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Humanising Language Learning

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The Personal World of the Language Learner

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Abstract

This chapter argues for a radical shift in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and language learning pedagogy research. It aims to shift the personal to the centre ground of SLA by introducing more subjective and experiential perspectives to language learning as an alternative and yet key component of SLA research. Whilst pro-Enlightenment epistemological approaches currently dominant in SLA have so far favoured a view of language as a mechanistic and atomised process, a humanistic orientation to SLA calls for the use of holistic approaches that see the learner as a whole being rather than the sum of his/her parts. It maintains that this alternative paradigm for SLA also necessitates a shift from rationalistic and empiricist methodologies to phenomenological frameworks, which place the emphasis of research on the search for meanings and essences and the wholeness of experience, rather than on measurements of isolated phenomena and their components (Mustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological Research Methods. London: Sage).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. King’s College London, London, UK

    Cristina Ros i Solé

  2. The Open University, London, UK

    Cristina Ros i Solé

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  1. Cristina Ros i Solé
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Solé, C.R.i. (2016). Humanising Language Learning. In: The Personal World of the Language Learner. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52853-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52853-7_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52852-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52853-7

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