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The Positive Broadening Power of a Focus on Well-Being in the Language Classroom

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Positive Psychology Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching ((SLLT))

Abstract

One of the problems with our historical approach to emotions in language teaching and learning was that we tended to concentrate our efforts on eradicating negative emotions like language anxiety without considering how the whole array of positive emotions might be strategically used. Consequently, the purpose of this chapter is three-fold: (1) to demonstrate the influence of emotion by tapping into them through powerful true life accounts; (2) to provide evidence of the power of PP interventions (specifically gratitude, altruism, music, pets, exercise and laughter) through detailing previous investigations into their efficacy; and (3) to explore the potential of positive psychology interventions in language learning through sharing original quantitative and narrative data of participants in a recent study.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Languages and Literatures, University of Northern Iowa, 1001 Bartlett Hall, Cedar Falls, IA, 50614-0502, USA

    Tammy Gregersen

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  1. Tammy Gregersen
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Correspondence to Tammy Gregersen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of English, University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland

    Danuta Gabryś-Barker

  2. Institute of English, University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland

    Dagmara Gałajda

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Gregersen, T. (2016). The Positive Broadening Power of a Focus on Well-Being in the Language Classroom. In: Gabryś-Barker, D., Gałajda, D. (eds) Positive Psychology Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32954-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32954-3_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32953-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32954-3

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