’ engagement in task performance and language output.
Keywords Willingness to communicate – Learner engagement – Communicative behaviour –
Mixed methods
Anna Mystkowska-Wiertelak is Assistant Professor at the Institute of English Studies of
Wrocław University, Poland. Her main interests include, apart from teacher education, second
language acquisition theory and research, language learning strategies, learner autonomy,
form-focused instruction, willingness to communicate, motivation, and learner engagement.
She authored and co-authored a number of publications in, among others, System, Language
Teaching Research, Language Learning Journal, Studies in Second Language Learning and
Teaching and Research in Language. She is also a co-author (with Mirosław Pawlak) of the
books Production-oriented and Comprehension-based Grammar Teaching in the Foreign
Language Classroom (Springer, 2012) and Willingness to Communicate in Instructed Second
Language Acquisition (Multilingual Matters, 2017).

1 Introduction
The premium put on target language (TL) communication has resulted in a surge of studies
into processes underlying interaction in and out of the classroom. A prominent line of enquiry
that originated in the second language context (e.g., MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clement, & Noels,
1998) and has flourished as well in foreign language settings (e.g., Kang, 2005; Peng, 2014;
Zarrinabadi, 2014; Zhong, 2013) centers around willingness to communicate (WtC)—an
immediate antecedent of communicative behavior. Originally understood as a stable
behavioral tendency related to anxiety and perceived competence (cf. MacIntyre, 1994;
McCroskey & Richmond, 1991), WtC is today viewed as readiness to initiate or contribute to
ongoing interaction on a voluntary basis. In the WtC model put forward by MacIntyre et al.
(1998), learners’ readiness to communicate stems from their personality but is also shaped by
layers of affective, cognitive, motivational and situational antecedents. The recognition of the
trait and state-like nature of the construct acknowledges its malleability, depending on a wide
range of factors including interlocutors, task type, topic, organizational mode and others (for
an overview see Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2017).
Research into L2 WtC has respected the complex nature of the construct and, apart from
large-scale questionnaire studies, employed diverse data-collection tools, including interviews,
immediate recall, idiodynamic methodology or self-rating grids to note shifts in WtC intensity
over various time scales. Most of the time researchers relied on self-reported data with a few
exceptions where WtC was operationalized as observed communicative behavior (Cao, 2011;
Cao & Philp, 2006; Yashima, MacIntyre, & Ikeda, 2016) or an indication (a raised hand) of a
learner’s willingness to contribute to classroom discussions (Peng, 2014). To the best of my
knowledge, however, none of the studies to date has quantified WtC in the form of actual
language output involving word count and turns taken by the participants over a specified
time span. The present study is an attempt to investigate a link between these discourse
measures and three separate WtC subtypes identified in the course of factor analysis
performed as part of research into the component structure of willingness to engage in
communication of students majoring in English in the foreign language context (Mystkowska-
Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2017). The correlational analysis also involved data collected by means of
a questionnaire intended to tap into participants’ engagement (Reeve & Tseng, 2011), a
construct whose significance for language learning has been recognized in a growing number
of studies (e.g., Dincer, Yeşilyurt, Noels, & Vargas Lascano, 2019; Mercer, 2019; Noels, Lascano,
& Saumure, 2018; Philp & Duchesne, 2016). Engagement, one of the components of the
PERMA framework (Seligman, 2011) (see Budzińska, Gabryś-Barker, Jin et al., Kikuchi & Lake,
& Werbińska, this volume), the cornerstone of Positive Psychology (PP), assumes increased
concentration on task performance and reaching higher levels of ability. It is also accompanied
by strong feelings of happiness, motivation and well-being. Knowing how to increase or
generate classroom engagement could become a powerful tool capable of increasing student
success and teacher satisfaction. The need to promote positive affect in the language
classroom is not only supported by the rapidly growing field of PP (e.g., Fredrickson, 2009;
Seligman, 2011; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) but also intensified attempts to apply its
insights in language learning and teaching (Gabryś-Barker & Gałajda, 2016; MacIntyre,
Gregersen, & Mercer, 2016). In the present investigation, learner engagement has become the
main theme of interviews performed with all the participants following task completion.
Before the study design and results are presented and discussed in greater detail, a brief
overview of most recent research on WtC will be presented together with an outline of
engagement studies pertinent to language development. The study presented here is part of a
larger research project, a piloting stage, whose aim is identifying links between WtC, learner
engagement and language use, as well as testing various approaches to the component
structure of engagement.
2 L2 WtC in the Classroom

Interest in processes that underlie TL communication has strong pedagogical resonance as it
might lead to a better understanding of reasons behind language learners’ reticence in the
classroom, which, in turn, could result in formulating sound teaching recommendations. One
line of enquiry, particularly strongly represented in the early stages of researchers’ interest in
L2 willingness to interact, involved large-scale quantitative investigations of the impact of a
number of individual and context-related factors on generating WtC in various contexts. The
pyramid model advanced by MacIntyre et al. (1998) demonstrated that language learners’
communicative behavior was predicted by a psychological component labelled as “a readiness
to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2”
(MacIntyre et al., 1998, p. 547). Following the publication of MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) model,
many researchers embarked on the investigation of multiple factors hypothesized to play a
role in generating learners’ eagerness to speak. And thus, for example, Clément, Baker, and
MacIntyre (2003) and Hashimoto (2002) looked at the role of anxiety and self-perceived
communicative competence, Peng (2014) and Hashimoto (2002), again, tested the impact of
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, Ryan (2009), Yashima (2009) and Munezane (2013) the
concept of Ideal L2 self, and Yashima (2002, 2009) the influence of International Posture on L2
use. Personality, beliefs, attitudes and emotions, including enjoyment and pronunciation
anxiety, were also taken into account in studies of L2 use predictors (Baran-Łucarz, 2014;
Fushino, 2010; Ghonsooly, Khajavy, & Asadpour, 2012; Khajavy, MacIntyre, & Barabadi, 2018;
Peng & Woodrow, 2010). These quantitative studies attempted to capture learners’ WtC trait
dimension representing their underlying communication tendencies. A recent meta-analysis of
trait WtC studies (Shirvan, Khajavy, MacIntyre, & Taherian, 2019) took into account only those
investigations that looked at the impact of three most influential variables: perceived
communicative competence, language anxiety and motivation. From among the three,
perceived communicative competence was found to have the largest effect, but still the impact
of other moderators was not excluded.
Mixed-methods and qualitative methodology were used to explore L2 learners’ WtC in the
classroom to understand the impact of contextual factors for practical reasons, such as
bringing about positive change in learners’ behavior. Many components of classroom
interaction such as group size and composition, task type, topic, interlocutor, teacher (Cao,
2014; Cao & Philp, 2006; Kang, 2005; Mystkowska-Wiertelak, 2016; Mystkowska-Wiertelak &
Pawlak, 2014, 2017; Pawlak, Mystkowska-Wiertelak, & Bielak, 2016) were found to affect how
learners felt about contributing to classroom interaction. Not only the objective reality of
formal educational contexts, including such nuanced components as nonverbal cues (Peng,
Zhang, & Chen, 2016), has been taken into account, but also students’ perceptions concerning
situational WtC antecedents (Eddy-U, 2015) and classroom social climate (Joe et al., 2017;
Peng, 2007) or classroom atmosphere (Peng, 2012; Riasati, 2012). Evident interaction of
individual and context-dependent variables predicting students’ WtC has brought researchers’
attention to its dynamic character. Idiodynamic methodology developed by MacIntyre and
Legatto (2011) as well as self-report grids used by Mystkowska-Wiertelak and Pawlak (2017)
allowed tapping into moment-by-moment shifts in WtC intensity over varying time spans and
identifying reasons behind them. For a summary of the multitude of variables shaping WtC in
the classroom see the work by Zhang, Beckmann, and Beckmann (2018).
3 Engagement
In educational psychology the significance of engagement has long been recognized and linked
to achievement, enhanced motivation and interest, the feeling of self-efficacy and goal-
orientation (Christenson, Reschly, & Wylie, 2012), all of which appear much desired
components of the educational process. Despite years of enquiry there still remains some
degree of terminological and conceptual confusion, which, on the one hand, can be attributed
to the fact that research on this multifaceted concept covers four hierarchically arranged
contexts: school, community, classrooms, and learning activity (Skinner & Pitzer, 2012) and its
understanding may depend on the particular setting where the enquiry is performed. On the
other hand, there is no consensus on the number of engagement dimensions or components:
from a two-fold structure, involving behavioral and emotional engagement (van Uden, Ritzen,
& Pieters, 2013), through a tripartite division into behavioral, emotional and cognitive
engagement (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004), to a more recent four-component
structure, complementing the previous one, with the dimension of agentic engagement (Reeve,
2013; Reeve & Tseng, 2011). This most recent extension of the model manifests itself in an
active stance, not only in the form of contributions to the lesson, but also taking action to
create personally meaningful circumstances for learning. Reeve (2012, p. 161) defines agentic
engagement as “students’ intentional, proactive, and constructive contribution into the flow of
the instruction they receive.” Although its distinctness from other engagement subtypes may
not be fully established, agentic engagement has been represented as a separate entity in a
number of studies (Dincer et al., 2019; Eccles, 2016; Henry & Thorsen, 2018; Reeve, 2013;
Reeve & Tseng, 2011).
All of the engagement models share direct reference to action, be it involvement and
participation in activities, use of suitable learning strategies, adequate emotional response, or
shaping the learning context, as captured in Skinner, Kindermann, Connel, and Wellborn’s
(2009, p. 225) definition of engagement as “energized, directed, and sustained actions.” Mercer
(2019) observes that the action dimension distinguishes engagement from another
multilayered and multidimensional construct underlying effort and achievement—motivation.
There seems to be a close affinity between the two and their interdependence is still far from
being clear; nevertheless, the view prevails that engagement is “a visible manifestation or
‘descriptor’ of motivation” (Philp & Duchesne, 2016, p. 52) and motivation may act as
engagement’s precursor (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012), or antecedent (Christenson,
Reschly, & Wylie, 2012). Reeve (2012) points out that motivation constitutes unobservable
mental reality consisting of conscious and unconscious drives, whereas engagement is a
manifestation of cognitive and emotional activity these motives provoke in the form of
participation and displayed enjoyment.
The obvious connection between motivation and engagement calls for locating the latter
within a wider motivational framework (Christenson et al., 2012). Across a bulk of recent
studies the model that has repeatedly been used to account for forces predicting engagement
is Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000, 2017), which posits that greater
engagement can be expected if basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and
relatedness are met. Autonomy corresponds to the learner’s need to exercise agency in
shaping own learning according to their beliefs, values and interests (Ryan & Deci, 2017). As
observed by Noels et al. (2018, p. 3), “people generally engage more with self-relevant,
voluntarily chosen activities, compared to activities imposed on them.” Competence concerns
learners’ conviction they can successfully engage with challenges and bring action to a desired
end. Students’ sense of relatedness depends on the feeling of belonging and social support
provided by peers and teachers (Dincer et al., 2019; Jang, Kim, & Reeve, 2012; Ryan & Deci,
2017). The power of SDT to explain engagement is aptly summarized in the words of Noels et
al. (2018, p. 5) that “the satisfaction of the needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness is
fundamental for the experience of intrinsic motivation, the internalization of an activity into
one’s sense of self, and, ultimately, positive, productive engagement.”
4 Engagement in SLA
The track of studies into learner engagement across various contexts and subject areas is quite
impressive (e.g., Christenson et al., 2012; Fredrics et al., 2004, 2011; Lawson & Lawson, 2013);
therefore a relative paucity of studies on engagement in language learning may be surprising,
particularly, given the significance of active practice and language use in developing
communicative competence (cf. Philp & Duchesne, 2016; Mercer, 2019). Recently more and
more studies tackling the subject of language learners’ engagement have been published,
within which three main lines of enquiry can be distinguished: exploring engagement with
language (EWL; e.g., Svalberg, 2009), engagement in task-based interaction (e.g., Philp &
Duchesne, 2016), and attempts at positioning engagement within a broader theoretical
framework involving statistical procedures to test the hypothesized model (Dincer et al.,
2019). One of the first authors to bring up the topic of engagement in SLA was Svalberg (2007,
2009, 2017), who advanced the term engagement with language and defined it as “a cognitive,
and/or affective, and/or social state and a process in which the learner is the agent and the
language is the object and may be the vehicle (means of communication)” (Svalberg, 2009, p.
244). She made a clear distinction between engagement and “neighbouring” terms of
involvement, commitment and motivation, each of which shows some facets of engagement but
fails to capture the entirety of the construct. Svalberg (2009, p. 246) considers EWL on three
different plains: cognitive, affective and social. Cognitive EWL involves heightened alertness
and focused attention as well as reflection and problem solving. The affective EWL component
denotes positive feelings towards the language, the speaker and values they represent, which
result in maintained willingness to interact. The social dimension of EWL is manifested in
behavioral readiness to interact, initiating and maintaining communication, the aspect which
bears resemblance to the notion of WtC.
Engagement in relation to pedagogical tasks has been studied in activities performed in the
classroom and operationalized as quantity and quality of language produced. The
measurement of engagement involved word count (Bygate & Samuda, 2009) and turn taking
(Dörnyei & Kormos, 2000) as well as the analysis of dyadic collaborative dialogue, where
indicators of engagement involved sharing previous knowledge or explanation of choices in
language related episodes (Fortune & Thorp, 2001) or responsiveness and attentive listening
demonstrated in questions and negotiation of meaning, back channeling, commentary, and
indications of empathy (Baralt, Gurzynski-Weiss, & Kim, 2016; Lambert & Philp, 2015; Storch,
2008), or vicarious responses, private speech and attentive listening (Snyder Ohta, 2001).
Although, as noted by Dincer et al. (2019, p. 3), concepts resembling engagement appear in
some theoretical frameworks, for example the socio-educational (Gardner, 2010) and the
socio-contextual (Clément, 1986) model, little focused attention has been paid to engagement
in language learning. The theoretical framework that recognizes the causal relationship
between classroom engagement and other motivational variables is the Self-System Model of
Motivational Development (SSMMD) proposed by Skinner, Furrer, Marchand, and Kindermann
(2008) and Skinner et al. (2009). Within the model four categories of motivational variables
can be differentiated: context, self, action and outcome. The context of the educational setting
shapes learners’ attitudes and perceptions, in particular, those concerning the degree to which
their needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are satisfied. These aspects of learners’
self influence the action component, which is engagement in learning.
Several research projects were launched with a view to a better understanding the role of
active engagement in language learning within the SSMMD model. Noels (2009), for example,
looked at motives predicting classroom engagement in learning English and found that
intrinsic motivation (i.e., interest in English, enjoying the process of learning) was a stronger
predictor than extrinsic motives (e.g., good exam grades or fulfilling parents’ expectations).
Noels et al. (2018) measured engagement using Gardner’s (2010) motivational intensity scale
to test its link to psychological needs and orientations as well as changes over a semester of
study. The results revealed that earlier motivational levels affect later perceptions of
psychological need fulfillment and later engagement, but also earlier engagement levels
strengthen later motivational orientations. The mutually supportive relationship was also
observed by Chen and Kraklow (2015), who established that intrinsic motivation and external
regulation predicted behavioral engagement. Oga-Baldwin and Nakata (2017), in turn, proved
that engagement strongly predicted intrinsic motivation and introjected regulation, but
external regulation was predicted negatively. The results of structural equation modelling in
Dincer et al. (2019) demonstrated that engagement was predicted by students’ need
satisfaction, which was in turn predicted by students’ perceptions of their teachers’ autonomy-
support. Engagement was found to predict achievement and absenteeism differently,
depending on the particular engagement dimension, and thus higher emotional and agentic
engagement predicted academic achievement but cognitive engagement was linked to
decreased absenteeism.
5 Purpose
Many of the studies outlined above have taken the challenge and explored the construct from
many different angles; however, as Dincer et al. (2019) observe, so far accounts of teachers’
and learners’ perceptions of engagement have been relatively scarce in the literature and still
little is known about factors and processes that shape engagement in language learning.
Primarily, the present study was undertaken to bridge this gap and better understand the
relationship between students’ engagement in task performance, willingness to communicate
and their actual communicative behavior. The secondary aim of the study was to consider
students’ accounts of their engagement and possible factors increasing or hindering it in the
classroom, with a view to establishing some recommendations that could help teachers
engage students in language learning to a greater extent. More specifically. The following
research questions were addressed:
1.
What is the relation between the three facets of in-class WtC (planned and unplanned
WtC, practice-seeking WtC) and communicative behavior, quantified as turn taking and
word count?
2.
What is the relation between different dimensions of engagement and communicative
behavoiur in task performance?
3.
What is the relation between WtC and engagement?

4.
What are learners’ opinions about (a) how they performed the task, (b) their engagement
in task performance and factors influencing it, (c) the impact their contribution had on

task completion?
6 Method
6.1 Participants
Participants were 15 (11 female, 4 male) English majors in their 3rd year of the BA program
who came from one student group and should be considered a convenience sample.
Participation was voluntary and the students provided their written consent. They were also
informed they could withdraw any moment and were given bonus points in one of the content
courses in return for their effort. They were assured that their scores were confidential and
would not affect their grades in a negative way. At the time of the study all of the participants
were 21 years old. On average, they had been learning English for 12.87 years and their
proficiency level could be roughly described as upper intermediate, with some degree of
individual variation. Apart from regular classes of English as a foreign language and content
courses conducted in English, their exposure to the target language happened through online
games, social media, watching films and tv series, using various types of websites, but also
contact with family and friends abroad, as well as experience of working abroad during the
summer break.
6.2 Procedure and Instrumentation

All of the students provided quantitative and qualitative data. The procedure started with two
oral argumentative tasks lasting 5 min, each performed with a different random partner. The
first involved complaining about different aspects of everyday life (e.g., public transport or
health care) and then agreeing on an order from the least to most annoying. The second task
consisted in negotiating a programme the participants could watch together on a Friday
evening. Choosing two differing tasks and different partners were deemed necessary to
decrease the impact of topic/task type and interlocutor on the students’ output. Pair
interactions were recorded and then transcribed. The number of words and turns taken in
each conversation was counted.
The second stage immediately following task completion was a semi-structured interview
concerning participants’ engagement in the tasks. The questions based on the literature were
supposed to tap into different dimensions of engagement. And thus the students were asked to
comment on their engagement in the activities and enquired about the level of satisfaction
with the way they performed them as well as the degree to which they found the tasks
challenging. They were also asked how much they approved or disapproved of what their
partners were doing and what impact it had on their behavior. Another question elicited
opinions about the degree they considered the tasks beneficial to their linguistic development.
Finally, they were supposed to assess the extent to which completing the tasks depended on
their contribution. Despite a relatively advanced language level of the participants the
interviews were performed in their mother tongue to decrease cognitive load and ensure
greater ease and precision of expression.
The third stage of data collection conducted in the same session involved filling in two
questionnaires. The first consisted of three WtC sub-scales: unplanned in-class WtC, e.g., I am
willing to ask my group mates about forms/words related to the topic (Cronbach α = 0.84),
planned in-class WtC, e.g., I am willing to give a presentation in front of the class (Cronbach α
= 0.79), and practice-seeking WtC, e.g., I am willing to modify what I have said in response to
an indication of an error (Cronbach α = 0.79). The subscales were identified in the course of
exploratory factor analysis performed in the same context (Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak,
2017). The second measure was adapted from Reeve and Tseng (2011) and consisted of 22
items that satisfactorily loaded in their investigation onto four factors labelled as behavioral,
e.g., I listen carefully in class (Cronbach α = 0.52), agentic, e.g., During class I ask questions
(Cronbach α = 0.43), cognitive, e.g., When I study I try to connect what I am learning with my
own experiences (Cronbach α = 0.82), and emotional engagement, e.g., Class is fun (Cronbach
α = 0.71). Both scales were assessed using a 5-point Likert scale from 1 not at all
applicable/true about me to 5 very much applicable/true about me. Cronbach α values for the
scales used to asses agentic and behavioural engagement did not reach the level of 0.60, which
means that they did not satisfy the internal consistency criterion. Because of this reason the
two scales had to be excluded from the foregoing analysis. The unsatisfactory value could be
attributed to the sample size and composition: the number of participants was small and it
cannot be ruled out that the scale items failed to reflect the context of adult advanced learners.
6.3 Analysis
Numerical results were fed into a spread sheet and Spearman rank-order correlations were
calculated between students’ linguistic output in the form of words and turns and
questionnaire scores. Content analysis (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008) of qualitative data was conducted
with the help of NVivo 11 software, which involved identifying words and phrases that were
grouped around individual concepts as well as performing several rounds of identification of
main themes. A categorization matrix was made reflecting the four engagement dimensions,
following Reeve and Tseng (2011), as well as including one category corresponding to
students’ appraisal of the role their interlocutors played in fostering or hindering engagement.
Another round of analysis concerned differences in qualitative data provided by students who
produced the largest and smallest number of words and turns (highest and lowest quadrants).
7 Results
7.1 Quantitative Data
First, descriptive statistics were considered. The inspection of students’ (N = 15) transcripts
covering 10 min of interaction showed that, on average, 445.06 words were produced by each
of the participants (range from 196 to 687) with considerable differences between individual
students, as can be seen in SD = 130.73. As for the number of turns that were taken during
conversations, the mean was 39.06 (range from 16 to 63) with SD = 16.16. The mean for the
category labelled Unplanned WtC amounted to 3.96 (SD = 0.52). Planned WtC was rated a little
lower with the average at 3.33 (SD = 1.194). The highest mean was reported for Practice-
seeking WtC: 4.15 (SD = 0.99). The engagement scales were considered separately for
Cognitive Engagement M = 4.26, SD = 0.33 and Emotional Engagement M = 4.18, SD = 0.61
(Table 1).
As the data were not normally distributed, Spearman rank-order correlations were
conducted to determine the relationship between the variables. A two-tailed test of
significance did not indicate significant correlations between students’ actual communicative
behavior (number of words and turns) and any of the engagement dimensions. There was only
one positive significant correlation between actual behavior in the form of turns taken during
the task and Unplanned WtC (rho = 0.677, p < 0.001). When it comes to the relationship
between engagement dimensions and aspects of WtC, Cognitive Engagement significantly
correlated with both Practice-seeking WtC (rho = 0.626, p < 0.05) and Planned in-class WtC
(rho = 0.692, p < 0.001). The same tendency appeared between Emotional Engagement and
Practice-seeking WtC (rho = 0.526, p < 0.05).
7.2 Qualitative Data

Content analysis was used to answer the fourth research question concerning students’
opinions about their engagement in performing the task, factors shaping it and the role their
contribution had on completing the task as well as their linguistic development.
Level of Engagement—Positive Emotions. Most students reported only a moderate level
of engagement, with the exception of two respondents who said they were engaged to a very
high degree, mainly because they enjoyed the topic and liked the random partner they were
assigned to work with. All of the participants were very much satisfied with the way they
performed the activity; this was mainly because they managed to reach the desired aim of each
of the tasks in the allocated time of 5 min for each of the tasks. They did not find the tasks
challenging because their completion did not require any preparation nor use of complicated
vocabulary.
Social Aspect. The way the interlocutor behaved during interaction appeared crucial for
the speaker, both in the case of engagement and satisfaction. Equal engagement of both
interlocutors in terms of generated ideas, attentiveness, formulated questions ensured an
undisturbed conversation flow, as in the example quote: “my partners listened to me and
answered my questions but also motivated me and asked questions so I could say something.”
The respondents appreciated expressions of agreement and support for the choices they
made. Since each of the tasks was done with a different partner, the students reported changes
in their willingness to interact, and thus domineering partners discouraged less forceful
students. Moreover, some of the students stressed the importance of having good relationships
with the conversation partner: “I think we like each other, we often sit together in classes, so I
enjoyed talking to her very much and we have similar interests and, you know, we like the
same things, so we finished quickly.” The novelty effect, in one of the cases, also contributed to
enhanced engagement as in “we have never worked together in any class before so it was
funny to talk to him, to learn what he liked watching on tv (…) and get to know him.”
Language Development. Most agreed that doing the tasks was a way of developing their
language skills: “one needs to practice,” “it’s always good to practice.” They perceived the study
procedure as an additional opportunity to use the language, negotiate meaning and learn from
others: “it’s a pity we don’t have such activities in our conversation classes, usually we talk
about serious things no one cares about (…) because we could say more about ordinary
things.”
Individual Contribution. All of the respondents declared that the tasks would not have
been done without their active involvement. Some expressed their share of work in
percentages—from 50% to 90%. The fact that they were being recorded motivated them to
continue even if their partners remained silent: “when your partner isn’t answering,
communication stops, so I had to go on, sometimes repeating things.” The proactive stance
some of the students assumed stemmed from the feeling of responsibility, especially if the
partner did not appear willing to speak: “she didn’t say much and I knew it was going to be a
disaster in the recording later when you listen to it and I started asking questions and what
she thought about stuff.”
Another look was taken at the qualitative data depending on participants’ output. The
students were divided according to the number of words produced and number of turns taken
and the highest and lowest score quadrants were taken into account. The participants with the
highest word count were the most satisfied with how they worked, appreciating the
opportunity to share information and learn about others. They liked the social aspect of
encounters with people they never or rarely met. They said the tasks were cognitively
challenging and assured that they had put much effort in performing them and trying to stay
focused throughout. Moreover, they believed they contributed more to interaction than their
partners and tried to encourage them to speak more. Those students who uttered the smallest
number of words were satisfied with their performance only to a moderate degree, but they
felt relaxed and thought the tasks were not very demanding. Motivation to say something
usually came from interlocutors’ questions. They also observed that too much time was given
to perform such uncomplicated activities.
The students with the highest number of turns stressed the importance of having good
personal relationships with interlocutors. The feeling of security helped them perform a
relatively natural conversation with many questions, cues and interjections or expressions of
approval or empathy. In some cases, the active stance resulted from no or very little
contribution on the part of the partner and the feeling they had to take over if the task was to
be done. The students with the lowest number of turns declared they felt overwhelmed by the
challenge of the activities themselves, or the fact that they were being recorded, or by the
partner’s dominant style. Still, they appreciated the opportunity to learn or revise vocabulary
that taking part in the study offered to them.
8 Discussion
The results did not show a strong link between students’ actual communicative behavior and
WtC reported in the survey. The word count did not correlate significantly with any of WtC
subtypes and the only significant correlation was noted for turns and Unplanned in-class WtC,
which is willingness to interact with the teacher and peers. The result is not surprising, given
the complexity of forces interacting to produce a wish to speak in a foreign language; thus
linguistic output might have been under the influence of conditions that did not correspond to
a general disposition the questionnaire could tap. On the other hand, this particular WtC facet
represents a person’s openness and eagerness to cooperate with others to learn and practice,
and that is why students with higher levels of Unplanned WtC took more turns. No significant
link was noted between any of the engagement dimensions and number of words and turns,
which implies a more dynamic nature of classroom engagement dependent on shifts of
context-related variables that evade the questionnaire measure, most likely capable of gauging
general tendencies rather that situated approaches.
When it comes to the relationship between WtC and engagement, a number of significant
correlations were found. The significant relationship between Emotional Engagement and
Practice-seeking WtC can be accounted for by the fact that being willing to use English out of
class or modifying one’s utterances in response to an indication of an error, requires a positive
emotional climate and having good relationships with interlocutors. The same facet of WtC
also correlated significantly with Cognitive Engagement, which consists in applying
sophisticated strategies to language learning, and it seems that items included in the Practice-
seeking scale represent techniques which could be understood as strategies for learning a
language. A significant connection between Cognitive Engagement and Planned in-class WtC
can be explained on similar grounds: this type of WtC also involves readiness to use certain
types of classroom-based strategies to practice the language.
The qualitative findings show that most of the students, with very few exceptions, felt
engaged in the activities and enjoyed taking part in them. Their positive emotions, Emotional
Engagement, stemmed from a favourable appraisal of the tasks’ format (prompts, topic,
instructions) and easiness of language that was required to accomplish the aims. However, a
stronger predictor of positive affect were good relationships with conversation partners or an
opportunity to interact with a new partner and get to know them better.
The importance attached to interpersonal relations and their impact on students’ declared
engagement calls for readdressing the role of Social Engagement in the engagement model.
Introduced and discussed by Svalberg (2009) as a component on a par with other engagement
dimensions, Social Engagement has not been considered in many recent studies because, as
explained by Mercer (2019, p. 4), “all aspects of cognition and affect are socially situated and
behavior typically involves others in social settings,” thus even if behavioral, cognitive and
emotional engagement types are interrelated, there is no denying they are distinct and all
happen in the social context.
More output was also generated in the presence of the feeling of responsibility, which
corresponds to the findings by de Saint Léger and Storch (2009), who, while investigating
classroom WtC, established that students who felt responsible were more willing to speak. In
the same study the researchers found that apart from responsibility, the feelings of security
and excitement were also important predictors of communicative behavior. In the present
study, participants were likely to be more engaged in the activities when they felt secure
among peers whom they liked and knew. As a whole, the findings seem consistent with the
SSMMD model, according to which engagement is linked to satisfying basic psychological
needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness (cf. Dincer et al., 2019; Noels et al., 2018).
Students who felt more autonomous asked more questions, offered suggestions and took
responsibility for the activity’s flow. Such students also chose to stay focused and perceived
the tasks as challenges and an opportunity to learn. A feeling of competence shown in
students’ conviction that they knew prerequisite vocabulary increased their eagerness to go
on with the discussion. And finally, relatedness was evident in the participants’ reference to
social bonds helpful in sustaining communication.
A number of limitations need to be acknowledged here. First, it appears that conclusions
based on data collected from such a small sample cannot be generalized. That is why caution
should be taken while considering numerical data gathered here. The sample size might have
also impinged on unsatisfactory reliability measures of two out of four engagement scales. It
needs also to be stressed that the original engagement scales (Reeve & Tseng, 2011), were
meant to tap into learner engagement in lessons of language, whereas in the present study
they were employed to report on two tasks, which might have caused inconsistent reactions of
the participants. Moreover, the sample’s unique character, they were English majors, has to be
taken into account as they may not be representative; thus, other age groups and proficiency
levels should be considered to produce a more comprehensive picture of influences hindering
or enhancing engagement before teaching recommendations are offered.
9 Conclusion
The main goal the present study pursued was exploring the relationship between actual
communicative behavior observed in the classroom and two constructs whose level was
indicated by means of surveys: WtC and classroom engagement. Showing interdependence
between these two multidimensional concepts was a secondary study aim. Although WtC and
engagement have sometimes been operationalized as actual communicative behavior in the
literature, the analysis of the quantitative data did not show a clear link between the concepts.
Correlations between language output and questionnaire data were not found with the only
exception of turns and Unplanned WtC. The relationship between engagement and linguistic
output was not significant. The fact that certain WtC facets correlate with particular
engagement dimensions draws attention to a considerable overlap between the constructs:
some scale items seem to tap into exactly the same issues. It appears that comparisons of
means for WtC, engagement, word count and turns failed to capture an interplay of cognitive,
affective, motivational and behavioral variables involved in task performance, which definitely
calls for involving larger samples and different contexts as well. More explanatory potential
was found in qualitative data collected by means of post-task interviews. Many of the students’
opinions and comments revolved around the theme of cooperation with others, the
importance of the interlocutor’s response and engagement. It seems that considering social
engagement as a separate component could help understand how students engage themselves
in communicative activities performed in the classroom. This fragmentary picture does not
provide sufficient grounds for formulating far-reaching teaching recommendations, but it
appears a step towards a better understanding of the impact of the social context on learning
outcomes.
Table 1 Spearman rank-order correlations *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001

Words Turns Unplanned Planned Practice- Emotional Cognitive
WtC WtC seeking WtC engagement engagement

Words rho 0.233 0.407 305 211 0.219 0.126

Sig 0.404 0.133 0.269 0.450 0.433 0.653

Turns rho 0.233 0.677** 0.176 0.268 −0.0159 0.165

Sig 0.404 0.006 0.530 0.335 0.572 0.556

Unplanned WtC rho 0.407 0.677** −0.140 211 0.019 −0.020

Sig 0.133 0.006 0.619 0.450 0.946 0.943

Planned WtC rho 0.305 0.176 −0.140 0.225 0.139 0.692**

Sig 0.269 0.530 0.619 0.419 0.621 0.004

Practice-seeking rho 0.211 0.268 0.211 0.225 0.526* 0.626*
WtC

Sig 0.450 0.335 0.450 0.419 0.044 0.012

Emotional rho 0.219 −0.159 0.019 0.139 0.526* 0.671**
engagement

Sig 0.433 0.572 0.946 0.621 0.044 0.006

Cognitive rho 0.126 0.165 −0.020 0.692** 0.626* 0.625*
engagement

Sig 0.653 0.556 0.943 0.004 0.012 0.013
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and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_7
Positive Institutional Policies in Language Education

Contexts: A Case Study
Katarzyna Budzińska1
(1) Language Centre, Lodz University of Technology, Al. Politechniki 12, 90-924 Lodz, Poland

Abstract
Positive psychology in education, labelled as Positive Education (PE), puts well-being at the
centre of education together with academic subjects. Recently, the notion of Positive Language
Education (PLE) has been introduced, which combines PE and Language Education. Mercer et
al. (2018) highlight the need to create a universal framework of PLE and argue that PLE can be
achieved by combining the teaching of linguistic skills together with 21st-century
competences such as those promoting well-being. Nevertheless, if there is a mismatch with the
implicit message about well-being being conveyed by the institution as a whole, it is not
sufficient to enact PLE just on the level of teaching. It is vital that the institution also embodies
and communicates the principles of PLE in its structures, policies, and culture. The present
study aims at identifying the features constituting a positive institutional policy in a language
education setting. It was conducted in a private language school in Poland. The author used a
mixed method approach: Data were obtained through the use of narratives, analysed using the
PERMA model and, subsequently, triangulated by means of a quantitative questionnaire. Ten
features of the institution’s policy reflecting PERMA were identified. The study hopes to
contribute to a framework of PLE by adding to it the third positive psychology pillar—positive
institutions.
Keywords Positive psychology – Positive institutions – Institutional policy – PERMA –
Positive language education
Katarzyna Budzińska has a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from the University of Lodz and a
Cambridge Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She teaches at the
Lodz University of Technology, where she is involved in teacher training. She also works
freelance at the University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz, where she teaches Positive
Psychology and supervises MA dissertations in Applied Linguistics. Katarzyna’s main areas of
interest are psychology in language learning and positive psychology, whose third pillar,
positive institutions, she has been exploring recently.

1 Introduction
Positive Language Education (PLE), puts well-being at the centre of language education beside
language learning. Therefore, if an educational institution wants to implement PLE, it is
essential that it applies PERMA (see Gabryś-Barker, Jin et al., Kikuchi & Lake, Mystkowska-
Wiertelak, & Werbińska, this volume), a model of language learning well-being, in its
structures, policies, and culture alongside effective teaching practices. The chapter looks at the
language institution policy of a private language school in Poland and compares it with typical
state school policy using the PERMA framework. The aim of this research is to find out
whether and to what extent the policy of the institution reflects PERMA and thus, together
with well-being oriented pedagogical approaches to language learning, has the potential to
enact and communicate PLE. The paper also aims to identify PERMA quality language
institution policy features in order to demonstrate what institutions themselves can do to
achieve PLE. The study hopes to contribute to the PLE framework by adding the third pillar of
positive psychology (PP) to it and the perspective of the institution as a whole.
2 PP and PLE
PP, defined as “the empirical study of how people thrive and flourish,” “the study of the human
strengths and virtues that make life good” (MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014, p. 154), or “the
scientific study of what goes right in life” (Peterson, 2006), investigates and promotes human
well-being (Oxford, 2016, p. 21) as well as the techniques that can enable living well
(MacIntyre, 2016). The objective of PP is to build positive emotions, greater engagement, and
an appreciation of the meaning in life rather than to come to terms with negative experiences
(Seligman, 2006). Even though the modern PP movement was launched in 1998, when Martin
Seligman became the president of the American Psychological Association, its roots are in
humanistic psychology and with such scholars as Maslow, Bruner or Moskowitz. In fact, as
Malczewska-Webb (2016, p. 194) observes, “human happiness is deeply rooted in ancient
philosophy and was explored in the virtue ethics of Confucius, Mencius and Aristotle.”
What makes PP different from traditional psychology is that instead of focusing on the
negative, for example, mental illnesses or disorders and their treatment, PP focuses on the
positive. It aims at helping people to lead better lives by building on their strengths and
promoting positive attributes such as resilience, happiness, or optimism. PP looks at human
well-being and explores how people can function to the best of their potential (Malczewska-
Webb, 2016, p. 194) and how they can “thrive and flourish” (MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014, p.
154).
PP was founded on three main pillars (see Gabryś-Barker, MacIntyre, Seidl, & Werbińska,
this volume): positive emotions and feelings, positive character traits of people associated
with living well and positive institutions, defined as “organizational structures that enable
success and promote positive language learning environments” (MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014, p.
165). However, research in the third pillar has been scarce so far. In order to partially fill the
gap, Budzińska (2018) has studied the nature of positive institutions in language education
contexts. In her study, she demonstrated that the three main components of positive
institutions are a positive physical structure, the adoption of positive pedagogical approaches
and the positive psychological consequences of being educated in the particular context such
as low anxiety, motivation, or enjoyment.
Recently, a new term, Positive Education (PE), has been used to describe a PP-informed
approach to education. The term has been defined as “applications of positive psychology
within schools” (MacIntyre et al., 2019a, p. 266), “the bringing together of the science of
positive psychology with best practices in teaching, to encourage and support schools and
individuals to flourish” (Norrish, 2015, p. xxvii). As Mercer et al. (2018, p. 19) explain, “PE
seeks to put wellbeing at the core of education alongside academic subjects without either
being compromised by the other.”
Together with the PE, the notion of PLE has been introduced, which stems from a
combination of PE and Language Education (Mercer et al., 2018, p. 11). Mercer et al. (2018)
argue that PLE can be achieved by combining the teaching of linguistic skills together with
21st-century competences such as those promoting well-being. The notion seems to offer an
alternative lens for understanding positive institutions in a language education context.
To promote well-being in language education, Mercer et al. (2018, p. 24) highlight the need
for creating a universal framework of PLE:
We need to work towards a framework of Positive Language Education that can be

empirically validated and further developed, and which can be practically implemented
in diverse cultural and linguistic settings without prescriptivism and in sustainable
ways. (p. 24)
Since PLE means applying PP in Language Education, it is essential to look at the model for
PP, PERMA, which was introduced by Seligman (2011) in his book Flourish. The acronym
represents five elements of PP: Positive emotion, Engagement, positive interpersonal
Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment. (P) positive emotion is related to feeling of
happiness such as joyfulness, contentment and cheerfulness. (E) engagement is about being
engaged in activities, which involves feeling interested and absorbed. Engagement has been
interpreted as flow (Csíkszentmihályi, 1990, 1997, 2008; Egbert, 2003). This theory highlights
the importance of intrinsic motivation in achieving goals. Csíkszentmihályi (1990) states that
what makes experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called ‘flow.’ It is a state
of concentration so focused that it leads to a total absorption in an activity and, at the same
time, to improved performance on a task. (R) positive Interpersonal relationships have been
interpreted as feeling socially integrated, cared for and supported by others. (M) meaning
refers to serving a cause other than the self, believing in the value of life. The fifth element, (A)
accomplishment, is about identifying areas of achievement, progress towards objectives, and
believing that your daily life brings you closer to achieving aims.
I would like to argue that if an institution wants to implement PLE, its structures, policies,
and culture ought to embody and communicate the principles of PLE, e.g., reflect all five
elements of PERMA as well as promote successful language learning. It seems that enacting
PLE on the level of teaching on its own may not be sufficient if there is a mismatch with the
implicit message about well-being being conveyed by the institution as a whole. It is vital that
the institution also embodies and communicates the principles of PLE in its structures,
policies, and culture.
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the school policy of an institution in a
language education context using the PERMA framework to find out whether the policy
reflects the five PERMA constructs and can be thought of as promoting well-being. The study
also aims to identify the PERMA quality institution policy features, which would add to the
PLE framework that Mercer et al. (2018, p. 24) have called for.
3 Foreign Language Education in the Polish Context

In Poland, languages are generally taught in two types of context: state schools and private
language schools, which complement state schools and play a crucial role in language
education. Classes at state schools are obligatory and free and usually take place in the
morning, while private school lessons start in the afternoon and are paid for. Many learners
study a foreign language in both contexts. They are often sent by their parents to attend
private language school classes on top of their state school lessons to increase their hours of
language learning. Private language tuition is also popular because of the general belief that its
quality is higher than state school tuition, which partly results from student and parent
expectations as paying customers. Another group of learners are adults who studied a foreign
language at state schools in the past and who want to refresh or expand their knowledge.
There is also a small group of students who studied one language in state schools and are
learning another one from scratch.
A salient difference between the two contexts is the (reported) speed of progress.
According to the core curriculum from 2017 (see the Ministry of Education website), students
achieve level B1 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) after 12 years of
state school foreign language education, whereas in the private language school context, it is
reportedly possible to achieve the same level in three or four years (see the school website).
Apart from the information on the websites, the present author draws on her own twenty-year
private language school experience as well as her two-year experience as a state school
language teacher in which she also observed quicker learning progress in the private school
context. Furthermore, the author is familiar with both contexts also from the parental
perspective, since her daughter attended English classes at a private language school for seven
years, starting as an elementary learner and finishing at an advanced level with a Cambridge
Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) on top of her state school education.
4 The Present Study

1. What is the participants’ perception of the policy of their institution?

2.
How does it compare with their perception of state school policy?
3.
Does the policy of the institution reflect PERMA?
4.
Which features of the institution policy promote PLE for students and instructors?
4.2 Participants and Context
The participants were learners in a private language school of English. There were thirty-three
students: thirteen males and twenty females. Their level of English ranged from intermediate
(B1) to advanced (C1). All of them were Polish. Their ages were between 14 and 45. The
participants studied in four different groups of 6–10 learners per group divided according to
their age as well as level. There were three intermediate (B1) and one advanced (C1) group.
There was one group of younger learners of 14–17-year-olds and three adult groups of
students who were aged 18 and above. The adults were university students and well-educated
professionals. The participants were either state school students or adults who had studied at
least one foreign language in state schools. All of the school’s fifteen instructors participated in
the study. Twelve were Polish nationals and three were British.
4.3 Instruments and Procedure

In order to obtain qualitative data, student and teacher narratives were utilised. As Mackey
and Gass (2005) state, carefully tailored questions can elicit learners’ reports about their
internal processes and thoughts. The student participants expressed their opinions on the
policy of the institution where the language tuition took place and compared this policy to the
language policies in state schools, where the respondents also studied English or other foreign
languages.
A set of five open questions was presented to the participants. The students were asked to
write a narrative of up to one paragraph in answer to each. The questions were both in Polish
and English and the students had the choice of using either Polish or English to answer them.
This way the participants were able to practise their English while they were providing data
for the research. Generally, higher level, or more confident students preferred writing in
English. The lower level participants when writing in English provided the data in simpler
language, occasionally containing errors, however, the meaning of their responses was always
clear. The prompt questions were as follows:
1.
Do you find studying at this school any different from studying at a state school? If so,
what is the difference?
2.
Which school do you prefer? Why?
3.
Where do you think you can achieve better results? Why?
4.
Is studying at this school less stressful than at a state school? Why?
5. Do you think there are differences between this school and state schools as far as the
following aspects are concerned? Can you describe them:

(a)
The teachers and teaching (requirements, stress level, formality, lesson quality, etc.)
(b)
School policy (grades, tests, promotion to a higher level, evaluation for public
speaking, etc.)
(c)
Lesson enjoyment.
Any analysis of an educational institution cannot be complete without the instructors’
voice since both learners and teachers are parts of the same organization. An institutional
policy can only be regarded as positive if it promotes student as well as teacher well-being.
At the same time as the student narratives were being collected, handouts with teacher
narrative questions were distributed to the instructors. The teachers filled them out at a time
convenient to themselves and handed them into the researcher. The questions were:
Do you think that the policy of the school where you are teaching can be labelled as
positive (taking care of student and teacher well-being as well as allowing learners to
flourish)?
If so, why? If not, what would you change in the institution policy to make it positive?
Please take into consideration:
Resources.
Manner of teaching.
Teacher competence.
Grades, tests, exams.
Language of instruction.
Group size.
Mixed levels.
Efficiency of teaching.
Personal enjoyment of working there (e.g., remuneration, etc.).
To increase trust in the validity of the results obtained by means of this qualitative
instrument, the data collected through the narratives were triangulated by using a quantitative
instrument—a questionnaire created on the basis of the results obtained in the narratives. The
student narratives identified seven positive features of the policy of the institutions. These
were put into a questionnaire and participants were asked to evaluate their importance on a
four-point Likert scale selecting one of four options: 4—very helpful, 3—helpful, 2—unhelpful,
1—very unhelpful.
The quantitative data gathered from the questionnaires were put into an excel worksheet
which was then used to calculate the mean score and standard deviation for each positive
element of the policy for the purpose of arranging the positive policy features in order of
importance, i.e., to find out how much each element of the policy was valued by the students
(see Table 4).
4.4 Analysis
The qualitative data analysis involved inductive coding. The data were analysed for salient
ideas, and, subsequently, a set of themes was created. The author then sought to assign these
themes to PERMA categories.
As far as the quantitative data analysis is concerned, a mean score (calculated using excel)
of 3–4 (the respondents find a given aspect of the policy either helpful or very helpful)
suggested that a given policy element was confirmed to be perceived as positive by the
respondents, while a mean score of 1–2 (the respondents find a given aspect of the policy
either unhelpful or very unhelpful) would have suggested that a given policy element was
regarded by the students as negative (see Table 4).
5 Results and Discussion

5.1 Qualitative Data
Table 1 presents the qualitative study results, e.g., features of the institutional policy
considered to be positive by the participants of the study and the corresponding pillars of
PERMA they reflect. The features will be discussed below both from student and teacher
points of view. As Mercer, Oberdorfer, and Saleem (2016, p. 224) point out, “the well-being of
both teachers and learners are intricately connected,” which means that teacher well-being
has an effect on student well-being, and conversely, happy learners make for happy teachers
too. In a similar vein, Day and Gu (2010) advocate that teacher professional well-being is
essential in their ability to teach or “central to their ability to teach to their full potential”
(MacIntyre et al., 2019b, p. 26). Each positive feature presented below will be accompanied by
up to the three most pertinent excerpts from the participant narratives (Table 2).
Table 1 Student groups
Level Age Total student number Number of males Number of females
Intermediate 14–17 6 0 6
intermediate 16+ 6 3 3
intermediate 16+ 11 4 6
advanced 16+ 10 5 5
Table 2 Positive features of the institutional policy with corresponding PERMA pillars
Positive institution feature PERMA element observed in the feature
1 Lack of mixed levels P, A
2 Instruction tailored to student level P, A
3 Small class size P, E, R, A
4 Little emphasis on grades P, E, M, A
5 Positive evaluation P
6 L2 as a language of instruction M, A
7 Paid tuition E, M
8 Professional development A
9 High employment requirements A, M
10 Teacher autonomy P
5.1.1 Lack of Mixed Levels

The lack of mixed levels seems to be a prominent positive feature of the policy of this language
institution. Even though leading state schools in Poland increasingly try to place students
according to their proficiency level, in most state schools, there are usually no more than two
entrance levels, i.e., less and more advanced. According to the school policy where the study
took place, all students are placed on the basis of a written and an oral test. On top of this,
during the first few lessons, teachers are encouraged to verify the level of the class they are
teaching and move learners up or down in order to minimise the differences between student
advancement. Several participants emphasise that unlike in state schools, in this institution,
students are well placed. They complain that state schools tend to cater for average learners.
Those who are more advanced and need to be stretched do not seem to benefit from teaching
at a level below their capabilities. Likewise, students at a lower level of achievement may find
their lessons too difficult.
The following excerpts from the narratives present the participant positive feelings about
studying a foreign language in a group of learners at a similar advancement level.
Semiramida: I decided to study at a private language school because I wanted to study
English on a level tailored to me, not to the whole group.
Miłosz: In state schools the teaching level has to be tailored to average students. This is
why I enrolled for a course at this school.
Flora: In this school other participants are at a similar level of advancement to me. For me
it’s a big advantage because I’m not afraid to speak with them in English. I’m not afraid of
being laughed at.
Miłosz’s comment highlights the fact that in mixed level classes it is the average learners
that are most likely to make progress since the instruction tends to be tailored to them.
Therefore, a lack of mixed levels may contribute to the last PERMA pillar, A—accomplishment
of all learners.
The last comment, made by Flora, demonstrates another positive facet of classes made up
of learners at the same level of advancement. Her remark suggests that learners experience
less anxiety when they study with others who are not notably more proficient than them.
Some learners may lose confidence or even willingness to communicate when they study with
obviously more advanced learners. Students reveal that they feel less anxious when talking to
someone whose proficiency level is not much higher than theirs. Consequently, the lack of
mixed proficiency levels is a feature of the language institution policy contributing to the first
PERMA pillar, that is P—positive emotions. In addition, teaching classes of students at the
same level of proficiency is easier and less frustrating for instructors. Instead of using
differentiated instruction, they can get on with material, which may result in quicker progress.
5.1.2 Instruction Tailored to Student Level

Precise placement facilitates another element of the positive policy of the institution, which is
tailoring instruction to the students’ level and needs:
Celestyna: One difference between studying at this school and a state school is that the
class level is more precisely tailored to student level.
This would not be possible, however, without providing instruction at a wide range of
proficiency levels. The institution offers courses in ten levels from Elementary to Post-
Proficiency (see the institution website). Each of the levels is meant to be achieved in one year.
This promotes and makes visible learner progress, which leads to PERMA element A—
accomplishment. Furthermore, students are likely to be more content since instruction which
is too easy or too difficult can be a source of anxiety (Budzińska, 2015). As a result, the policy
of the institution about tailoring instruction to student level promotes the first PERMA pillar P
—positive emotions. This policy makes the teacher’s job more pleasant because the students
are likely to feel more contented when the instruction level is better attuned to their needs.
5.1.3 Small Class Size

Small student numbers per class is another feature of the positive policy of the institution.
According to the policy, the number must not exceed 12 learners. In practice, many classes
consist of 5–7 students, which was also the case with 12 participants in the present research.
The class size in a state school for foreign language learning tends to be a little larger, between
10 and 17 learners and must not exceed 24. The participants feel that studying in small classes
facilitates learning and many decided to study in this institution for this particular reason.
Smaller class sizes contribute to greater opportunity to use the target language, which
contributes to the last PERMA element, A—accomplishment.
Anastazja: Studying in this school is more efficient than at state schools thanks to smaller
classes.
Mieszko: One can definitely achieve better results at this school, partly because the classes
are much smaller.
Róża: I decided to study at a private language school because here we have small groups.
Studying in small classes is also likely to create greater learner engagement as well as a
friendlier, more familiar, “family” (Jagoda) atmosphere, which may also have an impact on
student contentment (E-engagement, P—positive emotions). Additionally, studying in small
groups can facilitate bond-building between learners, which is related to the PERMA element
R—Positive Relationships. Small groups help instructors to get to know the students and treat
them as individuals and meet individual student needs, which also reflects the PERMA pillar R
—Positive Relationships. Small class size has also been mentioned in the instructor narratives
as an element of positive institutional policy, since it has a beneficial impact on working
conditions.
5.1.4 Little Emphasis on Grades

One of the main differences between studying at state schools and in a private language school
is that in the latter there is far less emphasis put on grades. Unlike in state schools, at the
private institution, learners receive results in percentages. Furthermore, they do not receive a
grade at the end of the academic year. Instead, they get a more descriptive assessment, i.e.,
merit, good, or pass. In addition, there is very little stress related to passing a year, since it is
based on coursework as well as the final test. In very rare cases, when learners are required to
repeat a year, they do it with a different course book and instructor. Therefore, this is not
considered punishment, but another course that aims at helping learners to catch up with
material or improve some language skills. Another reason why private language school
students experience less anxiety related to grades is the fact that all tests including the final
one can be retaken. The following quotations demonstrate student positive feelings related to
the relaxed attitude of the institution to grades.
Semiramida: Studying at this institution is less stressful than at a state school because we
learn for ourselves, not just to get good grades.
Celestyna: In the private language school, the focus is on learning—development and not
on grades. Studying here can be less stressful because there’s less emphasis put on grades than
in the case of state schools.
Ula: Studying in the private language school is less stressful than studying at a state
school. If I don’t pass the final test, nothing will happen, I will not have to repeat a year. I will
just have to roll up my sleeves and revise material. The difference between private and state
schools is that at the state school the focus is on passing a year, while at the private school the
focus is on language learning.
The above comments show that learners benefit from focusing less on grades. They declare
that the lack of the final grade or exam at the end of the course makes them feel less anxious,
which is related to P—the positive emotion PERMA pillar. Furthermore, the participants
highlight that paying less attention to grades allows them to focus on learning and enjoy
learning for themselves. The learners see that the purpose of their learning is to expand their
knowledge, which reflects the PERMA pillar M—meaning. Moreover, the fact that the
participants focus on learning rather than grades indicates their they are intrinsically, rather
than extrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation, as Oxford (2014, p. 176) points out, is part
of flow, i.e., PERMA pillar E—engagement. Most researchers agree that intrinsic motivation
promotes spontaneous learning, has a self-sustaining dynamic and leads to more effective kind
of learning than extrinsic motivation (e.g., Wu, 2003 or Noels et al., 2000). Similarly, Ushioda
(2008), believes that the self-sustaining dynamics of intrinsic motivation may make it an
optimal form of learning motivation. Therefore, it seems that the fact that less emphasis is put
on grades may also be conducive to the PERMA pillar A—accomplishment. One of the
participant instructors, who also had state school experience, said that not having to give
grades on every lesson, was for her a relief, since she found grading stressful, time-consuming,
and making activities less successful because of student evaluation apprehension.
5.1.5 Positive Evaluation

The participant narratives highlight five main aspects of the positive policy of the institution
regarding student evaluation (Table 3).
Table 3 Positive evaluation policy of the institution
Lack of unannounced tests
Lack of evaluation for public speaking
Peer testing
Familiarising learners with the test format and contents
Providing ample opportunities for revision
While unannounced tests are common practice in state schools, this form of testing does
not take place at the institution analysed it this study, which students consider to be a positive
aspect of its policy. Generally, the policy makers of the institution believe that regular revision
is more important than testing. One of the school’s principles is that students should learn as
much as possible during their lesson time, therefore, revision and activation of the new
language are recommended to be used in every lesson. This is related to the institution’s
growth mindset, i.e., the belief that with effort students can improve and become more
competent (Williams et al., 2015, p. 70).
Revision is also likely to reduce test anxiety, since it allows students to be better prepared
and thus more confident. In addition, the teachers try to make tests as little anxiety-provoking
as possible. One of the techniques recommended by the management of the institution is peer-
testing. Teachers also try to reduce test anxiety by familiarising students with the test format
and contents, creating a friendly atmosphere, playing background music, or allowing as much
time as learners need. Moreover, the participants point out the fact that at this institution,
unlike in state schools, students are not evaluated for giving speeches in front of other
learners. All in all, the evaluation methods used by the institution do not seem to provoke as
much test anxiety as the methods used by state schools. The institution attempts to alleviate
test and evaluation anxiety in order to promote the PERMA element P—positive emotions. The
following comments illustrate favourable student opinions of the evaluation policy of the
institution:
Wioletta: Tests reflect what we have done in class.
Józefina: Tests at this school are less stressful than in state schools.
Róża: At this institution, there is a friendly approach to all methods of testing, which
improves their quality.
This policy has also been mentioned by a few teacher participants, who believe that it has a
favourable influence on class atmosphere and the instructor’s rapport with learners, since
negative grades may create animosity towards teachers.
5.1.6 L2 as a Language of Instruction

Employing L2 as the language of instruction appears to be another prominent feature of a
positive policy of the institution since its importance has been repeatedly highlighted in the
narratives. The participants believe that when foreign language classes are conducted in the
target language they can learn more and achieve better results (PERMA pillar A—
Accomplishment). In Poland, L2 is used as the language of instruction in many high schools,
however, this is not usually the case in primary or middle schools. When classes are conducted
in L2, not only are learners provided with more of the target language input, but they also use
it for real life purposes, e.g., classroom interaction, which provides pupils with authentic use of
the language they are studying. Foreign language studies then become more meaningful,
which reflects the PERMA pillar M—Meaning. The following excerpt from one of the
participants illustrates a student’s appreciation of L2 as the language of instruction as part of
the policy of the institution.
Angelika: I prefer private language school tuition. One can achieve better results here
owing to the fact that the classes are conducted in English.
5.1.7 Paid Tuition

One of the biggest differences between private and state schools is the fact that one has to pay
for tuition. This could be considered a negative feature as it potentially excludes students
coming from poor families. It needs to be pointed out, however, that these fees are relatively
low and affordable for most Polish people. The participants have brought up the subject of fees
several times in their journals and quite surprisingly, as the extracts from the narratives below
demonstrate, considered them a positive feature.
Kamil: Studying at a private language school I feel very motivated to work hard (when one
pays, one would like to see the effects of the study).
Hiacynta: I think I can achieve better results in a private language school. I paid for my
own so it would be a waste of money not to learn.
The respondents seem to believe that fees are a motivating factor. They appreciate the
value of money spent and do not want to waste it, which appears to make them study harder
to achieve better results. This is in line with Norton’s (2013, p. 3) theory of investment,
according to which, “a learner can be highly motivated to learn a language, but not necessarily
invested in a given set of language practices. However, a learner who is invested in a given set of
language practices would most likely be a motivated language learner.” To conclude, paid
tuition seems to be another positive feature of the institution policy, since student investment
seems to increase the PERMA pillars E—engagement and M—meaning in terms of having
direction in life (Butler & Kern, 2016).
Two teachers commented that paid tuition results in classes mostly made up of motivated
students who attend the classes because they want to and not because they have to. Teaching
motivated students is enjoyable for instructors, and consequently contributes to their well-
being.
5.1.8 Professional Development

The last three positive institution policy features have transpired from the teacher narratives.
The teachers unanimously speak highly of the policy of the institution, particularly of its
teacher development programme which involves annual lesson observations conducted by
professional trainers, annual peer observations as well as an annual in-house teacher-training
conference. Another element of the positive policy from the instructor point of view is
providing constantly updated resources both for teaching and professional development.
Anderson et al. (2019, p. 41) assert that suitable professional development, teacher training,
and instructional materials enhance teacher competence, which in turn “nourishes teacher
wellbeing.” The excerpts below present positive teacher comments regarding the intuition’s
policy of promoting professional development and providing relevant resources.
Darren: The policy of the school is definitely positive. You can develop yourself thanks to
contact with experienced teachers, workshops, training. We have a wide range of
supplementary materials available.
Phil: The school is certainly a positive place for teachers to work for. The place is
promoting self-development. I really like peer-motivation and training. I benefit a lot from it. I
am very impressed with our constantly updated resource library and the fact that everything
is bought when requested. I enjoy working with small groups of highly motivated students.
Izyda: At this school there is a lot of scope for professional development, well equipped
classrooms and adequate salaries. It’s the best place I’ve worked in.
The promotion of teacher professional development is conducive to student
accomplishment in language learning, the PERMA pillar A.
5.1.9 High Employment Requirements

The institution has high employment requirements. Therefore, all the teaching staff either
hold an MA degree in English or CELTA or DELTA if they are native speakers. Additional
qualifications are desirable. Apart from their qualifications, the candidates are also judged on
their lesson planning. Consequently, among the instructors there are certified teacher trainers,
Cambridge ESOL examiners as well as course book and ELT material writers. As the excerpts
below indicate, high employment requirements have a considerable influence on the staff
morale, motivation, and the work atmosphere, making the teachers’ job meaningful, which
reflects the PERMA pillar M—Meaning.
Bożena: Working at this institution you can develop yourself thanks to contact with
experienced teachers.
Phil: What I really like about this school is the fact that the teachers motivate each other.
The teachers’ appreciation of the chance to grow and learn is consistent with the results of
Barbieri et al.’s (2019, p. 1) study which demonstrates that “the teachers’ positive perception of
the working environment in terms of availability of adequate human and physical resources, and
professional development opportunities, provide a substantial state of well-being at work, and
are related to teachers’ job satisfaction.”
In addition, better qualified teachers apart from being valuable colleagues, are likely to
result in higher student accomplishment (PERMA pillar A).
5.1.10 Teacher Autonomy

In addition to the opportunities for professional development, the teachers value greatly the
institution policy aspects giving them autonomy. The instructors can choose the levels they
want to teach, the course books they use, and even the days, or dates they wish to teach within
a given semester. Additionally, most policy-making is democratic and all strategies, changes
and new policies are discussed and then voted on by all members of staff.
Bożena: For me, this is the best working environment I’ve ever worked in—my personal
space is respected and my preferences as for selecting the level of teaching considered prior to
giving me classes before each academic year begins.
Klementyna: I love the feeling of freedom owing to the choice of dates of my classes. This
flexibility has a positive effect on my family life. The fact that I can choose a course book lets
me use one that matches my teaching style and I feel comfortable with. I also value the fact
that all of us teachers are involved in the policy making of our school.
As the excerpts demonstrate, the amount of autonomy the instructors of the institution
receive contributes to teacher experiencing PERMA pillar P—positive emotions. This
resonates with Anderson et al.’s (2019, p. 141) statement that autonomy, together with
competence and relatedness are central to teacher well-being.
5.2 Quantitative Data

The mean for six out of seven institutional features ranges from 3.18 to 3.90, which
demonstrates that students regard them as either helpful or very helpful for studying English.
Although the lowest mean for the seventh item was 2.76, the feature is still considered
beneficial by 67% of the respondents. In conclusion, quantitative data confirm what students
have written in their narratives and are presented in Tables 4, 5 and 6.
Table 4 The number of students endorsing each answer

The policy Very unhelpful 1 Not helpful 2 Helpful 3 Very helpful 4
1 L2 as a language of instruction – – 3 30
2 Instruction tailored to student level – – 8 25
3 Small class size – 1 9 23
4 Lack of mixed levels – – 12 21
5 Positive evaluation – 3 13 17
6 Little emphasis on grades 1 7 10 15
7 Paid tuition 1 10 18 4
Table 5 The percentage of students endorsing each answer

1 L2 as a language of instruction – – 9% 91%

2 Instruction tailored to student level – – 24% 76%
3 Small class size – 3% 27% 70%
4 Lack of mixed levels – – 36% 64%
5 Positive evaluation – 9% 39% 52%
6 Little emphasis on grades 3% 21% 30% 46%
7 Paid tuition 3% 30% 55% 12%
Table 6 Positive features of the institutional policy in order of student perceptions of their helpfulness
The policy M SD
L2 as a language of instruction 3.90 0.29
Instruction tailored to student level 3.76 0.44
Small class size 3.67 0.54
Lack of mixed levels 3.64 0.49
Positive evaluation 3.42 0.66
Little emphasis on grades 3.18 0.88
Paid tuition 2.76 0.71
The institutional policy concerning instruction in the target language turned out to be the
most desirable one according to the learners. It obtained the highest mean (3.9) and was
endorsed by all of the participants. 91% of the respondents regard it as a very helpful factor in
foreign language acquisition and 9% as helpful. The fact that the institution tailors the
instruction to student level was also rated very highly with the mean of 3.76. The students
were consistent in their opinion about this policy feature with 76% participants considering it
very helpful and 24% helpful. The policy related to small class size obtained a very similar
score of 3.67 with 70% of the informants considering it very helpful and 27% helpful. One
participant did not find this aspect important. The institutional policy about keeping student
proficiency differences to the minimum was seen as positive by all of the respondents and had
the fourth highest mean of 3.64. The policy related to positive evaluation also had a high mean
of 3.42; however three participants did not think that this policy aspect was helpful. The fact
that the institution puts little emphasis on grades turned out to be slightly controversial, since
24% of the participants did not consider it helpful. However, it had a high mean of 3.18 with
the highest standard deviation of 0.88. One participant believed this policy aspect was
unhelpful and commented that “there is no motivation without grades.” As expected, the fact
that tuition is paid was the most controversial policy aspect with 33% of the participants
considering it a drawback. Nonetheless, 67% of the learners thought that this is positive,
which is in line with their opinions included in the journals.
6 Conclusion
In this paper, it has been proposed that enacting PLE only through teachers incorporating
positive interventions into their classes may not be sufficient. If a school wishes to introduce
or enact PLE, it is not enough to just do this on the level of teaching as this may result in a
mismatch with the implicit message about well-being being conveyed by the institution as a
whole. It is vital that the institution also embodies and communicates the principles of PLE in
its structures, policies, and organisational culture.
The chapter has outlined what factors contribute positively to learner and teacher well-
being from a PERMA perspective. The positive policies presented in the chapter could serve as
guidelines for other schools that want to enact PLE. This study is one of a very few so far
looking at the institution. More studies of institutions are needed, for example, those
incorporating other positive policies, so that language institutions worldwide can better
understand how to embody and communicate the good practices, which would set the scene
for PLE. Lastly, the chapter adds the third PP pillar—positive institutions—to the PLE
framework making it more comprehensive and expanding it from the classroom level to the
whole school level (Mercer et al., 2018, p. 24).
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https://podstawaprogramowa.pl/Liceum-technikum/Jezyk-obcy-nowozytny
http://www.elc.pl/kursy.htm
and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_8
“What Kind of Teachers We Are (Becoming) and

What Kind of Teachers We Might Be”—Making Sense
of Duoethnographic Positive Psychology-Related
Experience by Preservice English Teachers
Dorota Werbińska1
(1) Pomeranian University in Slupsk, Slupsk, Poland

Dorota Werbińska
Abstract
The chapter discusses the construct of preservice language teacher identity related to the
aspects of positive psychology. The author draws on findings from a three-stage longitudinal
duoethnographic study of 10 pairs (duo) of preservice English teachers with a view to
exploring what preservice teacher identities are emerging from their dialogues, which can also
shed light on their future teaching practice. The themes and discourses identified in the study
and interpreted in the context of the current theoretical frameworks imply that preservice
teacher identity is in a constant state of flux. It is suggested that the application of
duoethnographic dialogues in teacher preparation programmes may offer a way of capturing
its emergence in order to learn both about teacher identity and from teacher identity.
Keywords Preservice language teachers – Teacher identity – Duoethnography – Positive
psychology
Dorota Werbińska is Associate Professor in the Institute of Modern Languages at
Pomeranian University in Slupsk, Poland. A former teacher, a teacher trainer, and an in-service
teacher educator, she is an author of 4 books on modern language teachers and over 60
articles, book chapters, and reviews published nationally and internationally. Her main
academic interests are within the field of language teacher education, both pre-service and in-
service, in particular language teacher identity, teacher professional development, and
qualitative research in applied linguistics.

1 Introduction
Teacher identity has become a powerful lens to explore many topics related to language
teacher education. It has been studied through a teacher’s context, personal histories, social
identifiers, such as gender, ethnicity, religion, etc., a teacher’s sense-making of school reforms,
staying abroad, or shadowing of a teacher’s identity formation. More and more popular are the
views that language teacher preparation courses should move away from the formation of
language teachers as technicians with predetermined skills and make the construction of
teacher identity its primary goal (Yazan, 2019, p. 16). This is so because learning to teach is
not merely an acquisition of knowledge and skills but rather a matter of deciding what kind of
language teacher a person wants to be, which requires activities that would provide time and
space for reflection, make sense of experience and confront the affordances and constraints
shaping and limiting who and what a language teacher is.
This chapter discusses a one-semester long three-stage duoethnographic project which
was conducted by the author with twenty preservice English teachers in Poland. The research
reported here was part of a larger two-year investigation with different cohorts of teacher
candidates into their duoethnographic language learning and teaching experiences which
shape a language teacher identity. The present study supplements the pilot and previous
findings (Werbińska, 2018) and focuses on the aspects related to positive psychology (PP),
which were one of the serendipitous insights that the study uncovered. In particular, the
attention is placed on what kind of PP-related teacher identities the participants are
developing and may develop in the future.
The two main objectives of this chapter are: (1) to introduce duoethnography as a method
to explore preservice teacher identity; and (2) to contribute to the knowledge of preservice
teacher identity through the lens of PP. The opening section outlines the theoretical
framework for the study focusing on its three main constructs: preservice teacher identity,
duoethnography and positive psychology. Following this, a duoethnographic study is described
in which ten pairs of preservice English language teachers—the participants of the study–
reveal their identity-related aspects of PP.
Throughout the study, Gee’s (2000) conception of identity is used, according to whom
identity is “being recognized as a certain ‘kind of person,’ in a given context” (p. 99) or, by the
same token, the kind of teacher a person is in a given time and place. To me, such a conception
implies a person’s changing on the way of becoming a teacher, being a ‘teacher-in the making,’
or a ‘teacher-in-progress,’ depending on the context in which the teacher is now.
2 Theoretical Framework
The constructs of preservice teacher identity, duoethnography, and PP are briefly presented
and followed by an explanation of how together they can be used to study a preservice
language teacher’s well-being aspects of identity in a duoethnographic dialogue.
2.1 Preservice Teacher Identity

Although preservice teacher identity belongs to a more encompassing construct of teacher
identity, there have been so many studies on preservice language teacher identity in the last
decade or so that this distinction has been made here. Preservice teachers’ identities have
been investigated through analysing their evolving communities of practice (Clarke, 2008), the
situatedness of their identities due to surrounding cultures (Canagarajah, 2012), their
changing beliefs on the language skills and subsystems (Werbińska, 2013, 2017), beliefs on L1
and L2 discursively constructed (Kalaja, 2016), stories of change and continuity (Ruohotie-
Lyhty, 2016), reflection on the future (Urzua & Vasquez, 2008), the influence of mentor
teachers (Izadinia, 2015; Yuan, 2016), identity discourses (Alsup, 2006, 2019), a teaching
practicum (Trent, 2010), storying lives through teacher-authored narratives (Barkhuizen,
2011, 2016; Johnson & Golombek, 2002), to name but a few studies from a large body of
preservice identity research.
Overall, these studies predominantly define preservice teacher identity as dynamic,
multifarious, shifting, context-dependent, shaping teacher beliefs, approaches and interactions
with others (Duff & Uschida, 1997; Menard-Warwick, 2008). In addition, it has been found out
that teacher candidates’ identities are influenced by emotions as well as cognitions (Golombek
& Doran, 2014).
2.2 Duoethnography
The second useful construct in exploring what kind of teacher the participants are becoming is
a relatively new qualitative method created by Sawyer and Norris (2012) called
duoethnography. Duoethnography derives from narrative studies and refers to William Pinar’s
(2004) currere, according to which each person’s life is a curriculum that can be studied
critically. In line with this, in duoethnography, two or more individuals discuss a certain topic,
using, as sources, artefacts and photos pulled from autobiographical experiences.
Duoethnography juxtaposes the histories of two or more diverse people who experience
the same phenomenon in a different way. Although duoethnography uses autobiography, the
main focus is not the narrator, nor the topic itself, but personal experiences which are
reconceptualised, questioned and reflected upon. In other words, the information garnered
from duethnographic interactions is not aimed at presenting external ‘true’ reality but rather
the subjective experiences of the interlocutors.
I assumed that a duoethnographic dialogue would be a good research instrument to obtain
insights about the study participants’ experiences, interpretations or re-interpretations of
those experiences that constitute their teacher identity at the present moment. I took into
consideration the following arguments that, to my mind, help make duoethnography the most
appropriate method of data collection in this study:
1.
Dialogue is a relevant mechanism that underlies the relationship between teacher learning
and the formation of teacher identity, and if the dialogue is meaning-oriented, it leads to
strong and self-conscious teacher identities (Vermunt et al., 2017). In line with this, a
duoethnographic dialogue can be regarded as an important aspect of fostering meaning-
oriented learning.
2.
Teachers develop their identities by interacting with others but if they interact with
another preservice teacher who is also developing his/her identity, which is the case in a
duoethnographic dialogue described here, they both develop a preservice teacher’s
identity (Akerson et al., 2016).
3.
Identities have been defined as “conceptions of ourselves (…) conceptions of others about
us and our conceptions of others’ ways of ‘seeing’ us as we act, think, perform, feel, and
position ourselves in activity” (Varelas et al., 2007, p. 205). The information about all these
three kinds of conceptions is reflected in the design of my duoethnographic project.
4.
Identity can be shifted through raising critical consciousness and reflection (Cross, 2017,
p. 224). In line with this, a duothnographic conversation fosters critical reflection on
contradictions in the interlocutors’ experience, which may evoke new levels of awareness.
5.
Identity should be researched less procedurally and more as a messy and unpredictable
form of understanding teachers, their reflections, and their actions, as the inquiry process
itself is often more important than any specific conclusions that emerge from those
inquiries (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). In line with this argument, a duoethnographic
conversation is messy, unpredictable and emergent.
6.
For teacher education it is important to use an approach which gives students an
opportunity to contribute and build on insights they already have as a result of their
experience, to develop the ideas that are important to them personally, to engage and so
teach them more, to give confidence in presenting their insights and practising inquiry
abilities, to make their educators learn about them, and sometimes what they are
advocating (Beck & Kosnik, 2017, p. 111). It must be noted that all these opportunities are
offered by duoethnography.
2.3 Positive Psychology

Also crucial to unpack in this theoretical framework is the PP construct. PP is a relatively new
subfield of psychology originated by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi’s (2000). It has emerged
as a concept that criticises the preoccupation of contemporary psychology with a disease
model, a deficit-based approach, excessive focus on “isms” (e.g., sexism, ageism, racism) and
pathologies, and too little attention paid to a person’s life satisfaction and well-being
(Pluskota, 2014). Based on its three tenets: exploiting positive emotions, exploiting positive
personality traits, and exploiting positive social institutions (see Budzińska, Gabryś-Barker,
MacIntyre, & Seidl, this volume), and four pillars: virtue, meaning, resilience, and well-being,
PP emphasizes developing the best qualities in life (Seligman, 2005) and establishing original
theoretical models that concern a person’s life satisfaction and lead to a good life in general
(MacIntyre et al., 2016).
The useful frameworks of PP that can be well applied in SLA field are known as PERMA
(see Budzińska, Gabryś-Barker, Jin et al., Kikuchi & Lake, Mystkowska-Wiertelak, & Werbińska,
this volume), EMPATHICS (see Gabryś-Barker, this volume), and “broaden and build”
theory (see Jin et al., MacIntyre, Majchrzak & Ostrogska, & Mierzwa-Kamińska, this volume).
The first model, proposed by Seligman (2011), shows what is necessary to flourish in life. The
acronym PERMA stands for positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and
accomplishments, all of which have implications for language learning and teaching. The
second model, called EMPATHICS and proposed by Oxford (2016), is an adaptation and
extension of Seligman’s ideas. In her opening book chapter, Oxford (2016) explains her SLA
model that encompasses: emotion and empathy, meaning and motivation, perseverance,
agency and autonomy, time, hardiness and habits of mind, intelligences, character strengths,
and self-factors. In addition, Frederickson (2001) has put forward a “broaden-and-build”
theory of positive emotions, according to which the focus on positive emotions broadens
people’s minds, makes them think in creative and diverse ways, thereby expanding their
repertoires of skills and well-being.
All these models draw on many humanistic insights from prior research and generally
address the concepts of happiness and increased positivity in life. It must be noted, however,
that mere focusing on people’s strengths, opportunities and resources is insufficient in PP.
Acknowledging the existence of problems in the processes of language learning and teaching,
yet tapping into the people’s competences so as to build upon them (MacIntyre et al., 2019, p.
269) is important. While PP is an orientation that originated from research with adult
learners, it can be successfully applied with younger language learners in multiple learning
settings (Frydenberg, 2017).
2.4 Collaborative Constructs: Teacher Identity. Duoethnography and Positive

Psychology
Crucially, the three constructs: preservice teacher identity, duoethnography and PP are not
exclusive but exist in a mutually reinforcing manner. Preservice teacher identities, including
those aspects that are related to PP, can be negotiated and shaped in dialogues when the
partners discuss their language learning and teaching experiences. Therefore, the choice of a
duoethnographic method can be considered successful, as it makes, on the one hand, the
participants reveal their emerging teacher identities and, on the other hand, indirectly provide
the researcher with insights about who they are as preservice teachers and who they are
(becoming) as future professionals in the context of identity-related aspects of PP.
3 The Study
The design of the present project was inspired by Breault’s (2015) study and Brown and
Barrett’s (2015) duoethnographic investigation.
The focus, as presented in this chapter, was to find out what PP-related language teacher
ideologies are emerging (who/what kind of teachers they are now in the context of the PP
constructs) at the end of their language teacher BA education, which can be extrapolated to
investigating what language teacher PP-related identities they might adopt (who/what kind of
teachers they will be in the context of the PP constructs) in the future.
3.1 Participants
The participants of the project were a group of students (n = 20, ten pairs) attending the last
term of their BA studies in English with a profile in language teaching. The group consisted of
seventeen women and three men. One third of the participants were in the process of doing
their school placements in primary school. In addition, as many as sixteen of them offered
private English lessons to learners in all age groups.
3.2 Methodology
The study took place in the winter term (October 2017–January 2018) and comprised the
three stages presented below.
Stage 1: Introduction to the project (October 2017)
I started the first stage with a short PowerPoint presentation on duoethnography comprising
the definition of duoethnography, its genealogy and the benefits of its use. Then I introduced
the students to the aims of the project and the following three tasks within stage one:
1.
Find a person in the group in order to conduct an interesting conversation. The person
should differ from you in a significant way.
2.
Talk to the person about what you believe language teaching is, supporting your claims with
your own experience. Record the conversation.
3.
Hand in the written transcription of the talk and the recorded text. The time limit for the task
is one month.
Stage 2: Summary of the talk with a focus on oneself and one’s interlocutor (November–
December 2017)
The second stage was initiated after receiving the students’ recordings with transcriptions
concerning their views on language learning and teaching. Having read all the conversations, I
copied the transcripts to enable each participant to have access to his/her dialogue on paper. I
distributed the copies and gave instructions for the second stage as follows:
1.
Read the transcription of your dialogue carefully. Focus on the meanings of your own words.
2.
On the basis of the words used by you, write down a one-page interpretation of what kind of
teacher you may become, supporting your claims with examples from the conversation.
Once it has been done, three other tasks followed:

3.
Read the transcription of your dialogue with your partner carefully. Focus on the meanings
of your partner’s words.
4.
On the basis of the words used by your partner, write down a one-page interpretation of
what kind of teacher he/she may become, supporting your claims with examples from the
conversation.
5.
In pairs compare the descriptions made by you and by your partner. Discuss the validity and
similarity of both interpretations.
Stage 3: Lessons learnt (January 2018)

The last stage of the pilot study aimed at gaining feedback about the effectiveness of the whole
project and the lessons learnt. I did not suggest any questions so as not to narrow down the
reception of the project and therefore restricted my inquiry to the following instruction:
1.
Evaluate the project in writing in terms of what you have learnt about language teaching.
In this chapter I will concentrate on the first two stages (stage 1 and stage 2). Stage 1 was
used to focus on the emergence of PP-related teacher identities (who are they?), whereas stage
2 was used to confirm and verify the data from stage 1 (who might they become?). It should be
noted that, thanks to a duoethnographic dialogue held with an ‘interesting person’ in their free
time, the elicitation of particular topics in stage 1 was reduced. The fact that I did not press
them to answer a specific set of questions but rather to follow the flow of the conversation,
provided it concerns language learning and teaching aspects, resulted in more spontaneous,
and therefore, sincere conversations than it would have been if I had asked them to answer
arbitrary questions. The task in stage 2 (writing an analysis of oneself and of an interlocutor
on the basis of a duothnographic conversation transcript) was conducted in writing which, in
contrast to stage 1, made the participants more conscious and deliberative on what they were
writing.
4 Working with the Data

The analysis of the data started with my careful reading of all the transcripts several times.
Given the fact that the participants shared their biographical experiences related to language
learning and teaching, I decided to look at the obtained material through Connelly and
Clandinin’s (1999) Three-Dimensional Space Narrative Structure, made up of three dimensions:
interaction, continuity and situation, which is used to conceptualizing teacher identity from a
biographical material. As I was reading the texts, I was mindful of looking for the accounts of
positive experiences and the use of ‘positive’ language (e.g., “It was good,” “That was a great
idea,” “We were very happy,” etc.) as well as the constructs identified in the well-being
literature (Gallo & Giovanna, 2017; Gregersen et al., 2014; MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014;
MacIntyre et al., 2019; Oxford, 2014). In Connelly and Clandinin’s (1999) framework,
interaction includes two aspects of experience: personal—looking inward and recognizing
desires, feelings, hopes, and social—looking outward and acknowledging the environment
with other people, their intentions, purposes, assumptions, viewpoints. Continuity includes the
idea that experiences have a past, a present and a future reference. This implies that a recalled
experience can have present repercussions and imply possible plot lines in the future.
Situation refers to the context in which experiences take place.
The analysis of the data for each investigated pair of participants was grounded within the
adopted structure with the use of open coding procedures. An example of structuring the data
with the sample codes and sample quotes for the first pair of participants is presented in
Table 1.
Table 1 An example of structuring the data based on Connelly and Clandinin’s (1999) framework
Dimension Analysis aim Sample codes Sample quote
Interaction To look for the personal The value of Education for me is vital. Not only to get a good job but also to
PP-related experiences of education feel good in society. It’s something that we gain our whole life,
the participants that relate nobody can take it away from us. It’s a kind of our heritage for
to their orientations to our whole life
language and language
teaching, including their Significant Ms. Asia, my teacher from the primary school, was wonderful. She
interaction with other teacher brought a small box to the class and we could put small cards
people with compliments inside. We felt equal as a whole group. Ms. Asia
also gave us diplomas for writing clearly. She collected our
notebooks every two weeks and those students whose writing
improved received a diploma and a pen. Everyone tried to write
their best. We were proud and happy
Continuity To look for the past PP- Positive I remember English classes in which we had some dancing
related experiences of the experiences activities. It was more like fun for us, not a typical lesson in which
participants, the present related to we have to sit and learn something. We were relaxed. Even now,
PP-related experiences, language when I have private lessons with girls from the second grade I
and possible PP-related teaching at really want them to have fun during those lessons, so I prepare
actions in the future primary school, games, songs. When they have fun, I think it’s more beneficial for
using similar them
methods as a
private teacher
Dimension Analysis aim Sample codes Sample quote
Situation To look for positive Buying a My mother once bought me a magazine for children to learn
situations in the magazine for English. I spent hours and hours of doing exercises from this
participants’ environment, young learners magazine. There were CDs, songs. I could learn by myself. It
which involves physical of English helped me a lot later in my school. I was the kid who liked to study
spaces (school, home, English at home by myself with my things
university).
In order to better identify the adopted conceptualisations of experiences of language

learning and teaching, the themes related to interaction, continuity and situation generated by
each pair of the participants on the basis of the data obtained in stage 1 (what identities are
emerging), are presented in Appendix 1.
Ultimately, the following ten themes discussed in the students’ pairs were obtained with
one of the three PP concerns (positive emotions, positive individual traits and positive social
institutions) in the brackets:
1.
Positive memories of previous language teachers (positive emotions, positive personality
traits).
2.
Motivation issues: significant teachers, parents’ impact, accidental positive incidents
(positive personality traits, positive emotions).
3.
Positive perception of the teaching profession (positive emotions, positive personality
traits, positive social institutions).
4.
Positive memories of school placement (positive emotions, positive social institutions).
5.
Learning English as passion (positive emotions).
6.
Teaching/learning language skills and systems (positive emotions).
7.
An English classroom (positive social institutions, positive emotions, teacher’s positive
personality traits).
8.
Impact of private tutoring offered by participants on their perception of teaching
(positive emotions).
9.
Personal experiences related to participants’ meaningful decisions (positive emotions).

10.
Value of education and English learning (positive emotions, positive social institutions).
Inspired by Danielsson and Warwick (2016) and eager to verify the emerging identities
from stage 1 of the project, I resorted to Gee’s (2005) framework and his idea of Discourses
which are constantly being negotiated and reshaped. Although the discourse of preservice
language teachers undoubtedly shares a lot of issues with what all teachers say, I thought it
could also have a distinct foundation which would embrace the PP-related issues and,
therefore, would lead to different interpretations as to what language learning and teaching
entails. For example, students might hope their linguistic knowledge would resemble those of
near-native users, or they might be so optimistic as to believe that the university discourse
related to preparing them for communicative situations they may encounter in the future
would be enough. Against this background, I wanted to see how the participants’
conversation-based analyses from stage 2 reveal their engagement with particular PP
discourses. Reading the student teachers’ discourses expressed in their self-and-their-
partner’s analysis accounts I attempted to find out what kind of teachers they might become,
which was the content of the second research question. I created memo charts for each person
(see an example in Appendix 2) so as to summarize and sort the data as well as better
understand each person and their personal PP-related profiles. My principal aim was to verify
if the PP-related dimensions that emerged from the dialogues in stage 1 would reappear in
stage 2. Likewise in stage 1, I also coded the stage 2 data for ‘well-being’ themes with the use
of the constructivist grounded theory. Through interacting with the data, I compared meanings
across the twenty cases, checked my provisional interpretations against the texts and
ultimately managed to identify seven recurring discourses which, in turn, give insight into the
PP-related professional identity for English language teachers in the participants’ future.
The seven discourses evident in their texts on who they might or might not become with
reference to PP-dimensions are presented with an illustrative quote from the participants’
analyses.
The Teaching Vision Discourse
Now that I’m aware that I want to teach, I think about the things I’d like to use in the future.
For example, extra activities for the improvement of language skills, like different games, are
definitely helpful, and are not dull like learning grammar rules by heart. I know for sure that
there’s one thing I wouldn’t like to repeat, or do: I wouldn’t speak Polish all the time, I want
them to speak English, no matter what level this is (Marta, pair 2).
I have very good experiences and memories connected with English teachers. I had two of
them: my high school teacher and my private tutor. They both were very good at their job and
I’ll definitely look up to them and try to be as good as they were. These are the people I’ll
always remember for the rest of my life. For example, (…) I’ll always start my class with an
open mind and without any biases (Martyna, pair 9).
The Teacher as an Authority Discourse
I’d love to create my own rules. I want to be a strict teacher, but I don’t want to be disliked by
my students. It would be hard and tiring work but I want my students to take something from
the classes, or gain more knowledge and motivation. I’ll try to not give up on my goal (Ola, pair
4).
I hope that one day a student will come to me and thank for the knowledge that I’ve given
him (Magda, pair 1).
The English as a Passion Discourse
I’m a sucker for English language and I’ll try to infect others with this passion and show that
this field is not that bad. I’ll try to encourage the young learners to at least understand why
this language is so essential for their future education. I want to ‘infect’ them with my
enthusiasm (…) I don’t have this problem with my siblings and private learners who know that
they can never find a better teacher (Ola, pair 4).
I’d like to be someone who has good relations with children. Then they’ll respect you. I’d
like to be someone who cares more of pupils than myself or statistics. I want to be a teacher
with passion in eyes (Maria, pair 8).
The Teacher Becoming Discourse
You cannot really call yourself a teacher because this is more like a process—not a short step
in your personal career. (…) At the moment I can’t really call myself a teacher. You don’t
become suddenly, you’re constantly gaining the status of being a teacher (Kaja, pair 7).
I’m really an enthusiastic teacher with the attitude that teaching is not being but it’s
becoming. I know that under the word ”becoming,” there are many other words hidden like,
for example, your skills growth, empathy, different kind of crises on the way to my profession,
etc. (Ela, pair 3)
The Helping Others Discourse
For me being a teacher means being for others. I like myself in this position, I’m not the one
who wants to get the things, but the one who wants to share and give things to people.
Especially for those in need. I need to bear in my mind that a class consists of individuals with
their own needs. I know that this aspect is so valid for me, as I was the girl who was not
interesting for anyone, as I was a little bit fat and my mother used to dress me up as an old-
fashioned girl. I’m looking at all my students whom I help with so much love and desire so as
to dedicate them as much time as possible (Ela, pair 3).
In my opinion the biggest advantage of Marta as a teacher is that she sees a person who
needs help, not another difficult student whose name she doesn’t know (Monika, pair 2).
When I was a student I always sat with a classmate who had some problems with English. I
had a chance to help them and I think that was beneficial both for me and those students (…)
I’d like them to know they can come to me and talk about their problems—not only connected
with English. I’d like to make students feel safe in my classes (Nina, pair 1).
The Autonomy Discourse
If not for Scotland she wouldn’t be here where she is now. Monika gives extra classes to
children and she wants them to think by themselves. For example, she always makes them look
for answers. She doesn’t like giving them answers, she asks them to look at a problem and
simply think (Marta, pair 2).
The Meaningfulness Discourse
In my conversation with Patryk I didn’t mention responsibility. I believe teachers have a huge
impact on students’ lives. We, being teachers, can be admired, role models for somebody, but it
can also go the opposite way. (…) You have to be aware of this responsibility (Kaja, pair 7).
Teaching is a wonderful thing as long as it’s a pure joy, not a necessity. I’d like to be a
charismatic teacher, a source of inspiration and knowledge for my students, someone who is
able to discover their hidden talents. Otherwise, I would never want to be one, as I truly
believe it’s not a profession but a mission (Maja, pair 8).
I don’t think that I’m as serious as I should be for the teacher’s role. But this can be
perceived as an advantage and I believe it sometimes is. I’m kind and optimistic and it usually
helps me in life. So I’m not worried about my future relationships with my pupils (Emil, pair
5).
All the discourses that emerged from the data in the second stage of the project evoke
positive emotions in the participants and two of them—the Helping Others Discourse and the
Autonomy Discourse—additionally refer to people’s positive personal characteristics.
Although the seven discourses articulated here do not prevail in most educational institutions,
the presence of a teaching vision, of passionate learning and teaching English, of teachers
becoming better and better, of helping others as a standard procedure, of teaching
autonomous students and, most important, of behaviours or skills performed with a sense of
purpose, could undoubtedly epitomise Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi’s (2000) concern for
positive social institutions.
5 Discussion
The data based on duoethnographic conversations and self-and-conversation partner analyses
are about what it means to be a language teacher in the investigated PP-related educational
landscape in the last year of BA studies with a language teaching profile. It is assumed that the
participants’ identities are in their dialogues and narratives when they discuss the issues
around language teaching, or make interpretations and explanations of themselves and their
conversation partners in the reflexive and reflective accounts. As Thorne (2009, p. 225)
recommends to interpret study findings in the context of the available, and certainly up-to-
date, literature, my discussion is based on the concepts developed by Ketelaar et al. (2012)
which are fundamental for a theory of identity, including teacher identity learning, the
ecological framework of the Douglas Fir Group (2016) and my own 3A Language Teacher
Identity Framework (3ALTIF) (Werbińska, 2016, 2017).
The concept of ownership proposed by Ketelaar et al. (2012) is especially useful because it
showcases “who one is as a teacher and what one finds important, or what one identifies with”
(Beijaard & Meijer, 2017, p. 182). A similar concept in my 3ALTIF would be the affiliation
domain which stands for a person’s beliefs and motivations for intentional choosing a
language teaching career. If student teachers feel the urge for learning something, they put a
lot of effort into it, identify with it, ‘own’ it, or ‘affiliate’ with it. In the data there are themes
about the value of education (pair 1, pair 2), the importance of learning English (pair 1, pair 6,
pair 7), or the pleasure derived from the contact with the language (pair 1, pair 5, pair 7, pair
8, pair 9). Those who refer to English as a fascinating language thanks to which they have
decided to become language teachers subscribe to the English as a Passion Discourse. With
regard to this, the pre-service teachers intimate what and how much can be taught via English,
if compared to any other school subject. The possibility of conducting lessons with elements of
film making, script writing, music listening, game playing, etc. which all emerged in the data, is
something that makes a language class outstanding and more interesting than other subjects.
The participants maintain that learners can develop multiple passions in the English
classroom, and that learning English itself can become a passion, as it has become for them.
An equally important aspect under the ownership concept could be some participants’
individual experience that would be used for defining themselves, expressing their self-
identity to others, or assuring the continuity of self across the time (Pierce et al., 2003). Some
of the participants’ experiences confirm to this idea of ownership when, for example, a student
teacher emphasizes her Scottish experience (pair 2, The Autonomy Discourse in which a
teacher candidate intends to promote students’ thinking in her future teaching), the African
experience (pair 3, the Helping Others Discourse in which one study participant has already
decided that her purpose in life would be helping those in need through teaching them
English), or the Japanese experience (pair 8, in which one student teacher discloses that low
proficiency in English of a typical Japanese person made her a confident English speaker while
living in Japan). Ownership has also been expressed when participants opted for joining
language teaching study for the sake of their previous teachers or family members, themselves
language teachers (pair 2, pair 5, pair 9, pair 10), to better get to know what it is like to
experience teaching. Consequently, the development of teacher identity should acknowledge
what preservice teachers already own and refer to this knowledge when building their
engagement with teacher education programmes. Teacher candidates’ awareness of positive
meanings would be promoted on the basis of which they could build and broaden their scope
of attention (Fredrickson, 2005).
The second identity-related concept proposed by Ketelaar et al. (2012) which seems useful
in trying to answer who the study participants are becoming is sense-making. According to the
authors, this concept refers to a process as a result of which a change in some aspects of a
person’s identity arises. The 3ALTIF’s domain of attachment—feeling attracted to certain ways
of performing a job—in a way overlaps the concept of sense-making, as it signifies a language
teacher’s meaningful application of theory into practice. An example of sense-making in the
data could be the Teaching Vision Discourse in the classroom. In the extract, Marta expresses
the essence of communicative language teaching by stressing the focus on communication and
using English. In fact, a lot of language teachers in Poland use English sparingly in
communication with their students and tend to focus on grammar structures. Using English in
English classes is often limited to simple classroom management commands and situations
where whole lessons are conducted in English are few and far between. The Teaching Vision
Discourse also shows the opposition to what the participants wished they had been taught
and, therefore, they might enact this discourse in the future to be considered more
‘recognizable’ (Gee, 2005) as language teachers. Moreover, the Teaching Vision Discourse with
the communicative use of English can also be found in the writings of those who claim how
much the intention to learn English is connected with a person’s life. It can be ‘a good
investment’ in a learner’s future, and immersing in English, as much as possible at the level of
a school classroom, may help it come true.
Beijaard and Meijer (2017) argue that sense-making may result in assimilation (fitting
something new to the existing knowledge), accommodation (adapting existing knowledge to
what is new), distantiation (rejecting something new), or toleration (accepting something
new) and all of these processes can be accomplished with a view to eliciting the feeling of well-
being. Examples of positive experiences related to significant teachers who, for example, went
beyond the subject matter structure and treated relationships as fundamental (pair 1, pair 3,
pair 4, pair 5) or focused on students’ individual differences (pair 2) could be treated as
evidence of sense-making. Many participants intend to copy some of their previous teachers
(“She is my role model,” “I’d like to look up to my two English teachers”), which refers to
Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi’s (2000) views of PP about positive emotions described as
being contented with the past (here: being contented with former teachers in the past), happy
in the present (here: positive memories of former teachers held at present), and hopeful for
the future (here: the intention to imitate former teachers).
The third concept that may be helpful in describing what kind of teachers the participants
are becoming is Ketelaar et al.’s concept of agency, which makes up one component under the
same label in 3ALTIF’s autonomy domain. Agency makes the study participants give an active
direction to their teacher identity development, which results in control over its
(re)construction. A good example of agency would be the articulation of their desire to
become teachers. Several students (pair 3, pair 6, pair 7, pair 9) discuss how much they want
to be teachers (the Helping Others Discourse), despite their little knowledge about the
intricacies of the profession. In defining their teacher-selves, they express their personal
theories concerning teacher responsibility, the benefits resulting from teacher optimism but
also the conviction that, as one participant noted, “teaching is a wonderful thing as long as it’s
a pure joy, not a necessity.” This discourse, which is categorized in the study as the
Meaningfulness Discourse, enables the participants to interpret and make sense of their own
experience, link it to their own place and aim in life, and learn from it. This, in turn, makes
them happier, as people who have found meaning in life enjoy more satisfaction and greater
well-being.
Agency can also be related to teacher identity through one’s convictions and work
standards that are not typical of everyone. When a student teacher (pair 6) argues for a rather
unpopular statement that Polish, rather than English, should be used in younger classes, this is
also an expression of her agency, as resistance to something may signal engagement and
development. Likewise, for some study participants, opting for the English teacher as one in
the Authority Discourse, in which the teacher keeps a professional distance, can be agentic.
Ola, quoted in this discourse, wrote about her own classroom rules and hard, tiring work
which, to her, means the hallmark of a fulfilled English teacher. Interestingly, the Authority
Discourse as presented here is not only based on a strong teacher’s position in the classroom
(“my own rules”), but also subject-based knowledge and skills (“hard work”) which are her
goal. In the representative quote, subject knowledge and skills that learners acquire can
consequently contribute to a teacher’s authority in the classroom, whereas lack of work could
indicate that the teacher was not in control in the classroom.
Ownership, sense-making and agency, like affiliation, attachment and autonomy, all
recalled here through the quoted frameworks, are interrelated when shaping a teacher
identity. Who the teacher is (becoming) and who he/she might become, to refer to the
transdisciplinary framework of the Douglas Fir Group (2016), begins at the micro level with
cognitive processes within an individual teacher and his/her personality traits, further shapes
at the meso level by institutions and communities which offer or limit access to particular
experiences affecting investment, agency and power, and is still further developed by the
wider social context (the macro level) with its orientations towards language teacher profiles,
including their belief systems and values (p. 24). Although each concept referred here
(ownership, sense-making, agency or affiliation, attachment, autonomy, or the micro, meso
and macro levels) has its own characteristics, each constantly interacts with the other
concepts, giving shape to them and being shaped by them. A state of emergence and
continuous change is, therefore, the main characteristic of preservice teacher identity.
6 Limitation, Conclusion and Implications

This duoethnographic study attempted to explore the present and future language teacher
identities from an additional perspective of PP. Although the focus on PP appeared
serendipitously and, thanks to introducing new concerns, could be regarded as an advantage
to the whole study, once I have finished this chapter, I realize that it can also be considered its
limitation.1 I might as well have adopted another perspective (positioning, dialogical,
constructivist, etc.) on preservice teacher identity which might have led to yet other valuable
conclusions. Therefore, I suggest conducting a further analysis based on other perceptions of
teacher identity so as to balance my perspective and provide a broader basis to guide teacher
educators in preservice teacher identity formation.
That said, it is worth reiterating that the kind of emerging identity the investigated
language teachers exhibit in a given moment and place (the end of BA studies at English
Philology Department in a small town in Poland) is under construction. It is both a product—
an exhibition of a combination of factors, including character strengths, that interact with each
other, and a process—something changeable as a result of the factors from inside and outside,
including the contextual features of social institutions. It can also be said that identity is not
clearly differentiated from a teacher’s self, although it can be clearly differentiated from a
teacher’s role, as the emerging identities that have been found in the study depend on the
participants’ concrete and individual contextual experiences.
In this study embracing 20 teacher candidates working in 10 tandems, ten themes and
seven discourses were identified. Although a replication study conducted in a different setting
may generate similar themes and discourses, there may also appear different context-related
data. Hence, in order to accommodate the claims made in this chapter, three implications arise
for language teacher preparation programs:
1.
A need to focus on preservice teacher identity which can be done through
duoethnographic reflection.
2.
A need to relate to teacher candidates’ identities which can be done through
duoethnographic investigations of their learners’ identities treated as resources for their
learning teaching.
3.
A need, perhaps, to shift away from models of mastery, hegemony, standardization and
static curricula to acknowledge duoethnographic identity negotiation and transformation
as well as, resulting from this, deeper self-understanding, as those who have found
meaning or purpose in their lives are happier, more engaged in their work and experience
more life satisfaction and greater well-being.
Appendix 1
Themes related to interaction, continuity and situation generated by the study participants in
stage 1.
Pair 1
Value of education: language learning is important
Significant teacher: engaged teacher who related to each pupil in class
Positive experiences related to language learning: ‘fun’ activities
Motivation to become interested in the language: a magazine for English learners which initiated English passion
Helping others
Pair 2
Significant others from family: older sister who invented creative activities to teach English at home
Learning about different cultures from international students and teachers
Positive past experience related to a teacher who noticed the student’s ability and encouraged her to read in English
Valuable course in language learning strategy training
Positive Scottish experience: attending primary school in Scotland: team teaching, learner autonomy fostering approach,
developing practical activities (singing, acting, poem writing, etc.)
Pair 3
Positive experience related to passionate teachers as role models/Imagining being a teacher: motivating, improving skills
and personality, a good person, a role model with a mission, passion, hope, skills, infecting with happiness
Successful skills teaching: listening strategy

Significant teacher who treated learners as family members
Positive African experience: teaching African children on a mission in Tanzania
Pair 4
Positive impact of school placement: getting to know people and surroundings, learning organization and patience
Self-confidence: conviction of self-efficacy
Significant teacher who treated teaching as passion: developing artistic skills
Success in giving private tutorials
Pair 5
Desire to be respected and become an authority/father figure to learners like a past teacher: becoming an authority through
being ‘human’: honest, kind and helpful in solving their problems
Gratefulness to the teacher: pushing out of ‘safe zone’
Imagining being a teacher: ‘connection’ with students and teaching them at the same time, patience and empathy
Significant teacher: teaching as establishing good relationships with learners
Motivation of learning English in a language school: fluctuations

Taking part in an international practice experience
Pair 6
Positive experience of primary school language learning
Positive attitude to English
‘Crossing the learning boundary at school’: learning language and culture from an ‘eccentric’ teacher (shabby-looking
appearance, song lyrics as language input, discussions on living British culture)
Positive tutoring and school placement experience: enjoyment
Pair 7
Attempts to define language teaching
Importance of English
Passion for English
Language learning techniques

Imagined classroom
Change of thinking on the teacher profession: responsibility for helping, making confident, making happy about the fact
thy’re learning English
Pair 8
Thrill of learning English
Significant teacher—a role model teacher
The Japanese experience: gaining speaking confidence
Pair 9
Motivation to study English: sharing your knowledge and helping others
Thrill of learning: learning all the time as a teacher, learning from students
Effective teaching: the importance of feeling safe in a language classroom, dur to the use of another language
Helping others is more important than money
The positive impact of school placement

Teacher characteristics
Activities used by past teachers as participants’ teaching repertoire
A history teacher’s perspective on students’ motivation to learn English: all the time reinforced in the life context, can be
quickly revised in lessons
Meaningful decisions: conscious refusal of teaching a 7-year-old girl on a one-to-one basis, as children at this age need
interaction with peers
Pair 10
Motivation to learn English: meeting a girl rom Canada
Family job continuation
Meaningful personal theories: As teacher you should make everything to make learners feel language learning is important,
show how to learn, but the rest is theirs. If they don’t want to learn, it’s not worth teaching them. Teacher is not a person
who is obliged to teach only one subject, but also to teach how to be a good person, how to be helpful, work effectively,
extend hobbies and passions, take from school as much as possible
Appendix 2
An example of a memo chart for one study participant.
Ela, pair 4
Self-analysis:
Teaching as mission/being for others: finding pleasure in helping children, especially those from Africa
Teaching as becoming/discovering oneself: her attitude to teaching after her first EFL methodology class
Teaching as being obeyed and respected: most children in Tanzania want to be English teachers
Positive emotions related to the previous teacher: still remembers her gestures, her perfume, the sadness when class was
over
Ela’s analysis by her partner Pola:
Sensitivity to details which helps her remember the moments from the past.
Self-awareness which makes her know a lot about future learners, the way they should be approached
Subconscious image of the teacher who is a role model, forms children’s mindsets
Passion, understanding, purposefulness: “Teaching means a great mission in life for me”
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Footnotes
1 A similar limitation was expressed by Voerman et al. (2014) in their study on revisiting feedback as based on PP.

and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_9
Between Expectations and a Sustainable Teaching

Career: The Results of a Metaphor Study
Olga Majchrzak1 and Patrycja Ostrogska1
(1) University of Humanities and Economics, Lodz, Poland

Olga Majchrzak
Patrycja Ostrogska (Corresponding author)
Abstract
This chapter investigates the idea of teaching as a profession and posits components of a
teacher training programme that may increase teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom and
help teachers to manage their resources. We explore how prospective teachers perceive the
profession in order to explore their motivation to become a teacher. We also explore the
potential intersection of prospective teachers’ notions of the ideal teacher with the skills and
awareness that positive psychology and neurodidactics suggest are necessary for a sustainable
and successful teaching career. The chapter draws on a metaphor study (Camerona & Low,
1999) and introduces findings of neurobiology, psycholinguistics and educational therapy. The
discussion is interwoven with the results of a metaphor study. This analysis is part of a larger
study investigating the elements that, the authors argue, need to be modified in the foreign
language (FL) teacher training programme in our department to prepare teachers for changes
in social awareness and the demands of the system.
Keywords Positive psychology – Neurodidactics – Metaphor study – Teacher–student
dynamics – Teacher training – Neurodiversity – Learning difficulties
Olga Majchrzak received her Ph.D. degree in Linguistics from the University of Lodz, Poland.
She works at the University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz, Poland, where she has been
the Dean of Foreign Language Studies since 2016. She is the author and supervisor of the
Teacher Training Programme for Foreign Language Teachers at AHE. Her scientific interests
include issues related to the attitudes and identity of bilinguals, developing writing skills in a
foreign language, and recently emotions in the writing process. She teaches courses in Creative
writing, Academic writing and Trends in Alternative Education.

Patrycja Ostrogska holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Lodz, Poland. She is
Assistant Professor at the University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz, Poland. Her
research interests focus on teacher education, language teaching methodology, teaching
English to SEN students (especially with developmental dyslexia) and motivation. At AHE she
trains students enrolled in Teacher Training Programme for Foreign Language Teachers, for
which she designed and teaches a course in teaching foreign languages to students with
special educational needs.

1 Introduction
In recent years the system of education in Poland has gained considerable media coverage and
social interest due to the drastic reforms introduced by the ruling parties. Schools have been
restructured. The unemployment rate among teachers has increased, and dissatisfaction has
developed among students and parents. This has been vividly expressed in the media.
Teachers have never been more pressurized by formal requirements and more dissatisfied
with their salary, as confirmed by the nationwide teachers’ strike happening at the time of
writing this chapter. Additionally, there has been growing bottom-up pressure from both
educators and parents to implement changes into teaching methods and practices, as they are
viewed obsolete and counterproductive. There is every sign that the system has been shaken
and that is why we have decided to carry out research in which we examine researchers’ and
teacher trainees’ perspectives on the teaching profession.
Being an FL teacher today is more of a challenge than ever before. With the growing focus
on administrative paperwork, on the one hand, and the increasing number of children
diagnosed with learning and behavioural difficulties on the other, teachers are required to
invest more time and resources inside and outside the classroom than ever before. Learners
are subjected to ever present, constantly changing stimuli from electronic devices. Social
media pressure, poor nutrition and sleep deprivation seem to contribute to changes FL
classroom dynamics in ways that are often unexpected for teachers, challenging their methods
and strategies, and making even more demands on educators. We venture a hypothesis that
these factors, among others, may lead to increased stress levels in FL teachers and decreased
levels of perceived contentment from the job. Therefore, we raise a question as to the type of
components that need to be included in the training that FL teachers should undergo
nowadays to be competent and efficacious in their work and prevent burnout. The answer to
this question is expected to help us reflect on the training process of teachers-to-be. Our
research aims at establishing the most vital skills that must be acquired, the concepts that
teachers need to understand and the dynamics they must be aware of.
Extensive research in the field of positive psychology, psycholinguistics, specific learning
differences, as well as our experience in both teaching and teacher training, have allowed us to
narrow down the areas for investigation. Thus, we investigate four areas of teacher
development: (1) the significance of teacher-student relationships; (2) expertise in the field of
specific learning differences; (3) understanding the dynamics of motivation from the point of
view of neurodidactics; (4) and finally, mastery of effective teaching strategies and classroom
management.
2 A Holistic Model of a Teacher-Student Relationship

Positive psychology has created room for in-depth research into human emotions and has
allowed the concept of the emotionally sound (Astleitner, 2000) learning environment to
become part of the discussion. Fredrickson (2001, 2003, 2006) has formulated the broaden
and build theory (see Jin et al., Mierzwa-Kamińska, MacIntyre, & Werbińska, this volume),
which explains the positive-broadening versus negative-narrowing impact of positive and
negative emotions respectively. When inspecting positive emotions at work, Fredrickson
(2003, p. 219) claims that “certain discrete positive emotions—including joy, interest,
contentment, pride, and love—although phenomenologically distinct, all share the ability to
broaden people’s momentary thought-action repertoire and build their personal resources.”
The author includes physical, intellectual, psychological and social resources being activated
as part of positive emotion experience. On the other side of the spectrum, McIntyre and
Gregersen (2012, p. 198) place FL anxiety as an emotion that “tends to lead to closing off,
withdrawal and self-protection behaviour.” Bolitho et al. (2003, p. 525) emphasize that
positive rapport in the classroom is necessary to keep students engaged in the learning
process, but also to unlock their intellectual potential. These researchers point to the state
when, neurobiologically, students are able to engage in the “deep processing of material.”
Aragao (2011) encourages teachers to accommodate FL learners’ beliefs and emotions.
Fredrickson (2001) lists specific positive emotions that enhance learning. These are: joy,
interest, contentment, pride and love. The list appeals to the most profound characteristics of
a learning environment, which Csikszentmihalyi (1990) summarizes in his concept of flow.
Hamre and Pianta (2001, p. 625) claim that “children’s abilities to form and maintain styles
and strategies of coping with the social environment in the early school years are important
factors in establishing a trajectory of academic and behavioral performance.” They go on to
claim that “markers of classroom social adjustment, including emotional regulation, school
liking, peer competence, engagement with the school environment, and self-control are linked
to children’s success in school.” These scientists further hypothesize that “qualities of the
teacher–child relationship, even early in a child’s school career, can forecast later problems
and successes.” Thus, these findings place substantial weight and responsibility on educators
by suggesting that academic success or failure is linked with their attitudinal characteristics.
Recent studies (Hattie, 2015; Perry, 2005) formulate a more in-depth perspective on the
role of the quality of relationships in an educational framework. While Hattie identifies
components contributing to effective learning and achievement (teaching strategies,
classroom discussion, classroom cohesion, teacher expectation, teacher immediacy, teacher
credibility and classroom behaviour), he draws attention to the fact that the student–teacher
classroom relationship may go beyond the academic level. The researcher points to the link
between teaching based on mutual respect and autonomy and the possibility of growth on a
personal level to such an extent that instances of anxiety level reduction and growth in
creativity can be observed. Hattie’s study echoes the findings of Perry (2005) who states that
the risk of mental health deterioration in young people may be diminished once a supportive
and respectful relationship is in place. Additionally, interpersonal neurobiology (Siegel, 2012),
an interdisciplinary field of science concerned with how the quality of our interactions shapes
our brains, reports that stimulation of the growth and development of the prefrontal cortex,
which governs cognitive functions, namely executive functions, which are expressed by good
memory, emotional regulation and cognitive fluency, is directly dependent on the quality of
relations. Siegel provides confirmation to the fact that as little as a friendly look exchange
induces the production of beta-endorphines which support emotion regulation.
With this in mind, teachers should be seen as a powerful, and in some instances the only
means of emotional and academic support if such is lacking within the home environment.
Therefore, the role of the teacher may go further and way beyond elicitation of academic
achievement.
3 The Everchanging Environment

One variable that has significantly changed the dynamics within a teaching framework in the
last decade is a twofold change that has taken place within the student population: on the one
hand, students are more conscious and informed of the world around them, they are aware of
the resources and opportunities available to them, which may contribute to the notable
increase in integrative motivation when it comes to FL learning. On the other hand, they are,
according to Shanker and Barker (2016), more bored, more tired, more distracted and restless
than ever before. The authors assert that due to extensive exposure to electronic devices, poor
diet, dysregulation of sleep patterns and insufficient physical activity, students’ behavioural
patterns have changed, which is a direct symptom of the dysregulation of the reward system
and, more precisely, the opioid-dopamine loop in the central nervous system. The reward
system, which is a mechanism responsible for the drive to achieve, experience and discover
(Bauer, 2015), may be disturbed when children experience certain adverse, from a
neurobiological standpoint, situations, leaving them unable to self-regulate.
Shanker and Baker (2016) point to the fact that nowadays any teacher’s job is much more
demanding due to a general overdependency of schoolchildren on highly stimulating activities,
resulting in dysregulation in neurotransmitter production in their motivational centres. This
leads to increased levels of stress and decreased levels of energy, and in turn, less focus and
less engagement. In the classroom, it results in pupils’ expressing more boredom and
disengagement. In such cases, students seemingly need more stimulation to experience the
dopamine induced excitement and to retain attention on a given task. However, in reality,
because they operate in a mode of hyperstimulation, they need more rest and relaxation in
order to regain energy before they can rediscover pleasure, joy and fulfilment from tasks
presented in a traditional way.
Shanker and Baker (2016) additionally examine poor nutrition, lack of sleep and
continually increasing levels of stress as factors contributing to students’ inability to focus, to
shift swiftly from one task to another and to ignore distractions. They explain that due to
insufficient nutrients in the blood, some neurotransmitters, like acetylcholine or tryptophan,
are not produced or produced but in insufficient amounts. Additionally, increased levels of
cortisol in the blood system are confirmed to disengage executive functions governed by the
prefrontal cortex (Arnsten, 2009).
We believe that teachers should be aware of the real experience of physical pain in
students addicted to games, social media and fast food, and work out strategies to engage
learners in the learning process by appealing to their reward system. That constitutes one of
the greatest challenges of being a teacher today.
4 Neurodiversity Makes Headway for Inclusive Teaching

Singer (1998) coined the term neurodiversity, which allowed the educational framework to
embrace the complexity and diversity of the human brain. The term encouraged a new
understanding of learning difficulties. Learning difficulties were re-named as learning
differences to underline the diverse nature of learners rather than their impairments. In the
1990s extensive research was conducted in the field of FL specific learning difficulties (Sparks
& Ganshaw, 1991, 1993a, 1993b, 1995a, 1995b, 1996). Today it is estimated that students with
FL specific learning difficulties account for 15–20% of a student population (Habib, 2004).
While one in four students suffer from specific learning difficulties (SLDs), around 10–15%
struggle with behavioural difficulties (BDA, 2017), and 1 in 5 struggles with anxiety and other
emotional disorders (Shulte-Markwort, 2017). Without specialized knowledge and awareness
of learners with special educational needs (SEN), teachers communicate their knowledge to a
fraction of their students. To boost efficacy they need to understand various diagnoses and be
fluent in effective teaching strategies that accommodate all learners.
Learners with specific learning differences experience difficulties with phonological
awareness, verbal memory, verbal processing speed and visual processing speed (Rose, 2009).
The deficits in the cognitive functions underlie and acutely affect FL acquisition. Phonological
awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate the sounds in spoken language. Verbal
memory is the ability to retain an ordered sequence of verbal material for a short period of
time. Working memory is the ability to hold information for a short period of time while
manipulating it. Verbal processing speed is the time taken to process verbal information—it
applies to understanding information given verbally and responding to it appropriately. Visual
processing speed difficulties include visual confusion, visual stress and tracking difficulties.
Additional difficulties may include other problems with language, such as: word retrieval,
pronunciation, understanding and constructing language at speed and/or grasping humour
and word play. In addition, learners with specific learning differences may have problems with
mental calculations, concentration, presentation skills, time-keeping and planning. Also,
learners may experience difficulties with spontaneity; that is, they are unable to perform
certain tasks without the need to consciously think about doing so.
Teachers face an array of difficulties with learners with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (social
interaction, communication, interests, behaviour), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(attention, activity levels, impulsiveness), dyscalculia (arithmetic), Specific Language Disorder
(SLD) (speaking, understanding, communicating) and dyspraxia (fine and/or gross motor
coordination). To work with SEN students, teachers should be aware of multisensory teaching
strategies.
5 ‘Deep Change’ in Teaching

McBer (2000) pinpoints additional elements that considerably impact on pupils’ progress and
achievement. Besides classroom atmosphere, teachers’ skills and professional characteristics
are emphasized. McBer (2000) also notes the significance of teachers having high expectations
for their pupils. Dweck (2017) explains that teachers can help their students develop a ‘growth
mindset’ by setting high standards, providing a nurturing atmosphere, and expecting hard
work. Teachers also impact on pupils’ progress through their deployment of good planning
skills, a variety of teaching strategies and techniques, a clear strategy for pupil management,
wise time and resource management, a range of assessment methods and techniques, and
finally, homework that is integrated with classroom work.
The above expectations show the depth of knowledge, expertise and experience that a
teacher is required to have. These expectations also accentuate the need for teachers’
ceaseless professional and personal development. Teachers should have expertise in the
subject, the skills necessary to execute a plan, be able to deal with the intellectual and
emotional diversity of students, be aware of the challenges that students face, and be able to
introduce techniques that are SEN friendly. Teachers should individualize work for students
with SLDs. These requirements seem both inherent and imperative. And at the same time,
teachers should build trust and respect, encourage, inspire and understand the significance of
the impact their work may have on the well-being of generations of young people.
Even though teachers strive to encompass all of the above in their teaching every day in
their classrooms, the scope of the different components is daunting. Quinn’s et al. (2014)
thorough analysis of highly effective teachers (HET) highlights the mindset of those
professionals who, on the one hand, achieve great academic standards and stimulate their
students’ personal growth, and on the other, manage their own resources so that the
requirements of the job do not lead to burn-out, but are a source of continual fulfilment. In
order to justify the success of HET teachers, the researchers have inspected two perspectives
in teaching: a direct perspective and a co-creative perspective. This inspection has allowed for
the introduction of the concept of deep change.
Quinn and his colleagues (2014, pp. 23–24) elaborate on how the two perspectives
contribute to more comprehensible growth and improvement of teachers:
From a directive perspective, teacher development is more likely to focus on honing

skills related to planning, classroom management, and pedagogy. This perspective
assumes that particular practices reliably produce particular outcomes. Professional
development in this perspective relies on experts to provide teachers with scientifically
validated solutions to predictable pedagogic problems. All of this is true, but it is also
partial by itself.
In the same manner, Quinn et al. offer an explanation as to the value of a co-creative
perspective:
In the co‑creative perspective, a classroom becomes an adaptive organization. It

consists of people in relationships with one another. Each student is an interdependent
actor with the potential to learn, teach, and know. Learning accelerates and is deepened
when a teacher forms high‑quality relationships with students. Learning accelerates
further when students form high‑quality relationships with one another. To achieve this
level of relationship, the teacher continually clarifies purpose, increases authenticity,
practices empathy, and opens to the co‑creative journey.
From this standpoint, teacher development includes reflection, self‑assessment,

interaction, experimentation, and learning from experience, which can be done by engaging in
activities and learning opportunities that challenge their viewpoints and invite re-examination
of their own assumptions and beliefs. This process leads to raising of consciousness and
therefore empowers them to further embrace, “explore, appreciate, and integrate alternative
assumptions” (ibid). This process of self-development enriches energy resources and mental
capacity, thus they are better equipped to comprehend how to empower students and
accelerate learning. Quinn et al. (2014, p. 24) believe that “a teaching practice is not so much a
solution to a problem as an opportunity for experimentation, engagement, and learning.” They
further clarify that in this perspective, “development is not teaching teachers to know; it is
teaching teachers to learn.”
The most valuable lesson that comes from Quinn’s research is an understanding that “as a
teacher develops the capacity to think and act in more complex ways, his or her effectiveness
increases because effectiveness is a function of being in the present and learning to adapt and
create in real time” (ibid). The key objective is for educators to possess the skills of adaptive
confidence and transformational influence.
Deep change is a change of mindset and, as opposed to incremental change, which requires
exertion of a greater degree of control and finding solutions to problems on the basis of
current assumptions, it requires the surrender of control. Quinn and colleagues argue that “it
involves embracing a purpose and then moving forward by trial and error while attending to
real‑time feedback” (ibid). Only such change, grand in scope and irreversible, can lead to
excelling in the teaching profession.
6 The Study
6.1 Goal of the Study
The conducted study was guided by the following research questions:
RQ1: How is today’s teacher perceived by students?
RQ2:
On the basis of the generated metaphors, how can the teacher training programme be
modified/improved in order to develop better teachers?
As it was important for us to discover what picture students have of their teachers, we
decided to group the metaphors in the following way: (1) presenting a positive picture of a
teacher, (2) presenting a negative picture of a teacher, (3) and finally, presenting a complex
picture of the teacher. Later it was investigated which features are: (1) appreciated by the
students, in order to strengthen them as teachers-to-be, (2) disliked by the students, so that
the teacher training programme could focus more on helping a future teacher become a real
mentor for her/his students.
6.2 Study Participants

The study was conducted among students of English studies at a private university in central
Poland, namely at the University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz. 36 students
participated in the study.1 They were all pursuing their English studies at Bachelor level,
including daily and weekend studies. They represent Years 1–3 of the three-year-long B.A.
programme. A detailed presentation of the distribution of students regarding the year of study
and sex is provided in Table 1.
Table 1 Study participants (year of study and sex)
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Female 15 4 5
Male 7 3 2
Total 22 7 7
It is worth mentioning that after the first year of the general programme of English studies,
students choose a specialization, which is either foreign language teaching or business
translation. Hence, the study group consists of students who have not yet decided on their
career path (Year 1), students willing to become teachers (Years 2 and 3) and those preparing
to be translators (Years 2 and 3). We have decided to include all the students in our study
irrespective of their future career path as we were mostly interested in discovering how they
perceive a teacher in today’s world, no matter if they are interested in becoming one or not.
6.3 Method
The questionnaire was designed by the authors of the present study. It comprised two parts.
The first part focused on data provided by the respondents. It included, inter alia, information
on the year of study, chosen specialization, willingness to choose the teaching profession in the
future. In the second part, the students were asked to share their reflections concerning their
perception of a teacher in today’s school. They were asked to finish the following sentence: A
teacher is like (…) with the use of a metaphor. The students were earlier informed how a
metaphor works. The language of the questionnaire was Polish, as all the study participants
were Polish. However, the students could choose the language in which they preferred to write
their reflections; it was also possible to switch between the languages. The full version of the
questionnaire can be found in Appendix.
6.4 Procedure
The study was conducted in March 2019, at the beginning of the summer semester. The
questionnaires were distributed to the students during their regular classes at the university.
The students filled them in by hand, which took approximately 30 min.
6.5 Data Analysis

To analyse the data, the authors have followed the procedure used by Wan (2014) in his study
on the use of metaphors to investigate students’ beliefs about writing. Hence, the analysis of
the participants’ responses comprised two steps.
The first step was to decide if the students’ responses were valid. The following two quality
assessment criteria were used:
1.
Whether the used metaphor conceptualized the topic
2.
Whether the used metaphor provided an explanation after because, which explained the
intended meaning of the metaphor.
If the response failed to meet either of the two criteria, it was not taken into consideration
in further analysis.2
The second step was to interpret the conceptualization of the teacher provided by the
study participants. First, both the metaphors and their explanations (after the because) were
closely analysed. Finally, the metaphors were divided into three groups: positive metaphor,
negative metaphor, and complex metaphor. In case of any doubts in understanding the
provided metaphors and/or their explanation, or having problems in interpreting them,
individual follow-up interviews were conducted. They served mostly as a validation technique
as they allowed to identify and clarify any mismatch between our interpretation of the
metaphor and its intended meaning.
6.6 Results and Discussion

This section is divided into two parts. First, general results concerning the distribution of the
metaphors are given. In the second part, an in-depth analysis concentrates on the nature of the
metaphors given by the students.
6.6.1 General Results

The Table 2 presents the distribution of metaphors among the students by year of study.3
Table 2 Distribution of the metaphors

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total
Positive metaphor 12 52% 2 22.5% 3 30% 17 41%
Negative metaphor 3 13% 2 22.5% 1 10% 6 14%
Complex metaphor 8 35% 5 55% 6 60% 19 45%
Total 23 metaphors 9 metaphors 10 metaphors 42 metaphors
As can be seen, in general the students produced a similar number of metaphors which
presented a positive (41%) and a complex (45%) picture of a teacher. In comparison to these
two categories, the number of the metaphors that presented a negative vision of a teacher was
relatively low (14%).
It is interesting to note that within the group of first year students the most frequent were
metaphors which pictured the teacher in a positive light. The tendency was different in the
case of students doing their second and third year of study: through their metaphors a
complex picture of a teacher arose. The reason for such a tendency may be connected with a
romanticized vision of a teacher: most of the first year students have just finished their high
school education and have not yet decided about their career path. They have not started their
specialization at the university, hence they may not realize how complex the profession of a
teacher is. It can be seen, however, that the tendency to view the profession of a teacher as a
complex one is becoming higher with every year. It may mean that students are becoming
more and more aware of how complex the profession is, both in terms of responsibilities, time
spent on teaching and preparing for teaching, constant education. Undoubtedly, they see it as a
profession with as many advantages as disadvantages.
6.6.2 In-Depth Analysis

This section presents the qualitative results of the study. It focuses on in-depth analysis of the
metaphors provided by the students.
Positive Picture of a Teacher
In the metaphors which presented a positive picture of a teacher, the study participants
explained that a teacher is like a guide to her/his students, who takes care of them and is able
to see their true beauty.
Teacher as Guide
The most frequent metaphor that appeared in the students’ reflections was the teacher as
guide, mentor, wise person, and instructor. All of these metaphors focus on the guiding role of
a teacher. A teacher is seen as experienced and knowledgeable, hence, her role is to show the
way to her students, to guide them. The respondents reflected that a teacher “shows her
students around her knowledge and experience” (LR), “is like a guide to the world of a certain
subject” (LP). The guiding role of a teacher can best be summarised in the following way:
The teacher’s role is to familiarise students with the beauty and usefulness of the
knowledge she possesses. (KK)
Also, it was underlined that the way in which the teacher shares her knowledge with her
students matters a lot4:
A teacher is like a guide who shows her students around a new place which is unknown
to them. Her stories and the way she shares them with her tourists make her listeners
either interested or bored, and the rest of the trip may become a chore. (IF)
One of the respondents reflects that a teacher should “help her student to self-develop (…),
to show him the right way (…), and to teach him to learn from his mistakes” (KN). Hence, a
teacher is not seen as a passive transmitter of the knowledge but as a mentor whose role is to
show the way and not to provide a ready solution.
A teacher is also perceived as a wise person. This is how one of the students sees it:
A teacher meets various people on her way and she shares her knowledge based on her
experience with them. She advises them but also makes them reflect. She asks them
questions, to which answers need to be looked for in their own experiences. She strives
to put them on the right path. (BSz)
In this reflection a teacher is viewed as somebody who does not try to impose anything on
her students. She may be compared to a philosopher who encourages his/her students to
discover knowledge on their own.
The last metaphor in this group was Teacher as instructor. However, it did not focus on
instructing students on the subject taught. The author of the metaphor underlined that a
teacher does not only instruct us:
(…) She helps us achieve more, discover our talents, understand. She is the person who
is FOR us and not AGAINST us. (AG)
Hence, it can be said that the role of the teacher is much more complex than purely
teaching. As indicated in the theoretical introduction to this chapter, the relationship that
develops between a teacher and her students is of utmost importance. A teacher should serve
as a signpost to her students, which tries to show which way is worth taking in their future life.
Finally, it is not only the knowledge a teacher possesses that makes her students follow her
teaching; it is her approach to her students that makes a teacher a key person in the life of
young people. She helps her students understand and choose a way suitable for them;
however, she always leaves the final decision to the student, in this way helping him/her
become a mature and responsible human being.
Teacher as Carer
The second group of metaphors underlined the caring, parent-like aspect of a teacher.
School takes up a large part of the children’s time. It is a place which, apart from being a
platform where knowledge is shared, shapes children’s character and behaviour. A teacher is
somebody who accompanies children for a long time. The way in which pupils cope with the
social environment, and the relationship they develop with their teachers, can impact on their
future academic and behavioural performance (Hamre & Pianta, 2001, p. 625). Hence, as
observed by some respondents:
A teacher does not only teach her students a given subject, but also things important in
life, such as resourcefulness, how to cope with problems, how to behave. (PK)
One participant said that a teacher should be assertive and sometimes strict, but also
supporting and smiling (OM). Hence, being a teacher was compared to being a parent. Being a
parent, though, is also like being a friend, which was also noticed by one of the respondents.
When having trouble, we can always ask a teacher for advice or simply talk if we need this
(PK).
A teacher was also seen as a shepherd looking after his sheep. Just like a shepherd takes
care of his flock, a teacher is supposed to care about her students, with care and engagement
(MA). It is especially seen at the initial stage of education, when not so much attention is
placed on academic skills as on taking care of pupils’ well-being in the new environment.
Hence, teachers should teach their pupils trust and respect, encourage and inspire them.
Teachers have an immense impact on their pupils’ well-being, not only when they are at
school, but long after they graduate, as has been explained in the theoretical section. Thanks to
“appropriate treatment,” a pupil grows, flourishes, develops (IM). Just like a flower in the
hands of a good gardener (MNT). A teacher’s role is to inspire her pupils so that they want to
learn more. In this way, pupils will flourish like the most beautiful flowers.
Teacher as Photographer
A teacher—as has been shown above—is more than just an instructor; she cares about her
pupils and may serve as a friend when they are in need. However, a teacher is also seen as
somebody who is capable of capturing in her pupils something that others do not see. It is best
described in the words of one student:
A teacher is like the best photographer. (…) in the most shy person, in somebody not
noticed by others, she is able to see the hidden beauty and show it to the world. She can
teach her student—her model—how to express himself, how to love himself, and how
to open up. She sees what remains hidden to others. (KR)
In this metaphor it is clearly visible that a teacher is seen as a person whose responsibility
is much greater than simply teaching. She is seen as having the capability to help different
types of pupils to flourish: the shy, the introverted, those with problems and SEN students. The
teacher should care about the well-being of pupils, help them believe in themselves, and
convince them that their opinion is worth sharing. Simply, that their voice should be heard. To
see the potential of a pupil needs a good eye of a teacher. However, in order for the teacher to
be able to help a student effectively, she needs to possess the necessary and appropriate skills,
including teaching strategies.
Teacher as Rock Star
The final metaphor presented a teacher as a rock star:
A good teacher is like a rock star: the students wait for her next lesson as if they were
waiting for a concert of their favourite star. (DS)
Here a teacher is somebody who is admired by her students. She is not only respected and
liked by them, but as every star, she is adored by them. Her lessons are like concerts, during
which pupils can admire the show performed by the teacher. Not every teacher has a chance to
become a rock star; it may be a question of one’s character, teaching style, or mindset in
general. However, those who become such stars for their students will most probably make a
long-lasting impact on their pupils.
Negative Picture of a Teacher
The metaphors which presented a negative picture of a teacher focused on the following
aspects: criticism of the education system in Poland (including teaching qualifications and
students’ examinations), the skills of the teachers, teacher mindset, and the character of the
teachers.
Teacher as Police Officer
One of the metaphors which presented a negative picture of a teacher was teacher as police
officer. Although at first one could assume that a teacher is seen as a guard of the students’
rights, the metaphor underlines the negative aspect, or rather negative feelings that a police
officer evokes. This is how one of the students remembers his school times:
When I was younger, I was always afraid when I did not have my homework done.
When I got an F for not having my homework done, I felt as if I were caught by the
police. (DS)
A traffic officer waits, very often unnoticed, to catch drivers for having exceeded the speed
limit. In the same way a teacher is depicted here as somebody who waits to catch a student
who is not prepared for the lesson. Instead of organizing a group revision of the material that
has already been taught, she prefers to examine the students individually, in front of the whole
class, which only adds to the general feeling of stress and punishment. The metaphor
underlines what is still true about many teachers, namely the desire to find the weaknesses
and shortcomings in their pupils instead of their strengths. It might be due to the ill-targeted
teacher training, but it might also be connected with the teacher’s character, in this case being
vicious. The reference to a teacher’s character is also mentioned in another metaphor, namely
teacher as the executioner in the Massacre of the Innocents (NW). Having chosen a very strong
metaphor, the author explains that some teachers make their student’s life difficult
deliberately, often due to personal reasons or life failures.
It seems that the aforementioned way of perceiving a teacher is tightly connected with the
feelings that some teachers (and their lessons) evoke in their students. The possibility of being
asked and caught unprepared evokes a very strong feeling of stress within the students, which
may stay with them long after they graduate. However, what is even worse is how such a way
of organizing the educational process influences the students’ attitude towards school in
general and their success in school. A teacher with such a mindset makes it impossible to
develop a good rapport with her students, which is crucial both for the well-being of her
students and to enhance their learning process, as underlined by Bolitho et al. (2003, p. 525).
In consequence, students will not feel good in the classroom, they may start to dislike the
teacher and her subject, but they may also have problems with deep processing of the
material, which will finally result in problems with learning a given subject.
Teacher as Library with Locked Books
The vision of the teacher that was commonly shared in the students’ metaphors was of the
teacher being a transmitter of knowledge. A teacher is almost always seen as somebody very
knowledgeable, who shares her knowledge with others. However, it may happen that despite
having knowledge, the teacher does not have the skills to share it with her students. Such a
thing was noticed by one of the students, who compares her teachers to libraries where books
are locked:
The teachers I met on my way could not share the knowledge they gained. I always had
to count on my curiosity to learn more, on my family, and on the Internet. (PK)
The student notices that her teachers were not capable of sharing their knowledge with
pupils. If it had not been for her own attempts to look for knowledge, she would probably not
have learned much. The reason for such a situation may be insufficient teacher training, which
did not succeed in equipping the teacher with appropriate tools needed for effective teaching.
Nowadays teacher training programmes should cater for the differences in the environment of
today’s pupils and the one in which their teachers grew up. As Shanker and Barker (2016)
noticed, today’s young generation is much more bored, tired, distracted and restless than their
teachers used to be when they were students. Teachers should be aware of these differences,
but also know how to help their students become more engaged during lessons.
Teacher as Hard Clay
The teacher has already been caricatured as somebody who has knowledge, but does not have
the necessary skills to share this knowledge, and as somebody who waits to punish her pupils
for not being prepared for her classes. Both characteristics are dependent on the teacher and
her willingness to develop both as a human being and as a professional. The teacher is seen as
not having appropriate skills, not developing them in any way, standing in the same place. The
fixed mindset she has developed is not likely to change as is the teacher herself. This, in turn,
results in monotonous lessons, where every lesson is conducted almost in the same way: the
teacher uses the same student’s book, additional materials in the form of photocopies are
given from time to time, pupils are not encouraged to speak, the lessons focus on vocabulary
and grammar, with no reference to the contemporary world. This unwillingness to change is
clearly visible in the reflections shared by one of the students:
Teachers lack an individual approach towards their students. They do not try to bring
out the students’ potential; they only teach what is in the books. Teachers are like hard
clay, which has taken its shape and does not want to change. (KM)
The profession of a teacher is the one in which one needs to develop constantly, both
professionally and personally. This is due to new materials, new technologies that find their
way onto the educational market, but most importantly because of trends that appear in the
area of education. If one wants to be a good teacher, one should be up-to-date with recent
research findings concerning, most importantly, psychology, education, and new media.
However, many teachers do not update their knowledge and skills, which results in them
teaching in an old-fashioned way, which is not attractive to today’s students. Very often this is
the consequence of the heavy workload: as they have too many responsibilities at work and
are not decently rewarded for their efforts, they often find themselves on the verge of burnout.
In order to survive, they do the necessary minimum, which may be seen by their students as
unwillingness to diversify their teaching techniques and materials. Hence, teachers need to
take care of their personal development as well. To cite Quinn et al. (2014) again, highly
effective teachers treat the classroom as an adaptive organization, in which the key to
successful learning are relationships, both between a teacher and her students and among
students themselves. If a teacher takes such a perspective, she should be able to both
accelerate the learning process of her students and manage her own resources.
Whatever the reasons for the teacher’s alleged ineffective teaching methods, it is true that
the Polish system of education does not assess teachers or candidates for the teaching
profession. It was noticed by one of the students that economic rules do not apply to the
profession of a teacher. As explained by the student:
The public system of education produces people who teach knowledge which is not
practical, at the same time not verifying their effectiveness. (JP)
It seems to be true: a teacher who once gets a job, is rather unlikely to lose it, irrespective
of the quality of her teaching.
Complex Picture of a Teacher
Apart from the metaphors which concentrated either on the positive or on the negative vision
of a teacher, many students provided metaphors which indicate the complex nature of this
profession.
Teacher as Box of Chocolates
Being a teacher was compared to being one of the chocolates in a box of chocolates. The idea
could be best put in the form of the quote from the movie Forrest Gump, namely “Teachers are
like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” The idea behind this
metaphor is that every teacher, just like every chocolate, is different. It is clearly visible in the
reflection below5:
A teacher is like a box of chocolates: sometimes you come across a sweet one,
sometimes with dark chocolate, and sometimes with a surprising filling. Everybody
likes different chocolates, but every chocolate brings something to our lives, evokes
certain emotions in us, from adoration to hatred. We may come across a luxurious one
and a total failure. (AG)
Just like everybody likes different chocolates, every student may like a different teacher,
because of her character, teaching techniques she uses, hobbies, or simply attitude towards
life. However, as indicated above, every teacher brings something valuable to the life of every
student, even to discover which “tastes” we are not fond of. Later, the student mentions that
It is also worth trying new tastes, because maybe something that at first appeared not
to be for us, will turn out to be a nice surprise. (AG)
As another student adds,
Every chocolate hides its “sweet secret.” The chocolate melts slowly in your mouth,
uncovering a new taste of the filling. (IKD)
The situation looks similar in the case of relationships between a teacher and her students.
The more the students know their teacher, the more (or less) they may like her. A similar
process was noticed by another student, who compared a teacher to a salad from a fast food
restaurant:
A teacher is like a salad from a fast food restaurant. In theory, it should be boring
(stereotypical teacher) and rated second-class when compared with more interesting
dishes (…). However, thanks to variation and a multitude of possibilities (different ways
of conducting classes, being an interesting teacher) you can develop a taste for her. (AS)
Hence, even if a teacher is looked down on at first, the situation may change over the
course of time. The students may start liking her just like they develop a taste for a salad from
a fast food restaurant, although at first it seemed unattractive.
Teacher as Encyclopedia
The profession of a teacher is very often associated with possessing unlimited knowledge,
especially in the field one specializes in; hence, in the students’ eyes the teacher is seen as a
book, or an encyclopedia. And although the books the teachers were supposed to represent
were portrayed differently by the respondents, what seemed common was the teacher’s
inability to share the knowledge with the students, which was repeated in many of the
respondents’ reflections:
I have had the occasion to meet many teachers in my life. I can compare all of them to
an encyclopedia full of knowledge; however, not all of them were able to share the
possessed knowledge with their students. Some of them can attract the attention of the
students, sell the knowledge well; however, the vast majority discourage the students
with regards to themselves, their subject and learning in general. They kill their
students’ curiosity by conducting boring classes despite being the source of immense
knowledge. (NS)
As above, it was also underlined in other reflections that a teacher possesses immense
knowledge. Fortunately, none of the students reported that they had met a teacher who lacked
any knowledge in the subject she was teaching.6 Still, even if a teacher does possess vast
knowledge, she is not always able to share this knowledge with her students.
Another respondent concentrated on the life approach a teacher takes:
A teacher is like an encyclopedia full of knowledge, which may be divided into three
types: the first is open and comprehensible for everybody, always eager to help; the
second type is closed and willing to stay on the shelf for the whole lesson; and the third
type tries to demonstrate her knowledge, but is written in such difficult language that it
cannot help anyone. (AM)
In this metaphor it is shown that everything depends on the teacher, her approach towards
teaching, as well as her teaching skills. If the knowledge she possesses is impressive, but her
attitude towards her students is negative or she does not have the right skills to share her
knowledge, she will stay “closed” for most of the students.
Teacher as Student
The metaphor Teacher as student concerns three aspects that make the job of a teacher similar
to that of a student. In the first place, it was noticed that teachers need to constantly develop
their knowledge and skills, especially in relation to new teaching methods and teaching
materials. As has been indicated in the theoretical section, this development should concern
both the professional as well as the personal sphere of a teacher. Teachers might experience
problems when faced with their students and with their parents. This is how a respondent
sees the difference between being a teacher and a student:
Earlier, when misbehaving, a pupil was usually sent home with a note to his parents.
However now, the argument with a pupil has more serious consequences, both for a
pupil and for a teacher. (AD)
On top of that, as the student adds, it is the money that both teachers and students get for
their job. He compares it to pocket money, saying that the two parties may complain about the
money they earn.
Teacher as Good Actor
The profession of a teacher is a complex one. Apart from teaching, a teacher needs to prepare
for her classes, take care of the necessary documentation, be in contact with her pupils’
parents. This leads to a picture of teachers having a double life: one which is seen (teaching)
and the other that students and parents do not see. This phenomenon was noticed by one of
the respondents who compared a teacher to a moon:
A teacher is like a moon. We see the beautiful part of it, while the other darker part
stays hidden from sight. Such is the life of a teacher: seemingly bright and glittering, on
the other side dark, mysterious, sometimes sad, sometimes difficult. Nobody knows the
price we pay for our job. We cope with many difficulties, imperfections and obstacles,
to become a beautiful shiny star, which gives its beauty and warmth to our pupils. (IKD)
The comparison used by the respondent seems very true. For many the life of a teacher
may seem a perfect job: not many teaching hours, spending time with children, taking care of
them. However, very often non-teachers do not realize the negative side of this profession,
namely spending long hours preparing for the next class, checking tests, writing reports, and
on top of that a low salary. The picture some may have of a teacher would probably change
dramatically if they were fully aware of what it entails to be a teacher.
The idea of having a double life concerned not only the responsibilities connected with this
profession but also teachers’ private lives. One of the respondents compared a teacher to an
actor, justifying it in the following way:
A teacher is like a good actor. She should always be nice, content and fulfilled in order
not to transfer her complexes, poor mental state and dissatisfaction onto her students.
A sad teacher equals a sad pupil. (AG)
This only adds to the previous metaphor. A teacher is supposed not to mix her private life
with her professional one. Irrespective of the problems she may have at home, in the
classroom she is expected to enter into the role of a teacher, like an actor in the theatre, or a
singer on the stage. There is no place for showing her weaknesses. Hence, it seems so
important to prepare teachers for those difficult moments, and show them how to behave in
such situations, but also to teach them how to manage their own resources so that their job
will still be a source of passion for them.
Teacher as Candle
The actual workload of the teaching profession was also noticed by one of the respondents.
The teacher was compared by her to a candle, which burns out to light the way for others. It
was voiced that in order for a teacher to be an inspiration for her students, she needs to have
boundless reserves of motivation and perseverance. However, it turns out to be very difficult
in practice:
Having worked with children for a few years, I know that you cannot teach all the time.
In order to prepare for the classes well and to be able to support your students, you
need to sacrifice yourself to your job. (KP)
This, in turn, leads to burnout. In order to prevent it, teachers need to be aware that
education is “a co-constructive journey” (Quinn et al., 2014), shaped both by learners and their
teacher. If we shift the perspective from the static one, where our teaching is a ready product
offered to our learners, to a more dynamic one, in which we all create the learning situation,
we may feel less guilty about the failures we encounter on our way. Because, as was indicated
earlier, deep change, just like teaching, “involves embracing a purpose and then moving
forward by trial and error while attending to real-time feedback” (Quinn et al., 2014, p. 24).
Teacher as Bee
Teachers are often taken for granted by society. They do not attract special attention until
something bad happens at school, or, as recently, they go on strike. However, not many realize
that their job, just like the one of bees, is crucial for the whole society:
A teacher is like a bee, underestimated and often mistakenly regarded as a pest.

Without bees the life of humans would be much more difficult, but most people do not
realize that. Hence, they treat bees with contempt. It is similar with teachers: they are
unappreciated, while it is them who serve as a pillar not only of education but of the
whole society. (AP)
The student notices that the profession of a teacher is often underestimated and
unappreciated. By some, teachers are regarded as pests. In fact, they are very useful, not only
for the children they teach but also for society as a whole. Teachers need to be aware of how
important the role they have in the lives of the young generation is, in order to cater not only
for their academic achievements but also for their well-being.
Teacher as a Child Lost in the Fog
Much has been already said about the education system in Poland. It seems that everybody
engaged in the system, namely teachers, students and parents, are dissatisfied with it.
Politicians aim at changing the system by constantly introducing changes to the already
existing one. This results in greater chaos as teachers, along with educating children and
taking care of their well-being, are more and more responsible for their pupils’ results in final
exams. Hence, they tend to focus primarily on teaching for test, instead of on the holistic
development of their pupils. This has been noticed by one of the respondents, who compared a
contemporary teacher to a child in the fog:
A teacher is like a child in the fog. She does not know which way she should go as there
are conflicting signals from everywhere. You have to cover the core curriculum (which
does not reflect life skills at all); on the other hand, you would like the knowledge
(which does not reflect the core curriculum) you share with your students to be useful
for them. In Poland we learn for exams, but after passing them we are still stupid. (KZ)
The student realizes that today a teacher is treated as somebody who offers an exam
preparation service, upon which she is later assessed. It happens also in the case of extra
classes and teachers who teach pupils outside school. Their role is almost always limited to
preparing for exams or tests. The holistic development of a student is almost never taken into
consideration as there is no such a thing on the school certificate. What is more, the student
realizes that what is taught at school is very rarely useful in real life. The student concludes
her reflections admitting that she is sure she will never become a teacher in this system.
Teacher as Bird Closed in a Cage
The last metaphor is similar to the previous one. It presents a teacher who is willing to offer
much to her students, however, she is not capable of doing so for many reasons. Sometimes
her efforts are doomed to failure because of her pupils, be they either unwilling to cooperate
or simply not capable of comprehending some material:
A teacher is like a knight on a battlefield. She wants the best for those she teaches but
not always is she successful. Sometimes she needs to use sophisticated methods in
order to achieve the set goal. She strives as much as she can but sometimes the
opponent’s resistance makes victory hard. Just like a knight, the teacher after her
winning fight is more motivated to act. And it is her attitude that matters most! (AR)
The learning process is compared here to a battlefield where one side wins. Even if the
goal, namely succeeding in making the student understand the material, is noble, perceiving
the process of learning as a battle seems pessimistic.
Another reason for the teacher’s failure are the parents of the students. Nowadays the
expectations parents have towards teachers seem to be rising. As observed by one of the
respondents,
A teacher is like Don Quixote fighting windmills. She is a person who strives to teach
something but unfortunately is faced with resistance. Very often it is not the student’s
resistance but the “strange” attitude of a parent who expects miracles but often brings
nothing to the teacher-parent relationship. (KK)
However, the most problematic aspect to be overcome by the teachers in their teaching
process is the curriculum itself. The curriculum has been mentioned as the factor which
demotivates and makes it impossible for the teacher to introduce her own ideas. Hence, the
teacher has been compared to a slave dealer, who would probably prefer to sell vegetables,
however, everybody eats meat (MM). This idea is further developed by another respondent
who compares a teacher to a bird closed in a cage. She points out that even if the teacher is a
passionate one, her passion cannot flourish as the restrictions imposed by the curriculum and
teaching for test make it hard to teach. What is even more, teachers are not expected to fly
high:
They usually cannot spread their wings and fly. In most schools it is not good to be seen
as a teacher with vision. Schools in Poland still propagate old-fashioned rigid teaching
methods, which tie both the teacher and the student. (PP)
Even if the picture painted above is too negative,7 there are a great number of schools in
which not much has changed. Students are taught in a traditional way and, even if new
technologies have made their way to the classroom, they are used either infrequently or
without much reflection. And although teachers do tend to attend teacher training courses, not
much is changing in the classroom itself. The reason for this situation is probably the
complexity of the school environment, where there are many parties involved, all pushing the
teacher in a different direction. The difficulty of this situation is seen by the respondents, who
perceive a teacher in today’s world as somebody who is doomed to fail. And here must come a
solution in the form of a new teacher training programme to reverse this trend.
6.7 Conclusions
In many countries teaching is a profession held in low esteem and with low pay. According to a
survey conducted in 2017 in the USA (AFT, 2017), 61% of teachers reported their jobs to be
stressful at all times or often. Alarmingly, 58% of the respondents of that survey have been
diagnosed with mental health issues resulting from stress. Undeniably, stress factors in
teaching are abundant: the volume of paperwork is increasing, the online register allows
parents, with their complaints and expectations, to be part of the teacher-student dynamics in
what seems like a live mode, the focus on achievements and formal evaluation is at its peak, the
number of children diagnosed with learning and behaviour difficulties is growing, and thus the
need for additional courses is indispensable. Sensing the urgency of the issue, we aimed at
exploring it further. We inspected the theoretical foundations of the educational framework
from a number of perspectives, including: the quality of relationships in a classroom, the
changes in the outside-of-school environment that impact learners, their diversity, and last but
not least, the habits of highly effective teachers, which we felt could be used as a guideline in
creating future teacher training programmes. Additionally, we asked students from our
university to share their reflections in the form of a metaphor to gain a deeper understanding
of the social perception of the profession. Our goal was to establish the components of teacher
training programmes that would increase teacher effectiveness and also contribute to their
long-term well-being. We also sought to establish the elements that may have a long-term
effect on: the quality of classroom dynamics, the academic and personal growth of students,
both teachers’ and students’ well-being in as well as outside of school, and, hopefully, the
image of teachers within the social consciousness.
Having considered the results of the exploratory study and the theoretical framework, we
have concluded that teacher training programmes should include elements of psychology.
Both the researchers (Hattie, 2015; Hamre and Pianta, 2001; Siegel, 2012) and the
respondents of the study agree that it is the quality of teacher-student relationships that has
the longest lasting impact. As much as academic growth is valued by students, it is the nature
of the relationships with their educators rather than their academic contribution that affect
young people most. Most of the respondents referred to teachers’ attitudinal characteristics,
rather than their teaching standards. Therefore, we endeavour to state that, in teacher training
programmes, an individualized approach to students and humanistic values in teaching should
be attributed, at least, the same importance as the curriculum and formal evaluation.
Educators’ acceptance of diversity of opinions and appreciation of students’ agency and
autonomy appears to be in line with both the findings from psycholinguistics (Hattie, 2015)
and neuroscience (Perry, 2005).
Although not a single respondent has made a reference to the concepts of neurodiversity,
special educational needs or the ever changing outside-of-school environment, it is
unquestionable that their awareness of some aspects of positive psychology is fair, if only
intuitive. Both the research in the field of positive psychology and the respondents of the study
align in that it is teachers’ demeanour, with their high standards and high expectations, that
may be the key to motivating new generations of learners. Among social media demands and
intensely stimulating online activities, less personalized contact with peers, and considerable
social and parental pressure, young people need a signpost, a leader, a mentor they can relate
to. That particular role, evidently held in respect by the respondents of this study, resonates
with the fact that the need for a strong bond is one of the fundamental needs across humanity
(Steinke-Kalembka, 2017) and as such may have the power to motivate and engage students in
academic work, soothe them and calm them down. Additionally, students may, to some extent,
feel inspired to disengage from the online world and redress their physiological balance.
Despite no evidence from the metaphor study, we have felt encouraged by the examination
of the studies in positive psychology and neurodidactics to explore the broader context of the
teaching profession. We have come to an understanding that for teachers to be able to notice
and understand the subtleties of neurodiversity, teacher training programmes should include
educational therapy training, which would help teachers in differentiating between various
types of learning difficulties. We tentatively hypothesize that because the fields of positive
psychology and neurodidactics have only recently been invited to the FL domain, it is
impossible to expect prospective teachers to have any type of awareness of the issues, as their
experience within the educational system has not been enriched by the recognition of the
importance of the neuropsychological knowledge by their educators. Therefore, their lack of
experience remains reflected in their responses.
At this juncture, we propose that teachers’ ability to recognise precisely the type of
difficulties experienced by a given student would shorten the unnecessary struggle of many
suffering from developmental dyslexia, specific language disorder or Asperger Syndrome.
Additionally, drawing on research in the field of FL teaching and learning difficulties
(Nijakowska, 2010), we have concluded that the techniques and strategies used in therapeutic
settings might be more successful than traditional methods when used in mixed ability
classrooms. We believe that training in the area of special educational needs may also reduce
the level of stress teachers experience when faced with cases they are unfamiliar with. For the
lack of necessary tools, some educators may experience additional stress caused by
helplessness. More training in this area is expected to entail more tools, more understanding,
which in turn may induce more empathy and patience and reduce stress.
Our final conclusion is that, during their training, teachers should be assisted in the
discovery that teaching is a profession of life-long learning, with hard skills being as significant
as soft skills. A university graduate only just embarking upon a journey of learning, gaining
experience and continuing improvement. Teacher training should include elements of positive
psychology with tools like mindfulness, gratitude and journaling. On the basis of extensive
research into positive psychology, we speculate that these tools might support teachers in
becoming more mindful of their own needs and the needs of their students. Interestingly
enough, we conclude that a lot of negative perception of teachers may be attributed to their
inability to cope with the demands of the job and their negative expression of experienced
stress. The changes in the training programmes would allow teachers to manage their stress
levels, so, as a consequence, teachers might be more willing to give up control in their control-
driven and stress inducing everyday practices, trust the students and engage in more
meaningful relationships.
All in all, we remain hopeful after discovering that it was the first year students who
produced the most positive metaphors. Their positive perception of the teaching profession
leaves us heartened as to the changes we plan to introduce in their training.
Appendix
University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz
March 2019
The following assignment is an introduction to our research on the role of a foreign
language teacher in a modern school. Your answers will allow us to better outline the picture
of today’s teacher and, consequently, adjust the teacher training programme to the
requirements set for teachers today.
A Teacher is like (…)
We would like you to share with us your thoughts on the role of the teacher in today’s
language education.
You can express your thoughts in the language of your choice: Polish or English. You can
also switch between the languages if you consider it necessary.
We do not set a word limit for your reflections. We hope that you will know when you have
expounded the topic.
Thank you for participating in our study!
Ola Majchrzak and Patrycja Ostrogska
1.
Course of study:
(a)
English studies
(b)
German studies
2. Study level:
(a)
B.A. studies
(b)
M.A. studies
3.
Year of study:
4.
Do you work as a teacher? YES/NO
If you have marked NO, are you planning to become a teacher?
5.
What is your experience as a teacher?
(a)
0–5 years
(b)
5–10 years
(c)
more than 10 years
6.
Place of Work:
(a)
primary school
(b)
secondary school
(c)
language school
(d)
Other
7.
Subject taught.:
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Footnotes
1 The number of students who initially participated in the study was 43. However, the metaphors provided by 7 students
were not taken into consideration in the final analysis as they were either incomplete or did not coincide with the explanation
provided.

2 As has been mentioned in the section Study participants, seven students failed to provide valid metaphors and were hence
not taken into consideration in further analysis.

3 It should be mentioned that some of the students provided more than just one metaphor. As long as their metaphors were
valid, they were all taken into consideration. Hence, the overall number of metaphors is higher than the actual number of
study participants.

4 The way in which a teacher shares knowledge with his/her students was also mentioned in the metaphors which presented
a complex picture of a student. However, in that case the students voiced the inability of many teachers to deliver knowledge
to students (cf. section “Teacher as an encyclopedia”).

5 The same idea was expressed by another respondent who compared a teacher to a poker game, explaining that “You never
know what cards you get. You can be lucky and get a teacher that is great, loves his job and inspires you. But you can be
unlucky and get one that will turn your life into a nightmare.” (KP)

6 One of the respondents (NW) mentioned, though, that if a mistake occurs on the teacher’s part, students tend to forget that
a teacher is just a human being who has the right to make mistakes. Students very often expect teachers to be perfect in their
actions, decisions and answers.

7 It has to be said that there are schools in Poland which promote positive education, based on common respect, autonomy,
and positive psychology in general. These are both individual schools and the ones working together under the name Waking
up schools (Polish: Budząca się Szkoła).

Applied
and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_10
(Positive) Affectivity in a Foreign Language

Classroom: Trainees’ Response to an Introductory
Course in Positive Psychology
Danuta Gabryś-Barker1
(1) University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

Abstract
One of the main pillars of positive psychology is the role our emotions (affectivity) play in
various contexts of life; it follows that it also plays such a role in the language classroom
(Dewaele et al., 2019; Gabryś-Barker, 2016). The power of affectivity is also exposed very
strongly in the other assumptions of positive psychology: our strengths and weaknesses (the
second pillar) and in the fundamental principles of enabling institutions (the third pillar)
(Seligman, 2002; MacIntyre et al., 2016). This chapter brings together an interest in positive
affectivity and the need for the development of effective teacher training programmes for
undergraduate students who are prospective EFL teachers. The underlying belief is that it is
the teacher that takes responsibility for his or her classes and individual learners in
communicating and interacting in the process of language instruction. At the same time, it is
believed that to some extent teachers also contribute to the personal development of their
learners. The data presented here consists of the reflections of trainee teachers on their
experience of positive psychology classes, introduced as part of a TEFL module in their
programme of studies to become FL teachers, and its contribution to altering the students’
frame of mind in understanding what teaching a foreign language embraces. The observations
made will be the basis for the implications for improving content of a pre-service training of
future FL teachers, focusing on affectivity awareness brought about by the introduction to
positive psychology in TEFL classes at the university.
Keywords Positive psychology – Language tasks – Affectivity – Interaction – Personal
development – Teacher training programme
Danuta Gabryś-Barker is Professor of English at the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
Her main areas of interest are multilingualism, applied psycholinguistics and teacher training.
She has published books and over two hundred articles and edited twenty volumes nationally
as well as internationally for Multilingual Matters, Springer and the University of Silesia Press.
Apart from being on numerous editorial boards of scientific journals, Prof. Gabryś-Barker is
the co-editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Multilingualism (Taylor &
Francis/Routledge) and the co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Theory and
Practice of Second Language Acquisition (University of Silesia Press). She has also been the co-
organiser of the International Conference on Foreign/Second Language Acquisition in Szczyrk
(University of Silesia) for well over twenty years.

1 Introduction
When staring my career as an EFL teacher many years ago in a typical secondary school in
Poland, I was given a chance to work with students whose basic knowledge of English had
already been acknowledged by entrance proficiency tests and who seemed to have been very
motivated to develop their ability in English further. The training I received at the university at
that time in the old educational/political system was very traditional and restrictive. There
was no access to novel methods, not to mention the scarcity of language materials to use by a
highly motivated class of language students, for whom a prescribed course-book was never
enough. For any newly qualified teacher, still idealistic about the job, the situation was pretty
frustrating and required additional efforts and ingenuity in searching for something new,
something more creative. Also, what seemed to count and constituted one of the more decisive
factors in becoming a successful EFL teacher at that time was my own personal history of
learning English as a foreign language (in the very same school!). This was four years of
experience of being taught by a Scottish native speaker, a lady who did not have any
pedagogical qualifications but who put her heart into teaching and thus not only became a
success as a teacher but also as a trainer and real mentor to her future colleagues, new
teachers of English. I was one of them, at a fairly dark time for language instruction in the early
seventies as it was conceived in state-run schools.
Another factor in my career as a teacher was accidental access to a publication which I still
cherish as an EFL teacher of over forty years of experience and which, as a teacher trainer, I
never fail to recommend to my students. It was a book by Gertrude Moskowitz (1978) entitled
Caring and Sharing in a Foreign Language Class, which I believe is the first publication on how
the principles of humanistic psychology of Carl Rogers and others could be implemented in
foreign language instruction. In my mind, it constitutes a starting point for positive
psychology’s presence in educational settings, a long time before it became acknowledged as a
branch of psychology by Seligman and colleagues in 2000 with their “Manifesto.” Before then,
Gertrude Moskowitz had already articulated her deep belief that (language) education should
embrace not only the cognitive but also the affective dimension of human functioning in life,
and thus was integral to becoming successful in one’s educational endeavours, whether as
teacher or learner. What she emphasised was the role of positive emotions, one’s strengths
(signature strengths) and positive institutions putting the former into practice (for example in
schools). In fact, these are the main pillars of positive psychology (see Budzińska, MacIntyre, &
Seidl, this volume).
To my great satisfaction, the above beliefs which I held as a FL teacher a long time ago, and
which were very much intuitive and partly based on experience when I first started my
professional career at school, have now found their way into what constitutes a legitimate
branch of psychology, positive psychology. This field is supported by theoretical discussion and
empirical evidence coming from research on foreign language teaching and learning by such
people as Rebecca Oxford, Sarah Mercer and Peter MacIntyre. Their contributions and the new
approach turned out to be for me an exciting way of dealing with (inevitable) routine and
helping to avoid professional burnout in my career as an academic teacher, researcher, but
mostly, as a FL teacher trainer.
How can positive psychology function in a teacher training educational environment?
Should it constitute a part of this training and how would EFL trainees respond to such a
course? These are the main concerns of this chapter and my own concerns as a teacher trainer,
constantly searching for new ways to frame the minds of future teachers of foreign languages
in such a way that they will not only be successful professionals but will also enjoy their work
in and beyond their (FL) classrooms.
2 Trainee Beliefs and Their Well-Being

In their university training period as well as in their school placement and first classroom
experiences, FL trainees have certain views on what constitutes FL teaching and learning
which strongly influence the way they position themselves as teachers. As I mentioned
elsewhere:
Pre-service and novice teachers do not come empty-handed to their classrooms. They
come from certain contexts (educational, personal, social); they have different values
and beliefs. They are different on the personal level, educationally and experientially.
What they bring is temporary, it fluctuates and evolves with time to finally reach the
stage of relative stability.
(Gabryś-Barker, 2012, p. 30)
As is generally believed—following from Richard and Lockhart 1994 to more recent
publications on the topic of teachers’ and trainee teachers’ beliefs (for example those by
Gabryś-Barker, 2015; Hoy, Davis, & Pape, 2006; Loughran & Russell, 2002), trainees’ views
derive first of all from their individual experiences as foreign language learners, which is most
visible in the way they perform during their school placement periods, usually imitating their
own teachers (in some cases despite their initial disapproval of their techniques!). Also, as
novices, they are exposed to the established practices and routines of a given school, which
may not fully comply with their own personal beliefs about what successful FL instruction,
should be like and where the focus of foreign language instruction should be. This may occur,
for example, when priority is given to grammar teaching because of the final tests proposed by
the school versus a communicative focus as fulfilling the major practical needs of language use
that newly qualified teachers are convinced of. The trainees are either still involved in or have
newly completed their theoretical courses in pedagogy and psychology, FL methodology and
language acquisition theory. What they learn does not always correspond to what they see in
practice or, alternatively, we can assume that they are still not able to assess the appropriacy of
certain theories as applied to different teaching contexts. So, on the one hand we have the
initial beliefs that influence the frame of mind which a teacher trainee brings to the classroom,
and on the other, the insecurity of a novice teacher results in fluctuations in these beliefs,
which in fact are only held provisionally. The first individual teaching experiences combined
with knowledge gained in the training programmes, initial reflection, first successes and
failures all impact on and direct the evolution of the frame of mind of a trainee.
Having studied the evolving character of trainee teachers’ beliefs, I observed that there is a
dramatic difference between how they approach their future work as FL teachers at the
beginning of their studies and how they see it towards the end. As summarised elsewhere
(Gabryś-Barker, 2015), the following observations comparing the initial views (visions) and
the present day (revisions) can be presented. The initial negative or at best, neutral attitude to
EFL profession of these trainees turned into much more positive, if not exactly enthusiastic,
views on teaching as a job. The early belief that the job of a FL teacher is easy and based on
routine behaviours in the classroom evolves into one that is seen as difficult and more often
than not, quite challenging, taking the form of a mission. Also, a static view on language and
competence in a foreign language use is replaced by the view that developing one’s foreign
language abilities is a life-long personal story of continuous development. The initial belief
that FL teaching focuses on rule-governed instruction gives way to a very strong emphasis on
the role of communication and culture in teaching/learning a FL. The initial trainees’ views
based on their own learning experiences mostly disappear or evolve with time due to their
experience of the school placement and their own classroom presence. The changed beliefs
also originate in a strong emphasis on learning and the learner and not on teaching as the end
in itself. EFL teachers as models evoked by trainees’ memories of learners were replaced by
their own experience in class (practicum), creating a new model (Gabryś-Barker, 2015).
It needs to be emphasized that with the passing of time during their studies, the influences
on the evolution of beliefs as expressed by the trainees were also strongly impacted by the
new experience of being university students now and the way they were/are taught in their
training institutions—teacher training colleges and universities, so very different from the
early educational context of primary and secondary schools. Knowledge gathered as the result
of their studies is seen to be essential for their teaching success, as the developmental
character of trainees’ beliefs led them to the testing of pedagogical theory, which contributed
most significantly to teaching approaches and beliefs expressed. They also admitted either to
copying (successful teachers) or rejecting the models of the past with almost equally strong
emphasis by taking a more critical approach to their schoolteachers. At the same time, in the
words of the trainees themselves, it was their experience of the school placement that
constituted the major factor in their evolving beliefs on FL teaching and learning.
The previous study demonstrated that the trainees developed a more idealistic frame of
mind as future teachers than the one expressed at the beginning of the study and in some
cases, even moved from skepticism about the job to a belief in it as a mission. This
demonstrates that both the knowledge received, and practical experience combined with
authentic involvement in teaching are two important and complementary sides to the process
of training a future, successful teacher. One important aspect of the above becoming true is the
need to implement in the trainees the need to reflect and thus to develop professionally, as it
clearly was in the case of the group in this study (Gabryś-Barker, 2012). Through this
developmental process, the trainees became more aware of the challenges they would have to
face as teachers and who were becoming more aware of themselves as teachers and as people.
They became more aware and more oriented towards their learners and developed more
creative ways of sharing their knowledge. What also resulted from a reflective approach to the
teaching ingrained in these students was the realisation of the need for constant self-
development, implementing the reflective approach in various dimensions of the teaching–
learning continuum (ibid.). As expressed by one of the trainees “I think that teaching is very
demanding but also challenging and thus, fascinating. It requires a constant development of
the teacher.” Thus, metaphorically speaking, the students believed that teaching is “a mission
to be accomplished (…), a highly specialist job requiring professionalism (…), a sharing of
knowledge developed through study and experience (…), performing a well-prepared role
(…).” The metaphors of a victorious battle, a lighthouse showing the way in difficulties, a
guided tour or acting on the stage were cited by the trainees expressing their individual
understandings of what teaching a FL meant to them (Gabryś-Barker, 2012, p. 44).
3 Methodology of the Present Study

The present study continues my interest in developing the most effective ways of training
future foreign language teachers, in which openness to change and innovation, creativity and
making use of various areas of knowledge and expertise that may have a significant bearing on
a teaching success are the driving forces. I believe one of those areas of innovation and change
is offered by positive psychology in education, interest in which is becoming more and more
visible with the work of psychologists and applied linguists (Budzińska, 2018; Gabryś-Barker,
2014, 2016, 2018; MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2016) and other scholars as well as
practicing (FL) teachers.
3.1 Research Focus of the Study

The aim of the present study is twofold. Firstly, it proposes to introduce briefly the objectives,
syllabus and procedures implemented in teaching an introductory course in positive
psychology in the context of FL instruction—as a pilot of a new module in TEFL at the
university level in teaching specialization groups. Secondly, and most importantly, it reports on
a study expressing the EFL trainees’ response to the above course.
3.2 The Subjects

The subjects of the study were twenty-seven university students whose target was to become
foreign language teachers on completion of their B.A. and later on, an M.A. programme of
study giving them full qualifications from the English philology department of the University
of Silesia. At the moment of data collection, they were in their second year and had just
completed a course in general TEFL methodology and joined an additional TEFL module
described as Innovative and creative approaches to teaching a FL. They were also involved in a
school placement embracing mostly classroom observations but also some hours of teaching
English as a foreign language. Most of the students in this group were quite ambitious, well-
motivated as well as open-minded, thus ready to experiment with new things.
3.3 A New Module Syllabus and Its Sources

Being part of a FL teacher training programme, the objective of this new module was to go
beyond the prescribed syllabus of methodology which embraces an overview of the main
concepts in methodology of FLT, i.e., traditional and unconventional methods of teaching,
techniques used in language instruction and classroom management issues among other
topics. The idea of introducing an additional model of FL instruction was to expose these
trainees to more unorthodox ways of understanding the nature of the teaching process, to
focus on teacher’s reflection and to practice also authentic teaching within a peer-teaching
paradigm.
The choice of positive psychology as an approach to FL instruction was made by the
lecturer/by me and derived from a deeply rooted belief that teaching—and especially the
teaching of languages—should be treated as a holistic process, embracing not only the
cognitive but also (and predominantly) the affective dimensions of both teachers and learners
(as mentioned in the introduction to this text). The module that was introduced
experimentally in the programme of studies was described as Innovative and creative
approaches to teaching a FL: elements of positive psychology in EFL. In its first year of running
reported here, it consisted of 15 h of lectures and 30 h of practical classes.
3.3.1 Lectures
The lectures aimed to introduce the students to the main assumptions of positive psychology
as a legitimate branch of psychology, with its three main pillars (Seligman, 2002), and to
emphasize their relevance in the classroom context (MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2016).
The students were acquainted with Seligman’s model of PERMA (see Budzińska, Jin et al.,
Kikuchi & Lake, Mystkowska-Wiertelak, & Werbińska, this volume) and a critical approach to it
as expressed by the EMPATHICS model of Oxford (2016b) (see Werbińska, this volume). The
model focuses largely on language learner well-being and is also pronounced as being relevant
to the well-being of language teachers and, as Oxford emphasises, it is also adaptable for the
well-being of learners and teachers in other fields (Table 1).
Table 1 EMPATHICS (based on Oxford, 2016b)
Feature Understanding of the concept
Emotion and The human brain is not only a cognitive brain but also an emotional brain, relating thoughts, emotions, and
empathy motivation (Le Doux, 1998)
(…) cognition and emotion cannot be separated thus, emotion is an important dimension of learning (Le
Doux, 1998)
Empathy is both cognitive and emotional. It is an “other-oriented emotional [and cognitive] response elicited
by and congruent with the perceived welfare of someone else” (Batson, Ahmad, & Lishner, 2009, p. 418)
Empathy comprises compassion, sympathy, and caring for oneself and for the others (Oxford, 2016c)
Meaning and Positive psychology believes that all people are goal-seeking and active in defining goals and meaning for
motivation their own endeavours (Linley, Nielsen, Wood, Gillett, & Biswas-Diener, 2010) by making sense of their
experiences and using energy in the directions making sense for individuals (Steger, 2011)
(…) motivation refers to a cumulative arousal, or want, that we are aware of” (Dörnyei, 2009, p. 209)
Perseverance, Perseverance means a continuous effort to reach one’s aims and targets, irrespective of challenges,
including problems and difficulties, or even failures accomplish something valuable despite problems, opposition,
resilience difficulties, or failures
Resilience is an ability to adapt in situations of risk or some form of adversity to go on (Masten, Cutuli,
Herbers, & Reed, 2012)
Agency and Agency means active engagement in actions (such as learning) in an autonomous way, defining the relevance
autonomy and significance of the (learning process (action) and controlling it (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001; Lantolf &
Thorne, 2006)
Autonomy means taking responsibility for one’s actions and behaviour with specific focus on learning
strategies and self-regulation (Benson, 2012; Little, 2007; Oxford, 2016a)
Time Positive psychology understanding of time (following Zimbardo (2002, p. 62) is in the value of an optimally
balanced time perspective, in which “past, present and future components blend and flexibly engage, depending
on a situation’s demands and our needs and values”
Habits of The concept refers to composite(s) of many skills, attitudes, cues, past experiences, and proclivities (…)
mind patterns of intellectual behavior that we value more than other such patterns and that we choose to enact at
certain times and in particular contexts (Costa & Kallick, 2008, para. 7)
Intelligences Each person has a certain set of intelligences, defined as sets of biopsychological potentials to process
information (…). Gardner (2006) classifies them into musical, logical-mathematical, verbal-linguistic, visual-
spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal (social), intrapersonal (introspective), existential (largely
spiritual), naturalistic (ecological, environmental) (Gardner, 2006)
Positive psychology put emphasis on emotional intelligence understood as the ability to understand feelings
in the self and others and to use these feelings as informational guides for thinking and action (Salovey,
Mayer, Caruso, & Yoo, 2011, p. 238)
Character Positive psychology classification of virtues and character strengths embraces:

strengths 6 virtues of wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice and temperance and respectively 24
character strengths, for example: creativity, curiosity, judgment or critical thinking, love of learning,
perseverance, honesty or authenticity, zest or vitality, love, kindness, social intelligence (emotional and
personal intelligence), teamwork, fairness, leadership, self-regulation, gratitude, hope, humour, and
spirituality (Peterson & Seligman, 2004)
Feature Understanding of the concept
Self-factors, A psychological definition of self-efficacy according to Bandura (1997, 2006) defines it as one’s level of
especially belief in oneself (self-confidence) when performing an action towards a well-defined goal in a given context
self-efficacy by the circumstances (situated/contextualized)
Each of the sessions of the course related to different assumptions made by positive
psychology and ways of applying them to the (FL) classroom context, looking at, among other
things, positive characteristics, the emotions and feelings of teachers and learners and the role
of contextual factors such as environment, and in particular, institutions (e.g., schools) and
their functions. The content of the course included all the components of the EMPATHICS
model, which were presented and discussed in detail during the lectures.
Each time the students were encouraged to participate by answering questions and
reflecting on the issues discussed. Thus, it seems to me that they received a fairly
comprehensive theoretical background to what was planned for the practical classes, that is,
how to apply positive psychology to teaching English at different levels of advancement and in
different age groups of learners.
3.3.2 Practical Classes

The main source for the activities presented in classes was the material put online for
authorised use by Mark Helgesen, an enthusiastic and successful practitioner of positive
psychology techniques in his own teaching in Japan. To this end, peer teaching was used as a
form of language instruction practice, in which pairs of students presented to their peers a set
of individually selected tasks based on positive psychology assumptions. The online source
was often used; however, quite a few students challenged themselves by making use of their
own ideas for the tasks.
The classes ran according to a prescribed structure, where each pair who were presenting
(and peer teaching the activities) followed these instructions:
– Introduce the title and the aims of a given activity focusing both on linguistic objectives (what
language element is to be taught) and affective objectives (possible feelings evoked).
– Peer-teach the activity.
– Assess the activity by conducting a discussion stage with appropriate questions relating to the
feasibility of using a given activity and possible contexts of its use, its strong points and
possible problems.
The set used consisted of tasks classified by Helgesen: Remember good things, Do kind
things, Say thank you, Friends and family, Forgive, Health and your body, Mindfulness and Work
with problems and stress (source: Marc Helgesen et al., https://www.eltandhappiness.com).
Each of the tasks was accompanied by a worksheet, in which not only the activity was
presented but also the objectives were explicitly expressed as those referring to both the
language focus and affective dimension of the task. Here is a sample worksheet for a Thank you
to the world activity based on Marc Helgesen (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 Thank you to the world activity
On completion of the course, the students were asked to assess and respond to the course
they participated in in the form of a personal, experiential narrative text of 400 words. There
was no detailed instruction given so that the students would not be directed in their
reflections in any way, thus making sure they felt free to focus on what they found to be of
importance and of value.
4 Data
The different dimensions of reflection that the narratives brought expressed trainees’
experience in relation to both themselves as human beings but also as future teachers and
they commented on the effects these activities had on them. They also reflected upon the
didactic aspects of the tasks in relation to teaching a foreign language. Thus, the presentation
of the data here falls into the following categories of analysis:
– Life changing perspective
– Teaching/learning facilitation in and beyond the classroom
– Assessment of a positive psychology course
– “Problems” with positive psychology classes
The generally agreed-upon belief expressed in these narratives sees the main aim of
introducing elements of positive psychology as “Changing negativity into positivity” (subject
7) as if following on from what Helgesen said:
For starters, we know that happy students:

– learn more.
– work longer at tasks.
– approach those tasks with more enthusiasm (…).
We also know that, as they are feeling good, the neuron connections—learning
centers—are lighting up with serotonin, endorphins, and dopamine—those “feel
good” neurotransmitters that go along with learning (www.Elthappiness.com)
The study is qualitative in nature, so the data analysis does not seek to interpret the
opinions expressed by the trainees quantitatively. At the same time, the codification of the
individual reflections in each narrative establishes the main inductive categories present in
the whole corpus, allowing the highlighting of the proportions between the major categories,
i.e., life changing perspective, teaching/learning facilitation in and beyond the classroom, and
the (possible) problems and challenges positive psychology classes may face. It can be
observed that 60% of the reflections shared by the trainees focus on the facilitative dimension
of positive psychology approaches for both FL teaching and learning processes in and beyond
the classroom. Thus, the course implemented as a new module in TEFL methodology seems to
have met its objective in encouraging a new approach to FL teaching. At the same time, 10% of
the comments also report on the possible challenges and difficulties a positive psychology
approach might generate in a FL classroom. What is also quite significant is that having been
introduced to positive psychology theory and classroom practice, 30% of comments point to
the development of a different, life-changing perspective by the trainees, not just as future
teachers but also as people. The general assessment of the course is very favourable, and the
students expressed their appreciation very forcibly. All this is evidenced in the comments
presented below.
4.1 Life Changing Perspective

The following quotations from the students testify to how significant the course they
participated in was for their own well-being:
First of all, I want to admit that positive psychology classes made me very happy: I started
to see good things in daily living about which I have never thought before. I realised that
what is good in life is not simple the absence of the problematic. (s. 10)
I found positive psychology very helpful and useful in everyday life (…) Those classes
made me more confident and changed my attitude to life. (s. 1)
These activities can be used in everyday life (…) in moments of crisis or to help us get
better. (s. 16)
It relates positive things in our lives with knowledge that we have to assimilate/learn.
(s. 6)
These classes were really important for me, as I am a rather pessimistic person (…) I
could change my perception of the world and other people (…). (s. 9)
Some of activities changed my point of view on many things (…) They made me more
confident and I started to believe in myself and share good things about others
(compliments on the backs), sharing outside crying mother—a person to whom grateful)
(…) it started to be my daily routine (good things) I started to care more about my body
(physical health). (s. 10)
These activities made us think about all the small things in our lives we should be
aware of and grateful for (…) A change in thinking (…) we need it more and more to cope
with the problems of everyday life. (s. 17)
Importance of forgiveness (more than nice things about oneself), but also
strengthening links between mates (…) nice variation, fun. (s. 23)
I learnt to focus on my strengths more than on weaknesses, finding reasons to be
happy every day. (…) They opened my eyes to things I did not notice previously. Now I am
more confident and grateful person. (s. 25)
Some important reflections disclosed, that were shared by the students in their narratives,
point to the fact that
positive psychology course was not just treated as another element in their programme
of studies but made a significant contribution to their self-development as people and
greater ease in life;
the experience impacted on the students’ outlook on life, introducing a much-needed
positivity;
it developed more confidence in some of the trainees not only as students but as human
beings;
it emphasised the need to focus on one’s strengths (signature strengths);
a more acute awareness of oneself was also complemented by a more open attitude to
others and enhanced noticing other people’s responses;
importantly, more appreciation was developed for the small things in life and their
contribution to the students’ well-being.
4.2 Teaching/learning Facilitation in and Beyond the Classroom

The vast majority of comments and reflections made by the trainees expressed their
awareness of how the implementation of positive psychology tasks can facilitate teaching by
giving it a different dimension and making it more creative as well as making the learning
process more effective. At the same time, it contributes to the learners’ well-being and
development as language users and as people. Here is their testimony on the effects of positive
psychology in a FL classroom.
Motivation, creativity in a FL class
Positivity should be a big part of our daily routine. It can also be with us in a classroom,
which will undeniably make FL lessons more exciting and colourful, and our students
more motivated, inspired and happy, However, we should be careful with the quantity and
quality of activities we use not to have opposite effects. (s. 8)
(positive psychology techniques) can make teaching and learning a FL more
humanistic and therefore, less artificial: Positive relationships between T & Ls Mutual
awareness of positive things about each other (…) An observant teacher sees his students’
strengths (…) holistic self-development (self-awareness of who we are as teacher and
learners. (s. 2)
Nowadays the motivation of students is much lower. That is why positive. psychology.
is important. Even easy to do exercises can be a good motivation (…) young people like to
talk about themselves and their feelings (…). Some of the teachers cannot share positivity
(…) the teacher is the one that sets the mood (…). Positive psychology tasks also develop
emotional maturity of students and teachers. (s. 3)
Students are getting bored with routine (…) learners are passive, they lack enthusiasm
(…) five-minute positive activities will be liked by everybody (…) with young learners and
older learners. (s. 4)
What can be successfully applied in life, can be also applied in teaching (…) I found
activities motivating and became more self-conscious (before applying it in the classroom,
teachers should) applied tasks to themselves (to become self-conscious), source of
motivation and enthusiasm (…) (s. 7)
(…) an unconventional way of looking at coursebook topics, thinking about issues we
do not always have time to consider. (s. 12)
Climate, rapport, effective relationships in a FL class
(positive psychology techniques) can make teaching and learning a FL more humanistic
and therefore, less artificial. Positive relationships between T & Ls Mutual awareness of
positive things about each other (…) An observant teacher sees his students’ strengths (…)
holistic self-development (self-awareness of who we are as teacher and learners. (s. 2)
It can help make students’ mood better, especially when they are overwhelmed by the
amount of duties and boring, repetitive lessons. These techniques diversify and enrich a
lesson, they put a smile on their faces and highlight enthusiasm for learning. They create
friendly atmosphere in the classroom between students and students and the teacher (s.
5)
The relation (T-Ss) can take a step closer by applying positive exercises. e.g., at the
beginning of the lesson (a warm-up) (…) as a form of reward and encouragement. This
“dosed” positivity can make them more relaxed and happier. (s. 7)
One of the most important things that a teacher should do is improve the atmosphere
in the classroom (…) should be used regularly throughout the course. Happy and relaxed
students will be more motivated and eager to learn and to co-operate. They will also
memorise more from the contents of the lesson (…) we as teachers need to make our
students more aware of those positive things and help deal with negativity (noticing good
things tasks). (s. 8)
They (the classes) were both interesting and useful for development of our language
competence and teaching. They were also a great opportunity to spend time with our
friends in class in a creative way (…) it perhaps even changed the way in which we refer to
each other. I search for information on pp in my spare time. (s. 11)
Learner strengths and learner potential in a FL class
(…) it can push students to realise their true potential. (s. 5)

Learners notice things around them and may not realise that they are learning
language at the same time. (s. 14)
These tasks can be combined with any topic of the course (personality, family (…) They
are a great entertainment and integrate students (cooperation, respect). Sts become self-
aware and get to know their strengths. (s. 18)
(…) providing friendly atmosphere and emotions in t-ss interaction (s. 12)
Positive psychology tasks make students happier, lead to the production of serotonin,
endorphins and dopamine, which helps them to concentrate, learn more, work longer at
tasks and approach them with more enthusiasm (…) (s. 14)
(…) they gave me positive energy and a feeling of being successful at what I have done
(…) Teachers should do these activities to make students feel better because there are
plenty of things that bother them and these small things can make them happier. (s. 15)
I observed that after exercises the students were more willing to work and cooperate.
(s. 16)
Students’ life is stressful, their positive emotions are diminishing (…) Ts should help
build their confidence, make aware of their strengths, find a balance in life, be happy and
think positively. (s. 19)
School as an enabling institution
(…) a perfect solution in the world full of violence, insults and negative emotions. School is
the place to find appreciation and support (…) develop students’ self-awareness, belief in
their strengths (…) in a Fl class, developing both language and personalities. (s. 20)
To help students understand their feelings and to learn to appreciate small things in
life. (s. 21)
Bad energy of a T affects the surrounding—positive psychology means to overcoming
negativity (…) appreciating light-heartedness, creating distance (…) to make the class feel
comfortable (emotionally secure) (…) physical health, enhancing empathy, reduces
aggression. (s. 22)
Good preparation, cooperation, trying to make others happy. Appropriacy for young
learners who are lazy and spoilt to develop respect., to take them away from a computer
screen. (s. 24)
Feeling of safety and motivating to help others, be positive about each other, grateful.
It brought happiness and nice atmosphere in the classroom (…) awareness of my
strengths (…) (s. 26)
To sum up the above reflections, it seems that the implementation of positive psychology
tasks, as they were used in this course and performed in peer teaching sessions, resulted in
the trainees’ powerful belief that
they offer both the teacher and the class a much stronger motivation to teach and to
learn respectively;
positive psychology tasks decrease the teacher preparation time and are easy to prepare
(which is not without value for any teacher pressed for time), there are also ready materials
to be uploaded from appropriate internet pages or simply an adaptated coursebook
material can be used;
the personal topics of these activities make them much more relevant for the learners
where they not only disclose what they think and feel but simultaneously learn the language
to do it and share with their peer group;
this sharing is an important aspect of the FL learning process, as it demonstrates that
language means authentic communication and interaction resulting in better
understanding, in the group working together, sharing similar doubts and anxieties, but also
importantly, joys and positivity;
these activities are also seen as being undoubtedly a source of fun, engaging all
senses/intelligences in their performance, thus being more effective tools in learning than
traditional course-book based tasks.
Additionally, as a result of the above, the trainees reported that they observed a better
classroom climate as they felt more secure and had a chance to express their various
enthusiasms. What was also exhibited was enhanced cooperation between the students and
the development of group cohesion. On the level of the individual student, the use of positive
psychology had a visible impact on their emotional development and confidence in themselves
as individuals and as a part of their peer group.
4.3 Assessment of a Positive Psychology Course

In their evaluation of the experience, the feature emphasized several times was the
appropriacy of this kind of approach to FL instruction, which treats leaners as people at the
present time when an all-embracing negativity is so often observed in their social context and
which can be ascribed to the boredom and routine behaviour of both teachers and learners.
These opinions are expressed in the following reflections taken from the students’ narratives:
I remember these classes as one of my favourite because topics were connected with life,
we could learn how to live in a good way and also get a lot of positive energy. Everything
has an impact on our life. We should only learn not to notice it, how to control and handle
our emotions and what’s most important be positive every single day. (s. 9)
I feel better now, and I am also smiling a lot! I think that positive psychology should be
taught in every school. (s. 10)
These classes opened my eyes and the knowledge about pp changed my perspective on
life, teaching and learning. (s. 11)
This course on using positive psychology in a Fl class made a great impression on me
and opened myself onto new perspectives in teaching. (s. 12)
Remembering good things in my life, doing kind things, saying thank you to people
who help me, taking care of my body and learning to work with my problems are the most
important things I will take from this course. (s. 26)
Positive psychology was seen as opening another door to reality and the classes on positive
psychology, as one of the students put it, (…) definitely stood out for me from all the other
subjects during our studies (subject 27). The above thoughts give evidence of what Oxford
(2016b) embraced in her EMPHATICS model presented earlier (Table 1).
4.4 “Problems” with Positive Psychology Classes: A Word of Caution from the
Trainees
Despite all the positive attitudes expressed by the trainees, they also voiced some criticisms
and pointed out the areas of difficulty and problems both a teacher and his/her students may
be faced with when using positive psychology tasks:
If students do not take them (activities) seriously, the teacher should improve them but
also be aware of the current mood. (s. 4)
Some activities may seem childish (e.g., drawing a family), broken families versus task
on a happy family—sensitivity of choice. (s. 5)
We must be careful with the content of the exercises (…) too personal to be presented
in public, may even create negative emotions. (s. 7, 27)
Some topics may be sensitive, e.g., a family, death or life expectations. (s. 6, 23)
Individual approach of a teacher to students (shy students) (s. 18)
Not to overwhelm learners by number of tasks (…), not used as routine at every lesson
(s. 8)
Age factor—not with children (too sensitive, crying) (subject 8), inappropriate
because of the emotional immaturity (s. 21)
Possible noise during the activities (s. 11)
One of the trainees even said, “I have mixed feelings about these tasks” (subject 24). The
emphasis of “warning” comments was mostly put on the need for teachers’ sensitivity to the
group and to individuals, to the present class mood and to classroom management problems
which may emerge. What was also seen as essential was the teacher’s ability to convince the
learners of the value of these activities, which may present a novel learning experience to
them and thus may be seen as intrusive or even threatening. To sum up, the trainees have
strong beliefs about the nature of the tasks and offer some guidelines and warning comments
to teachers.
5 Conclusions: Implications for FL Teacher Training Courses

It seems to me that my trainees involved in the introductory course to positive psychology
grasped very well the essence of Rebecca Oxford’s ideas presented in the EMPATHICS model
(2016b) and generally, the ideas of positive psychology in the way they responded to the
experiences they went through during their semester classes on positive psychology in FL
instruction. As was reflected in their comments, the implementation of positive psychology
ideas in a FL classroom offered them not only a different way of approaching their future work
as teachers of a foreign language but also had an impact on their personal lives, a way of being
and understanding their relationships with colleagues, friends and family.
The trainees also emphasised a different approach to daily experiences, taking different
time perspectives on their experiences, noticing more, enjoying more. Their short one-
semester experience shared with their peer group made them more open-minded, more
accepting and empathetic towards themselves and others. At the same time, they became not
only more self-aware but more aware of their learners, acknowledging for the first time the
role of affectivity in the well-being of a teacher and his/her learners.
The dominant feeling of positivity and developing the ability to cope with negative
affectivity was expressed as the main effect of the experience, having a significant impact on
the university classes and the rapport between the students themselves as well as between the
students and the lecturer herself. This resulted in an enhanced climate for work, autonomy
and creativity.
As mentioned earlier, one of the main assumptions of positive psychology is the crucial role
our emotions (affectivity) play in various contexts of life; also, in the (language) classroom
context. A positive psychology course demonstrated that one of the ways of dealing with
affectivity is the introduction of positive psychology, which turned out to be “an eye opening”
experience for the trainees and one of them expressed her changed understanding of the
teaching profession by saying: “Teaching is not only a job—it is something more, something
which you have to put your heart into and be sincere.”
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and Teaching
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64444-4_11
Developing Learners’ Reflectiveness Through

Biographical Narrative and Metaphor
Kamila Lasocińska1 and Łukasz Zaorski-Sikora1
(1) University of Humanities and Economics, Lodz, Poland

Kamila Lasocińska (Corresponding author)
Łukasz Zaorski-Sikora
Abstract
This chapter presents the results of an educational and research project which used
biographical narrative and metaphor. It was carried out among a group of pedagogy students
during practical classes in philosophical anthropology. The project was aimed at supporting
learners’ reflectiveness, self-cognition, their ability to perceive the world and their own lives
from different perspectives. It sought to help learners become aware of important values and
to determine the sense and meaning of different life events. During the classes, students were
offered biographical tasks that encouraged them to analyse their own life experiences. In these
assignments, a key role was played by questions posed to students, which stimulated their
narrative statements about different stages of life, as well as by visual metaphors that allowed
them to understand their own expectations, needs and emotions. In this chapter we present
conclusions drawn from an analysis and interpretation of students’ narratives and visual
metaphors, as well as from observations made during the classes.
Keywords Biography – Metaphor – Narrative – Self-creation – Self-awareness – Values
Kamila Lasocińska is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. She received a PhD
degree in pedagogy at the University of Łódź. She works as a lecturer at the University of
Humanities and Economics in Łódź. Her research interests focus on creative activity related to
one’s autobiographical experience. As an educator, she specialises in didactics of creativity,
aesthetic education, and also conducts workshops in interpersonal skills.

Łukasz Zaorski-Sikora is a philosopher, a doctor of humanities, a lecturer at the University
of Humanities and Economics in Łódź. He is an enthusiast and a practitioner of e-learning. He
deals with ethics, aesthetics and philosophical anthropology, as well as art criticism. He is
convinced of the need for philosophy understood not only as an academic discipline but above
all as a way of understanding and communicating within the world around us.

1 Introduction
In this chapter, we reflect on the need to implement didactic approaches into adult learners’
education that aim at the development of their personal competencies related to learning from
their own life experience, self-realisation, creativity, and building their autonomy. We discuss
an educational project conducted with pedagogy students from the University of Humanities
and Economics (AHE) in Lodz, during the Philosophy of Human Nature course. Initial
questions deal with aspects of education that relate to the basics of positive psychology: How
can one enrich adult education with activities that inspire learners to live a better life, fulfil
their needs and realise the importance of their emotions? How does the role of the educator
and her/his relations with adult learners change when we include knowledge and reflections
from everyday life experience in the teaching process? How can we organise the teaching
process with regard to planned activities (in this project it is the philosophy of human nature)
to realise and fulfil the needs of learners, for example, their need for happiness, self-realisation
or freedom?
The purpose of these reflections is to search for a combination of education and an
approach that would highlight personal experiences of learners and give them the ability to
articulate their expectations, needs and emotions, and allow them to find meaning in actions
of everyday life. This assumption has been a starting point for developing an educational
project on the philosophy of human nature course, with the use of biographical teaching and
metaphors that provoke us to reflect on life events. These classes also allowed us to collect
students’ statements (narratives) which we could analyse. The teacher’s observation of the
classes was important.
2 Philosophy of Human Nature as a Practical Philosophy

The philosophy of human nature (as any sub-discipline of philosophy) is the art of asking
questions. In this case, it is about existential questions that connect people of different eras
and cultures: Who am I? (a question about the essence of being human and the structure of
being) Where have I come from? (a question of our genesis and why we exist) Where am I
going? (a question about the meaning and purpose of human life). The subjects of our
reflections as part of the course on the philosophy of human nature are: the good, meaningful
life, happiness, autonomy. This is why ancient philosophers reflecting on the meaning of life,
such as Aristotle or Aristippus, are today considered fathers of positive psychology, which can
be divided into two schools that we call modern hedonism and eudaemonia (human
flourishing) (Czapiński, 2004, pp. 13–15). One could say that the positive psychology that has
emerged at the beginning of the twenty-first century is a return to the antique concept of
philosophy, which was enriched by modern methodologies of scientific analysis (including
qualitative as well as quantitative). Similarly to Karl Marx, positive psychologists not only want
to describe the world around them, but also to change it—trying to formulate rules for living
the good life, so that people can achieve happiness and fulfilment (Seligman, 2000, pp. 415–
422). Positive psychology is then a renaissance of practical philosophy, which was
permanently replaced in philosophical education by speculative considerations going beyond
the area of interest of most people and considered by them as utterly boring and separated
from real life. We can even find this essence in the term “philosophy,” as it is a combination of
the words: philein—which means “to love” and sophia—which means “wisdom,” which can be
translated as “the love of wisdom.” In this perspective a philosopher is not a sage, but rather a
cherisher of wisdom, a friend, who pursues knowledge but does not possess it. In this
perspective, philosophy is a road, a process of searching, a journey (Albert, 1991, pp. 28–43).
This kind of approach to philosophy was unfortunately forgotten because in universities
during the Middle Ages philosophy was seen as theories written in books. This kind of
interpretation of philosophy has been dominant since the Middle Ages (Pobojewska, 2012, pp.
7–9). Using this interpretation results in philosophical education, at all levels, wherein
teachers usually transmit knowledge through lectures (Pobojewska, 2012). In practice,
students are obliged to memorise material. This creates an image of philosophy as a boring
and difficult subject that is unnecessary for the modern human being.
While searching for a formula for the good life, positive psychology, returning to Hellenistic
philosophy, draws on two classical perspectives. The first one is the hedonistic approach.
Aristippus of Cyrene is considered a creator of a hedonistic life philosophy, which considers
pleasure and enjoyment as the highest value in life. Avoidance of pain and suffering is the main
way to achieve happiness, the main reason for human actions. Aristippus claims the lack of
pain and suffering is not a pleasure in itself, because, as he puts it, pain and pleasure are types
of movement that occurs within us, while the lack of pleasure or pain is the reason for the lack
of such movement. His views were used by Epicurus. On the entrance gate of his school he
engraved a welcoming text: “Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is
pleasure.” According to Epicurus the real wisdom (philosophy) is to know what one should
desire, and what one should avoid to achieve happiness (Zaorski-Sikora, 2007, pp. 13–16).
The second perspective assimilated by positive psychology was Aristotle’s Eudaemonia
and the ethics of Stoicism. According to this student of Plato, the good is identical with
happiness, which is understood as self-sufficiency (autarchy). In this perspective it is the good
that makes life worth living, and free of every deficit. In Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle points
out that every action in human life seems to lead to some good, and that’s why the good was
proclaimed as the aim of every pursuit. There are goals and goods that we desire for other
purposes and goods, that is why they are relative goals. But according to Aristotle, it is
impossible to make a process of going from aim to aim, from good to good indefinitely.
Therefore, we have to assume that all aims and good that humanity strives for function as part
of some ultimate aim, and that aim is happiness.
Those two traditional philosophies (Hedonism and Eudaemonia) experienced a
renaissance as part of positive psychology, which not only improves them with modern
language but also shows their practical side.
3 In Search of the Meaning of Life in Biographical Narrative

The positive psychology to which we refer concentrates on what makes “life worth living”
(Seligman, 2002a, p. 4), it highlights positive experiences in one’s own life (Trzebińska, 2008,
p. 15) and also assumes its valuation, which includes defining the meaning of life (Sheldon,
2004; Baumeister & Vohs, 2002). The process requires adopting a long-term perspective in the
context of life events and assessing one’s own experiences (Nolen-Hoeksema & Davis, 2002).
The sense of meaningfulness of life can be connected with clarifying its purpose, finding
something that sets direction, clarifies the field of one’s actions (Ryff & Singel, 2002). Looking
for meaning might include an understanding of what’s happened so that it fits in a person’s
view of the world and value system held, or it is a process of giving meaning to one’s own
experience and discovering the value of events (Trzebińska, 2008, p. 90; Park & Hegelson,
2006). Those two concepts of approach to life events do not have to support each other or
coexist, however, both assume an importance of narrative thinking that is part of telling about
one’s experience, of making sense of events and of one’s own life (Bauer, McAdams, & Sakaeda,
2005; King, 2001; McAdams, Diamond, de St. Aubin, & Mansfield, 1997). A person who has a
sense of understanding of her/his own life is able to see order, the meaning of events and life
experiences; she/he also has a reference point for setting her/his next course of action,
understands who she/he is, has competences to organise thoughts (Trzebińska, 2008, p. 93).
The development of narrative thinking and encouragement for talking about one’s life can
be important for the improvement of life and discovering the meaning of life. This is why the
methods that are helpful in adult education should be based on the life experiences of
learners, which can be placed in the field of “biographical approaches.” The concept of
biographical teaching was introduced by Czerniawska (2007). The distinctive feature of this
approach is the reference to the experiences of learners and strengthening the process of
creating one’s own biography. This approach refers to the lifelong learning idea (see Skibińska,
2009, p. 53). Learning based on one’s own biography emphasises emotional development,
reflectiveness, and the creativity of a person. It is a subject-directed education, developing
empathy and a pro-social attitude. It supports tolerance, has a therapeutic and creative
function (Czerniawska, 2007, p. 105). According to Czerniawska, biographical teaching
happens every time when some aspects of human history are considered by learners. Learning
in accordance with the curriculum of biographical teaching should allow a person to discover
his or her inner resources and the potential of self-development which, in turn, should prepare
them for learning influenced by their activity and reflectiveness. In biographical teaching, the
object of interest is the individual biography, constructed with regard to the analysis of the
important events in one’s life, and its interpretation. Biographical teaching is a learning
process, as well as self-study, in which learners construct their identity, deepen self-
understanding, and inspire themselves to self-development (see Skibińska, 2009, pp. 51–70).
This interpretation of biographical teaching refers to the general approach towards adult
education. In our project we only refer to biographical narration and we do not exclude
traditional learning (in the form of a lecture or subject study). In our project, we use a
biographical approach as a biographical method which aims to encourage learners to build a
general image of their life, to analyse important life events, to reflect on different time periods
(past, present, future), and to highlight values important for them. The crucial aspects of
biographical narration for us is using metaphors that allow learners to understand the sense
and meaning of personal experiences in life, and to help them talk about these life experiences.
4 The Use of Biographical Narration During the Philosophy of

Human Nature Classes—Organisation of Biographical Tasks
and Data Collection Process
The research discussed in this chapter is part of a larger biographical project on adults and
their biographical experiences. We created activities for students at the University of
Humanities and Economics in Lodz as part of the human nature philosophy module.
Discussions took place in addition to traditional lectures. According to the course syllabus for
the second-semester, students should study topics such as:
(1)
Thinking (meditation, illumination, thinking as a tool for science and the essence of
humanity).
(2)
Consciousness (self-concept, introspection, reflection, intuition).
(3)
Subjectivity, personal identity (substantial, non-substantial and relational view).
(4)
Good and evil (absolutism, relativism, subjectivism, objectivism, discussion about the
origin of evil).
(5)
Will (free will, the will to power).
(6)
Happiness (hedonism, eudaemonia, Epicureanism, stoicism, sources of happiness).
(7)
Culture (spiritual culture, material culture, state of nature, culture as a source of
suffering, psychoanalytical view, structural view).
(8)
Freedom (determinism, indeterminism, existentialism).
(9)
History (human as a historical being, the vision of “the end of history”).
(10)
Creation, creativity, auto-creativity.
The above-mentioned subjects refer directly to thoughts on the good life and self-
discovery, the realisation of one’s needs and understanding of one’s emotions.
4.1 The Aim of the Research

The aim of the research was to determine how the modern human being, in this case the
student, describes and visualises his/her biography and the world of values in a varied
temporal perspective (past, present and future). The additional goal for our project was to
breathe life into philosophy classes so that participants could refer abstract theories to their
own experience and emotions.
4.2 Participants
The project involved 78 students, aged between 19 and 50, women and men; they were first
year students of pedagogy, extramural studies and online studies.
4.3 Method, Techniques and Tools

The method we used was a biographical method, which served a double role—an element of
organising the teaching of human nature philosophy, as well as a research method to collect
students’ written statements and visualisations, which were analysed. The techniques we used
in the project were a set of open questions for which we received written statements from
students (narratives), visual techniques (in the form of metaphors) and participatory
observation. The tools we used were biographical tasks designed for a larger research project
on adults (which we mentioned earlier); these tasks included a written part and tasks
consisting of a visual representation of the biography. They were primarily aimed at
supporting a person’s self-reflection, encouraging the analysis of biographical experiences,
defining a certain order of events occurring over time and indicating important values and
goals for the future.
Students analysed their biographical experience in terms of the questions they were asked
in the biographical tasks. They performed these tasks in writing and also created
visualisations in the form of simple metaphorical drawings, as well as spoke in the group. At
the same time, the lecturer recorded their observations concerning the course of classes and
students’ reactions to the tasks. The fulfilment of the biographical tasks had both an individual
and group character, as the written statements were accompanied by a discussion in a group
of students, which took place during the classes in human nature philosophy. It should also be
emphasised that some of the students gave their statements through an Internet platform;
these were students of the Polish Virtual University.

In our project we identified research questions. The main question was: How do students
present their lives in response to their biographical tasks? The detailed questions were an
extension and complement to the main question: What values do students reveal in the
biographical tasks? How do students present themselves in the context of the questions posed in
the biographical tasks? What experiences are important to students and how do these
experiences shape the students’ biographies?
4.5 Procedure
The concept of biographical narrative applied by us in the human nature philosophy classes
project did not involve learners telling their life stories and sharing them with other
participants, like in traditionally conducted biographical workshops, but particular
biographical tasks were prepared as part of a specific cycle of activities, that set different
perspectives in approaching participants’ lives. Additionally, questions for those tasks were
prepared to deepen learners’ reflection and to start a dialogue with other participants.
An important part of the proposed biographical tasks for the participants was to address
three time perspectives—past, present and future. This stems from the assumption that
reflecting on events in life allows one to arrange one’s memories, enables one to adopt
different attitudes towards the past (Demetrio, 1999; Bugajska & Timoszczyk-Tomczak, 2014)
and helps one to creatively design one’s future (Dubas, 1997; Lasocińska, 2013). By “looking
at” her/his past, a person acquires self-knowledge (Demetrio, 1999). At the same time,
reliving one’s past can be a constructive element of the vision of the future (Bugajska &
Timoszczyk-Tomczak, 2014, pp. 11–40). Martin Seligman claims that balancing the past with
the present and future helps one to evaluate if a person is on the “right track.” Therefore the
analysis of events serves to make sure that appropriate decisions are made for the future
(Seligman, 2002b, p. 117). The first step in biographical actions is retrospective. Developing a
summary of one’s current life allows a person to reflect on one’s past and to build images
related to possible future life experiences. Referring to the past can be a guide, an inspiration
for setting the course of future actions, and can help in the process of planning, designing and
realising goals (Bugajska & Timoszczyk-Tomczak, 2014). In biographical activities, one cannot
neglect the crucial role of the present, which is an important point of reference in the analysis
of events, and influences our reflections. Human life is, first of all, the “here and now.” By
referring to the present, we are building an image of what’s to come. At the same time the
present is difficult to grasp. To fully experience the present, one needs concentration,
attention, focus (Bugajska & Timoszczyk-Tomczak, 2014, p. 117), “immersing in the moment”
and seeing its exceptional value. Working with different time frames in a biography is
supposed, among other things, to define how we want to live, what activities are meaningful,
and to help build a good life, with regard to the “now” as well as the “future.”
Another important element of the biographical method we applied as part of the human
nature philosophy classes was metaphor. Here we refer to the assumption that the purpose of
a metaphor is to help us partially understand some kind of experience on the basis of another
experience (Lakoff & Johnson, 1988, p. 182). The use of metaphor in our project aimed to
support learners’ reflection on life experiences. It included visual and verbal metaphors. We
planned three biographical metaphors that would organise biographical experiences and
support reflection: a life path metaphor, a book metaphor, and a mapping metaphor.
The first one, the life path metaphor, describes a linear perspective, constant and
organised. In a biographical analysis, it searches for meaningful moments in life, events that
end specific stages of life and begin new ones. The book metaphor, on the other hand,
highlights the importance of a narrative approach to one’s own life. The order of the narratives
doesn’t have to be linear. It enables participants to approach their life as if it were a book,
which the “author” creates as he/she wants (Lasocińska, 2014, pp. 41–42; Tokarska, 1999, pp.
172–182). These biographical tasks seek to transform one’s own life experiences into the form
of a story that could be a base for learning, self-understanding, and understanding others. We
also refer to the “life map,” which shouldn’t be treated literally, as it is a representation of a
certain “territory” in which a person operates, showing different areas of life and the
connections between them. A person reflecting on biographical experiences defines a general
structure of values and important areas of life.
Biographical tasks proposed as part of the human nature philosophy classes refer to the
division of biographical activities, described in a different paper (cf. Lasocińska, 2018), which
assumes a two-phase division of biographical actions based on the concept of stability
(continuity) and change (variability). The first phase accentuates “stability” (continuity) based
on the introduction of biographical activities that allow the creation of an organised structure
of important life events, defining their meaningfulness for participants. The second phase
accentuates “change” (variability), which is often referred to as “living differently” (Lasocińska,
2013, pp. 107–141, 2018, pp. 152–155), because its purpose is to change one’s way of thinking
about one’s life, to reinterpret life events and to change the perspective of perceiving
experience. It allows for the creation of an alternative narrative of life that deviates from the
original structure. It inspires different thinking, creativity, auto-creation. It has a less obvious
character than phase one—it encourages us to go beyond traditional rules and structure of
interpretation of one’s biography. Each phase associated with biography contains
exercises/tasks that go back to biographical experiences, and aims to develop the abilities to
speak about one’s life. Each exercise incorporates questions that encourage reflectiveness.
Each exercise is based on tasks that require the completion of a simple graphic form (symbol,
metaphor), allowing imagination to work, making the conversation with one’s inner
experiences “safe” and their meaning easier.
In our project, conducted as part of the human nature philosophy course, phase one
related to the concept of “stability” (continuity) was the first step of biographical work, which
we labelled as a retrospective biography. This phase encouraged learners to look back at their
own past. The task that we implemented required learners to draw a line, which symbolised
their life, and to mark and define the most important events.
Participants also had the opportunity to enrich their vision of biography with symbols,
signs or words. Next, after drawing the lifeline, the participants needed to answer the
following questions:
What values were important to you in each stage of life? How did you change during those
stages? Who are you? Who do you want to be? Who or what controls your fate? In what aspects
do others influence you? In what aspects of life do you decide about yourself? When are you
independent? When do you feel free? When do you lack your freedom?
The second phase consisted of two parts of biographical activities. The first one, about
changing the perspective of seeing one’s life, strongly referred to the present. Shifting
perspective or “living differently” (cf. Lasocińska, 2013, pp. 107–141, 2018) referred to the
question: how would you describe your life differently?
Students were asked to produce any graphic form (but different from the lifeline from
phase one), that would show their life in a way different from the previous exercise. They were
expected to change their life story, to show it from a different perspective, to search for any
divergent interpretation of their biography. Students in this exercise related to the book
metaphor, by creating their own “authorial” narrative and its division. They were encouraged
to take a position as “authors” of their lives. After creating a picture of life using the new
graphic form, learners were asked to answer the questions:
What aspects of life experiences did you show in this part? What is the difference between this
image and the lifeline? What changes did you introduce? What important things does it tell about
your life? What values does it reveal? Who are you in the context of this diagram? What new
aspects did you show about yourself? While looking at the picture answer, what barriers,
limitations would you like to overcome? In what areas would you like to gain freedom?
The last phase was the other part of phase two (referring to variability) in our project. This
was called prospective biography. Participants referred to their general vision of the future,
creating their prospective biography (cf. Lasocińska, 2018, pp. 152–153). At this stage,
students were asked to name the three most important values they would like to develop for
the next 20 years. This task referred to the map metaphor. It encouraged participants to mark
certain points prominent in the future that would build its imaginary structures. After
choosing the core values, participants were asked to answer the questions:
What will be the most important values in the future perspective? How will the implementation
of these values influence your self-development, the acceptance of change and passage of time?
How will the implementation of these values affect people around you? What can you change in
your environment because of them? How do the values connect with the sense of freedom?
5 Analysis of the Data Obtained

The report and reflection presented in this section refer to the observation notes made by the
lecturer who conducted the classes. We present an analysis of visualisations (visual
metaphors) prepared by the students and their written statements (narratives) which they
created during the classes or on the e-learning platform. This analysis made it possible to
identify the most important categories and thematic areas related to the students’ experiences
and, at the same time, revealed answers to the research problems posed. Due to the fact that
the material we collected is extensive, we present only selected statements of the participants
of the classes, which relate to selected biographical categories.
In the first exercise of the first phase, learners referred to the most important events of
their lives by placing them on a symbolic lifeline and adding their own visual elements,
symbols that enriched the visualisation of their biographies. This task helped them to pick out
important periods and point out breakthrough moments. Students saw their lives through this
exercise, finding some order in their lives, discovering correlations and rules revealing the
inner meaning of breakthrough events. They also saw the role of other events, over which they
had no control, that were difficult and unpredictable. Reflection on biography in the first
exercise enabled them to see events and breakthroughs in relation to their development,
building resources, but also gave them the chance to re-evaluate their life histories.
Sample statement No. 1: Family problems meant that I had to become an adult at an
early age and take care of myself.
Sample statement No. 2: Past unpleasant events that took place in the most
beautiful years of a young man entering adulthood taught me that one should not take
life as someone else describes it, but always form one’s own judgment in every matter.
This was an opportunity to see new perspectives of self-realisation. In becoming adults,
students can draw knowledge from experiences that shaped them.
Sample statement No. 1: I am becoming a more mature, as well as professionally and

personally fulfilled, woman. I want to continue being fulfilled at different stages of my
life.
Sample statement No. 2: One can say that I was a happy child, a lost and unhappy
teenager, an independent woman, a strong warrior, a brave person, I am a mature,
brave human being and a growing individual, and additionally I will be a fulfilled wife
and mother.
The introduction of linear order allowed them to see the complexity and richness of
different life experiences and to understand their meaning and importance. Another effect of
the exercise was the fact that students saw the area of emotional and subjective order with
regard to their lives.
Sample statement: Every stage, every event listed on my lifeline was important to me.
The events mentioned above caused both negative and positive emotions in me. The
death of my grandfather made me realise that every day should be valued and that we
should spend every spare moment with the people we love. The birth of my brother
showed me that patience always pays. Starting high school taught me to be more self-
reliant. Engagement made me realise what love really is. When I decided to move out of
the family house, I had both positive and negative emotions. I knew that thanks to this
decision I would see for myself what living on my own is all about. But there were some
concerns about whether I could handle everything on my own. Starting a new job and
studies made me mentally stronger and increased my confidence.
In this stage of biographical activities, there was a sort of return (retrospection) to what
shaped a person’s life, which allowed personal goals and ambitions of participants to be
identified. Those aims were related to the values that were important and allowed them to
achieve happiness and enjoyment in life.
Sample statement: In addition, there are studies thanks to which I hope to return to
Poland and find a job in my future profession. This is all very important for me and my
close family and that is why I want to do my best.
The visual aspect of the activity was important, but so too were the questions that allowed
each student to engage in dialogue with the rest of the group. This exercise resulted in a
discussion on freedom in the context of life experience. This didactical activity encouraged and
inspired students to understand and widen their perspective of freedom and autonomy, which
was in line with the exercise topic (human nature philosophy). An important part of this task
was reflection on how participants saw the perspective of freedom in their everyday
experiences:
Sample statement No. 1: I feel free when I can fulfil my dreams.

Sample statement No. 2: For me, being a free person means making choices in life
that are of my own volition.
Sample statement No. 3: The experience of freedom is connected with discovering a
new perspective, with a new sense of self. It is also very much connected with breaking
loose from what is restraining, from what is an obstacle to our normal free expression
of ourselves. To be free is to be able. It is important not only to have a choice, but also to
exercise it.
Realising the potential of their agency enabled participants to see themselves as creators,
consciously shaping their lives, themselves and their future (see Kuleta, 2002; Lasocińska,
2018, pp. 148–149). The questions posed in the first task inspired participants to create an
image of themselves in the context of the changes taking place over time. The students showed
in their statements how they built the concept of their own “self,” referring to the sphere of
indicated values and future plans.
Sample statement No. 1: I think I’m becoming more and more open and serious about
life. In the future, I would like to be a person who is not afraid of challenges and who
has more inner strength.
Sample statement No. 2: Over time, I am becoming a person who appreciates health
and stability more and more. It is important for me to rest, to have peace of mind and
time for my loved ones. I can choose my friends and acquaintances. I plan my life, but I
take it as it is.
Sample statement No. 3: I’m becoming a pedagogue, which is something I must
mention. Being a pedagogue is a really important task in my life. I always knew I
wanted to work with children. I’d also like to have a few children of my own, that’s my
goal for the near future. It is not work but family that is the source of strength. I want to
be responsible for my family.
Sample statement No. 5: As a child, I was very sociable, and during adolescence I
became a shy person who slowly opened up to the world. Today I am a confident
person, although I am still shy when making new friends. I would like to be open to
everyone. I would like to become a person who pursues their dreams and is more
spontaneous.
Sample statement No. 6: I want to continue being a mature individual who strives
for continuous growth. I want to continue being independent, strong and brave. I want
to be a role model for my children.
Grasping the concept of freedom and achieving autonomy in the first exercise was a good
starting point to reflect on different views on life so students could begin the second stage,
related to change. At this point the challenge was to present the biography in a way different
from our first exercise, creating a graphic form that would show their lives from a different
perspective (living differently). This activity allowed students to use diverse symbols,
metaphors and shapes (for example: circle, human, book, picture, mountain, jigsaw puzzle,
ladder), thanks to which one could see a new perspective of biographical experience. The
effect of this exercise was that the person experienced self in a conscious and responsible way.
After completing the exercise, students wondered how their standing, emotions and actions
affect the way they live, how they perceive life, what defines them, leads to self-fulfilment. In
other words, the first assignment (lifeline) defines the perspective of the road, processes,
events that we do not control. The second assignment shows the point of view of a traveller,
who can influence her/his life experience. The difference in perspective reveals many areas of
life where participants can decide for themselves. These are the areas of excellence and
autocreation, which are also a part of a good life.
Sample statement No. 1: While drawing this picture, I realised that many things depend
on me, which I overlook in everyday life, I forget about it.
Sample statement No. 2: The imposed form of a line was a limitation for me, I did
not find myself entirely in its symbolism. In its present form, the story of my life, which
I see as a tangled, multi-layered and intermingling picture of a garden—of
changeability, blossoming and closing but above all of the whole network of
connections and relationships, the phenomena that are resultant and emerging from
each other—is closer to me and speaks about me much more fully. This mutual
interpenetrating is a fundamental aspect of the currently created image. There wouldn’t
be many events or decisions in my life if there hadn’t been one or another earlier. There
wouldn’t be many of them if my aspirations or the perspective shaped by previous
experiences were different. In this version of the drawn biography, instead of on
turning points or cold facts, I focused on the genesis of the phenomena, events and
decisions, as well as on their development and consequences.
Thanks to the questions presented in this exercise, a discussion was initiated about
different views on one’s life. Participants came to the conclusion that our life is what we think
of it. Additionally, the metaphors and symbols used in the exercise inspired them to express
different interpretations and associations in relation to the drawing. Metaphor-based
visualisations carry a rich content, but they also make it easier to talk about things related to
oneself, related to one’s life, using a picture, a symbol of many different meanings. Thanks to
the visual exercise, students decide how much personal information they want to share. The
second exercise was a challenge for students, whose task was to create images of their lives, in
a way other than the linear perspective from the previous exercise, to show how one can look
differently at life. This exercise resembles the creation of a book, which we write and can
construct in a way that best suits us.
Sample statement: I presented my life as an open book. I chose this medium because I
want people to judge me on what I can do, what I like, what ideals I represent. (…)
Despite difficult moments, I try to achieve my goals. I also have many interesting
passions, which I often do not talk about because I do not like to brag. I’d like to come
out of my “shell” and show others my colourful personality. I’ve been a volunteer for
years. I’ve been working in many organisations. It was my love for helping others that
shaped me as a person. Additionally, it made me realise the fragility of life, so I try to
enjoy every moment, I like to try new things.
The third exercise also belongs to the category of change and provokes a deeper reflection
on values and their realisation in everyday life. Here, we refer to the statement in which
Csikszentmihalyi (1996) explains that “in order to gain personal control over the quality of
experiences, one must learn to find satisfaction in everyday experiences” (p. 94). In this stage
students tried to figure out what the realisation of specific values would mean for them, what
implications would result from that for them and others. This task gave them an opportunity
to reflect on the thing that would be the foundation of their self-realisation in the future
(prospective biography). Each student set the goals and tasks for him/herself that would
determine the shape of his/her future life.
Sample statement No. 1: I want to pass on to my children what I was taught at home, I
want to show them what it means to love, respect and trust another person so that they
can be good, honest and responsible for themselves and others in their adult life.
Sample statement No. 2: When I work with people with disabilities in the future, I
will further develop my empathy for others and see how satisfied they are with my
help.
Sample statement No. 3: I would like to keep working on myself, strive for
perfection, grow. I would like to improve my relationship with family and friends. I
want to work on myself, so that I can be more open to people and act in relationships
the way I would like to be treated.
Sample statement No. 4: Work will probably give me a lot of benefits, I’ll certainly
learn a lot. The people I will work with may be people with whom I will be able to talk
about my views and most important values, and perhaps they will have similar views to
mine.
The map perspective appears here. This perspective reveals a territory of future actions,
building a plan and a blueprint for the future. During this stage, participants define what
activities are worth undertaking, what challenges to accept. Participants can also reflect on
daily activities, while asking the question proposed and encouraged by Csikszentmihalyi:
Is what I do really what I want to do? Will it also be important in the future? Is it worth
the price that I will have to pay? (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, p. 391)
6 Conclusions
The presented project is an example of teaching directed at social skills development,
broadening of self-knowledge, deepening of reflectiveness and self-reflection, and also
building knowledge based on one’s life experience. The project is complex and aimed at
reforming the traditional way of conducting human nature philosophy classes in a way that
allows us to refer to the emotional sphere, our own thoughts about values, freedom, time,
happiness and fulfilment. The biographical tasks encourage reflection on what in our lives is
subjective, objective, and what is absolutely most important. Changing our perspective on life
and searching for goals for the future benefits our lives, and is aligned with what is important
for any given person, and not forced by some trends in life or by other persons. As Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi (1996) writes: “the optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is
order in consciousness.” According to Csikszentmihalyi, it is possible when a person
concentrates on possible goals, and can refer them to his or her own experience (p. 24). An
important step on the road to fulfilment is to reflect on what is important in life, what things
are important enough to have time and attention dedicated to them, and which ones lead to
internal confusion. Reflection on life experiences provides participants with the ability to
make such a distinction and to find activities that help them achieve important goals in life. In
the opinion of Csikszentmihalyi (1996), actions and reflections should support one another
because “action by itself is blind, reflection impotent” (p. 391).
When talking about the biographical method that we used during the classes, it is
necessary to mention the importance of the role of educator/teacher, who creates an
environment that encourages reflection, openness and trust. The biographical tasks are all
about the context of personal experiences, so it is crucial to avoid assessment, giving pieces of
advice or answering the questions asked. The important thing is the educator’s attitude,
her/his mindfulness, interpersonal skills, ability to listen, empathy. Another essential element
is the appropriate preparation of biographical activities so that the participants (students) can
share with others only what they want to discuss, and do it in a way that is safe for them.
Visual symbols and metaphors, which can be interpreted in different ways, allowing
participants to talk about what is personal to them in an indirect way, are also a significant
aspect of our classes. The result is that the adult learner in the area of biographical activities is
an expert in the topic of personal life and understanding of events. The teacher listens, but
neither gives advice nor knows better, merely asks questions that stimulate participants to
auto reflection.
We are fully aware that this chapter is only a form of exemplification of using the
biographical narrative and metaphor in adult education, but, at the same time, we believe that
the biographical method can be implemented into a teaching process in different areas of
education. It is also worth emphasising that other researchers also indicate the role of
(autobiographical) reflection in the process of active and conscious learning and self-
development, as well as the importance of metaphor in interpreting everyday experiences (see
Cortazzi & Jin, 1999; Schӧn 1983; Szymankiewicz, 2017; Werbińska, 2004; Werbińska, 2010).
The use of biographical narration includes the personal context and makes it possible to refer
to one’s life experience, thus motivating students/learners to engage in the learning process.
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What is the book about?

What is the book about?

What topics are covered in the book?

What topics are covered in the book?

Second Language Learning and

Positive Psychology in Second

Exploring Applications of Positive Psychology in SLA

2 What is Positive Psychology?

2.1 Increasing Well-Being and Happiness

2.2 Balancing the Research Agenda

2.3 Avoiding Quack Cures and Unsubstantiated Self-help Advice

3 The Three Pillars of Positive Psychology

6 Curiosity and interest

20 Optimistic explanatory style

4 What is Positive Psychology Not?

5 Second-Wave Positive Psychology: PP2.0

6 Positive Psychology in SLA

We need to work towards a framework of Positive Language Education that can be

Understanding the Ecology of Foreign Language

2 The Importance of Understanding Teacher Wellbeing

3 Teacher Wellbeing from an Ecological Perspective

4 The Language Learning Domain as an Ecological Factor

5 The Career Stage as an Ecological Factor

6.1 Psychological Capital

6.2 Social Capital

6.3 Teacher Social-Psychological Capital

Fig. 1 The construct of teacher social-psychological capital

7 Conclusion and Implication for Research

From Culturally to Emotionally Responsive Teaching

2 The Teacher’s Role in International Higher Education

2.1 Essential Teaching Skills

2.2 Transformative Higher Education

3 Culturally Responsive Teaching

3.1 Meta-Cultural Sensitivity

3.2 Cross-Cultural Learning and Teaching

4 Emotionally Responsive Teaching

4.1 Emotional Dynamics in the International Classroom

4.2 Emotionally Intelligent Teaching

4.3 Self-awareness and Authenticity

5.2 Feedback and Empathy

5.3 Caring Institutions?

It is sometimes a challenge to stay focused on students as people deserving our best

Enjoyment in the Foreign Language Classroom: Does

2 The Advent of Positive Psychology

3 Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE)

4 Gender Differences in the FL Classroom

5 Review of Selected Empirical Studies on FLE

5.1 Development of Foreign Language Enjoyment Measures

5.2 The Dynamic Interaction Between FLE and FLCA

5.3 Is There a Gender Gap?

– Teachers shape their learners7 FLE to

Positive Psychology, Positive L2 Self, and L2

1.4 Three Positive L2 Self Levels

1.5 Interested L2 Self

1.6 Harmonious Passion for L2 Learning

1.7 Mastery L2 Goal Orientation

1.8 Self-efficacy Motivation

2.1 Research Questions

2.3 Measurement Instruments