Abstract
The present study was motivated to introduce a new concept named “language learner immunity”. In doing so, we defined the concept of immunity in the language learning context by paralleling the biological tendency of humans to be immune to the immune system of language learners. The psychological aspects of this study relied heavily on the theory of psychological immunity introduced by Oláh (Anxiety, coping and flow: empirical studies in interactional perspective. Trefort Press, Budapest, 2005). Then, we proposed that the language learner immunity (LLI) was shaped by language learners to maintain their equilibrium in face of educational and social psychological forces in their language learning process. The LLI model was later represented and its working procedure was explained through three main processes, namely threat recognition, response generation, and self-regulation. We also discussed the problems that might arise due to the deficiencies in foreign/second language learners’ immune system. We furthered the study by making the differentiation between immune and non-immune language learners. In the end, the educational implications of this concept were presented.
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Attaran, A., Ghonsooly, B., Hosseini Fatemi, A. et al. Immunology of Language Learners: A Social Psychological Perspective. Interchange 50, 57–76 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-018-9339-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-018-9339-0