Positive psychology perspectives on foreign language learning and teaching

Second Language Learning and Teaching

Danuta Gabryś-Barker
Dagmara Gałajda Editors

Positive Psychology
Perspectives on Foreign
Language Learning and
Teaching


Second Language Learning and Teaching
Series editor
Mirosław Pawlak, Kalisz, Poland


About the Series
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 />

Danuta Gabryś-Barker Dagmara Gałajda
•

Editors

Positive Psychology
Perspectives on Foreign
Language Learning
and Teaching

123


Editors
Danuta Gabryś-Barker
Institute of English
University of Silesia
Sosnowiec
Poland

Dagmara Gałajda
Institute of English
University of Silesia
Sosnowiec
Poland

ISSN 2193-7648
ISSN 2193-7656 (electronic)

Second Language Learning and Teaching
ISBN 978-3-319-32953-6
ISBN 978-3-319-32954-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32954-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016936963
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
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the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
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authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland


Acknowledgments

The editors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the reviewers of this
volume, Professors Maria Wysocka and Jerzy Zybert.

v

Preface

Positive psychology, a fairly new branch of general psychology, is just over 20
years old. However, not much has been done in terms of its application in teaching
and learning second/foreign languages. Positive psychology, first the movement
and now a legitimate branch of psychology (to be distinguished from self-help and
pop psychology), derives from the humanistic approaches of, among others,
Abraham Maslow and Jeremy Bruner, and Gertrude Moskowitz in second/foreign
language learning and teaching. Its main aim is to “to understand, test, discover and
promote the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive” (Sheldon,
Frederikson, Rathunde, Csikszentmihalyi, & Haidt, 2000). In brief, positive psychology is interested in three main areas of study: the positive characteristics and
traits of people (here: teachers and learners), positive emotions and feelings, and the
role of contextual factors such as environment, and in particular, institutions (e.g.,
school) and their functions. Thus, positive psychology topics embrace the following
areas of study and their applications: “flourishing, happiness & eudemonia, hope,
gratitude, interest, joy, wellbeing, resiliency, hardiness, and the signature strengths
of learners” (MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2015, in press). So, in the case of
positive psychology in SLA research, topics of research focus on positivity as
expressed by affectivity in the processes involved, motivational and attitudinal
factors, the strengths of teachers and learners as facilitative aspects of
teaching/learning processes, as well as educational institutions and their functions
enabling success, well-being, and development of both teachers and learners.
This collection of papers elaborates more thoroughly on the nature of positive
psychology in various educational contexts. More precisely, it presents a multidimensional treatment of the issues concerned with foreign language learning and
teaching, regarded from the perspective of positive psychology. The volume consists
not only of chapters which are theoretical and others which present empirical studies
but also ones which offer practical advice in the context of teaching and learning
foreign languages, which draw upon what positive psychology has on offer to both
teachers and learners. Each of the chapters demonstrates that positive psychology

can bring not only success in terms of academic achievement but also in terms of the
well-being of teachers and learners as professionals and human beings.
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viii

Preface

The collection is structured around four main themes. The first part of the
volume offers the readers an introduction to positive psychology principles in the
context of second language acquisition by pioneers of research and its application in
second/foreign language instruction contexts, Rebecca Oxford and Peter MacIntyre.
It also presents a historical overview and a critical assessment of understanding of
positive psychology concepts and possible misinterpretations of its principles in
educational settings, which are discussed by Hanna Komorowska. In the second
and the most extensive part of the book, the focus of the presented chapters is on the
foreign language learner and the ways in which positive interventions based on
positive psychology strategies can facilitate both language success and well-being
(among others, Tammy Gregersen’s and Liliana Piasecka’s texts). This part of the
book also elaborates on how positive emotions can foster achievements in a learner
(among others, Ewa Guz and Małgorzata Tetiurka, Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia’s
texts). Emphasis is also placed here on enabling institutions, and their role in
developing a learning environment that promotes success and well-being (Danuta
Gabryś-Barker’s chapter). In the third part of the book, the studies presented look at
FL teachers as professionals and human beings, trying to demonstrate how positive
psychology and positive affectivity can contribute not only to the development
of their instructional competence but also to their happiness and satisfaction as
teachers hoping to thrive as individuals (for example Sarah Mercer et al.’s study) In
the final part of this volume the readers’ attention is turned to one of the most

significant and difficult-to-manage areas of the FL teaching process, that is,
assessment of learner achievement. It is interesting to see how strategies of positive
psychology can make this process less painful and perhaps even to some extent,
enjoyable. Among others, Monika Kusiak-Pisowacka, Jan Zalewski, and Ewa
Piechurska-Kuciel focus on these issues.
As editors of this collection, we hope on the one hand that it will provide readers
with indispensable knowledge about positive psychology which will make them able
to distinguish it from what is generally called self-help literature and, what is more,
to see it as a discipline in its own right, with its own distinctive methodology and
pedagogical applications. On the other hand, we believe that it will open new doors
to innovative and creative methods and strategies in teaching foreign languages (and
not only foreign languages), as has been demonstrated in the presented studies.
We also hope that this collection of papers by distinguished and perhaps less
well-known scholars, all of whom believe in the impact of positive psychology on
language success and in other educational contexts, will make us all more aware
of the importance of paying attention to both the professional and the personal
well-being of teachers and learners, the well-being of all of us involved in the
process of educating others and therefore also educating ourselves.
It has been a real journey of discovery and thus an extremely enjoyable task to
read and collate all the texts that make up this book.
Danuta Gabryś-Barker
Dagmara Gałajda


Preface

ix

References
MacIntyre, P., Gregersen, T., & Mercer, S. (2015). Positive psychology in applied psycholinguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters (forthcoming).

Sheldon, K., Frederikson, B., Rathunde, K., Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Haidt, J. (2000). Positive
psychology manifesto. Manifest presented at the Akumal 1 meeting (1999) and revised at the
Akumal 2 meeting (2000).


Contents

Part I

Introducing Positive Psychology in Second Language
Acquisition

So Far So Good: An Overview of Positive Psychology
and Its Contributions to SLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Peter D. MacIntyre

3

Powerfully Positive: Searching for a Model of Language
Learner Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rebecca L. Oxford

21

Difficulty and Coping Strategies in Language Education:
Is Positive Psychology Misrepresented in SLA/FLT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hanna Komorowska

39

Part II

Focus on a Learner: Positive Interventions

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

59

Activating Character Strengths Through Poetic Encounters
in a Foreign Language—A Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Liliana Piasecka

75

Pedagogical Implications of Positive Psychology: Positive Emotions
and Human Strengths in Vocabulary Strategy Training . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sylwia Kossakowska-Pisarek

93

A Positive Intervention: Personal Responsibility Among First-Year,
L2 University Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Andrea Dallas and Mary Hatakka

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xii

Contents

Positive Emotions and Learner Engagement: Insights
from an Early FL Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Ewa Guz and Małgorzata Tetiurka
Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class: On a Positive
Classroom Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Danuta Gabryś-Barker
Personality, Emotional Intelligence and L2 Use in an Immigrant
and Non-immigrant Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia
International Students in Australia: What Makes Them Happy?
Student Data from the Positive Education Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Beata Malczewska-Webb
Part III

Focus on a Teacher: Personal and Professional
Well-being

Helping Language Teachers to Thrive: Using Positive Psychology
to Promote Teachers’ Professional Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Sarah Mercer, Pia Oberdorfer and Mehvish Saleem
High Inhibitions and Low Self-esteem as Factors Contributing
to Foreign Language Teacher Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Anna Ligia Wieczorek
“I Want to Be Happy as a Teacher”. How Emotions Impact
Teacher Professional Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Elena Gallo
Adult Learners’ Expectations Concerning Foreign Language

Teachers and the Teaching-Learning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Teresa Maria Włosowicz
Part IV

Focus on Assessment: Achievement and Success

How to Test for the Best: Implementing Positive Psychology
in Foreign Language Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Monika Kusiak-Pisowacka
Can Earning Academic Credits be Enjoyable? Positive Psychology
in a University Course of Intercultural Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Agnieszka Strzałka
Helping Low Achievers to Succeed in Tertiary Education: Explicit
Teaching of Academic Literacy as a Way to Positive Educational
Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Jan Zalewski


Contents

xiii

Self-regulatory Efficacy and Foreign Language Attainment . . . . . . . . . . 337
Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel
Translation Competitions in Educational Contexts:
A Positive Psychology Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Piotr Szymczak


Editors and Contributors

About the Editors
Danuta Gabryś-Barker is Professor of English at the University of Silesia,
Katowice, Poland. Her main areas of interest are multilingualism and applied
psycholinguistics. As a teacher trainer she lectures on research methods in
second/multiple language acquisition and TEFL projects. She has published
numerous articles nationally as well as internationally and the books Aspects of
multilingual storage, processing and retrieval (2005) and Reflectivity in pre-service
teacher education (2012). She has edited 11 volumes, among others for
Multilingual Matters, Springer and the University of Silesia Press. She is the
editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Multilingualism (Taylor &
Francis/Routledge) and the editor-in-chief of the journal Theory and Practice of
Second Language Acquisition (University of Silesia Press).
Dagmara Gałajda received her Ph.D. degree in Linguistics from the University of
Silesia, where she works as Assistant Professor. Apart from communication studies,
her research interests focus on teacher’s action zone in facilitating group dynamics,
affect in language learning, individual learner differences in SLA/FLL, and
reflective teaching. Recent publications include Anxiety and perceived communication competence as predictors of willingness to communicate in ESL/FL classroom in D. Gabryś-Barker, J. Bielska (eds) (2013) The affective dimension in
second language acquisition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, Communication
apprehension and self-perceived communication competence as variables underlying willingness to communicate in K. Piątkowska, E. Kościałkowska-Okońska
(eds) (2013) Correspondences and contrasts in foreign language pedagogy and
translation studies. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

xv


xvi

Editors and Contributors

Contributors
Andrea Dallas completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of
Florida and her M.Ed. in International Teaching from Framingham State College.
She has taught linguistics, academic English, and English for specific purposes at
the post-secondary level both in the United States and abroad. Her pedagogical
approach is informed by individual differences, task-based language teaching and
cognitive principles of language learning. Her current research interests include L2
reading and writing and positive psychology applications in the context of the L2
classroom and student advising.
Elena Gallo is Coordinator of Italian courses at the Language Center of the LMU
University of Munich, Germany, where she has also coordinated a professional
development project for university language teachers. She holds a Master degree
(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) and earned her Ph.D. at the
LMU Munich. She has been teaching Italian as a Second and Foreign Language
since 1991, has teacher training experience and has published for ILSA (Italian
Association of Teachers of Italian as Second Language) and for IATEFL (Learner
Autonomy SIG). Her research interests include teacher professional development,
learner autonomy, classroom research, and CLIL.
Tammy Gregersen, Ph.D. in Linguistics from Valparaiso, Chile, began her
teaching and researching career in a university in the Atacama Desert in the North
of Chile and is now a professor of TESOL and teacher educator at the University of
Northern Iowa (USA). She is the author, with Peter MacIntyre, of Capitalizing on
language learner individuality (Multilingual Matters) and is currently working on
another book with him on nonverbal communication in the language classroom.
She has published extensively on individual differences, teacher education, language teaching methodology, and nonverbal communication in language classrooms. Tammy is passionate about traveling and has presented at conferences and
graduate programs across the globe.
Ewa Guz holds a doctoral degree in linguistics from John Paul II Catholic
University of Lublin, where she is currently employed as Assistant Professor at the
Department of Applied Linguistics. She also works as a teacher trainer in the
University College of Language Teacher Education in Warsaw. Her research

interests include L2 speech production and processing, formulaic language in
(non)native speech, measures of L2 proficiency/performance, academic literacy at
the tertiary level, and learner engagement in early foreign language instruction.
Mary Hatakka has an M.A. from the University of Helsinki, Finland and an Ed.D.
from the University of Exeter, UK. She has taught academic literacy skills and
English as a foreign language mainly to engineering students both in Europe and in
the Middle East for the past 25 years. Her current research interests include
assisting students in developing their academic literacy skills and engineering habits
of mind.


Editors and Contributors

xvii

Hanna Komorowska is Full Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language
Teaching at the University of Humanities and Social Sciences in Warsaw. After the
fall of communism she was heading the Expert Committee for foreign language
teaching and teacher education reform in Poland. Former Vice-President of Warsaw
University, the Polish delegate for the Modern Languages Project Group of the
Council of Europe, and member of the EU High Level Group on Multilingualism in
Brussels, she is now a consultant to the European Centre for Modern Languages in
Graz and co-author of the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages.
She publishes widely in the field of FLT methodology and teacher education.
Sylwia Kossakowska-Pisarek, Ph.D. works at the Centre for Foreign Language
Teaching, the University of Warsaw and the University of Social Sciences,
Warsaw. She is an experienced teacher and a teacher trainer. Her interests include
developing autonomy and intercultural competence, positive psychology,
self-concept, self-regulation, e-learning, and ESP.
Monika Kusiak-Pisowacka is Professor of English in the Institute of English

Studies at the Jagiellonian University of Cracow, Poland. She is the Head of the
Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching Section. She teaches courses
in TEFL methodology and psycholinguistics. Her research interests include reading
in a foreign language and the role of a first language in foreign language learning,
which is the focus of her recent publication Reading comprehension in Polish and
English: Evidence from an introspective study. She has also co-authored three
course-books for Polish EFL learners and has written two handbooks for foreign
language teacher trainees.
Peter D. MacIntyre (Ph.D., 1992 University of Western Ontario) is Professor of
Psychology at Cape Breton University. His research examines emotion, motivation,
and cognition across a variety of types of behavior, including interpersonal communication, public speaking, and learning. The majority of Peter’s research examines the psychology of communication, with a particular emphasis on second
language acquisition and communication. He is co-author of Capitalizing on language learners’ individuality with Tammy Gregersen and co-editor of Motivational
dynamics in language learning with Zoltan Dörnyei and Alastair Henry, along with
Positive psychology in SLA with Tammy Gregersen and Sarah Mercer.
Beata Malczewska-Webb coordinates language teacher education (TESOL) programs at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. Her professional interests include
internationalization of education in Australia and globally, intercultural teaching
and learning and technology-enhanced learning. Her recent research aims to
improve an understanding of linguistically and culturally diverse student cohorts in
order to improve their educational experience. Beata’s most recent professional
passion focuses on extending access to students who wish to improve their qualifications but who cannot study on campus. This has inspired her to develop learning
and teaching e-environments, which combine the subject content expertise,
appropriate pedagogies, instructional design, and technology.


xviii

Editors and Contributors

Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of
Graz, Austria. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience, focusing in particular on issues

of self and identity. She is the author, co-author and co-editor of several books in
this area including Towards an understanding of language learner self-concept,
Psychology for language learning, multiple perspectives on the self in SLA and
Exploring psychology for language teachers.
Pia Oberdorfer has taught English and biology as well as biology through English
for the past 10 years. She is also working on her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at the
University of Graz in which she focuses on CLIL-teachers’ and the self. Her
research interests include various aspects of language learning and teaching, in
particular, self-concept and identity.
Rebecca L. Oxford her Lifetime Achievement Award states that “research on
learning strategies has changed the way the world teaches languages.” She is
Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and Professor Emerita, University of Maryland,
where she served as an administrator and award-winning teacher. She currently
teaches at the University of Alabama. She has presented her research in more than
40 countries, published 12 books, co-edited three book series and eight special
issues, and authored approximately 250 articles and chapters. Topics included
learning strategies, second language and culture, transformative education, positive
psychology, and peace, which are united in many ways.
Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia is Assistant Professor at the University of
Bielsko-Biala. She obtained her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck College,
University of London. Her main research interests include bilingualism, second
language acquisition, perception, and expression of emotions in the L1 and L2 as
well as personality and EI traits. She has delivered papers at 15 international
conferences and has published in international journals in the fields of bilingualism
and second language acquisition. She is also an author of a book Emotions form a
bilingual point of view: Personality and Emotional Intelligence in relation to
perception and expression of emotions in the L1 and L2 (2013).
Liliana Piasecka is Professor of English at the Institute of English, Opole
University (Poland), where she works as an applied linguist, researcher, and teacher
trainer. She teaches SLA and ELT courses, and supervises M.A. and Ph.D. theses.

Her research interests include second/foreign language acquisition issues, especially
L2 lexical development, relations between L1 and L2 reading, gender and identity.
She has published three books, numerous articles, and co-edited three collections of
essays.
Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Institute of
English, Opole University (Poland), where she teaches EFL methodology and SLA
courses. She specializes in the role of affect in the foreign language learning process
(anxiety, motivation, willingness to communicate in L2). Her interests also include
special educational needs (developmental dyslexia, autism, and AD/HD). She has


Editors and Contributors

xix

published two books (The importance of being aware: Advantages of explicit
grammar study and Language anxiety in secondary grammar school students),
papers in Poland and abroad. She has also co-edited several volumes.
Mehvish Saleem is currently doing Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at the University
of Graz. She previously was a Lecturer of English as a Second Language in
Pakistan. Her research interests span various aspects of ELT, in particular teaching
English in ‘difficult circumstances’, and psychology of language teaching. Her
research project focuses on the complex dynamics of language teachers’
psychology.
Agnieszka Strzałka is Assistant Professor at the Modern Languages Department
of the Pedagogical University in Krakow since 2004. She lectures on methodology
of teaching foreign languages and intercultural communication and supervises MA
theses in TEFL. Her main research areas include the intercultural approach, intercultural communication, speech acts theory, autonomy and affect in language
learning, as well as English as a lingua franca.
Piotr Szymczak is Associate Professor at the Institute of English Studies,

University of Warsaw. A graduate of University of Warsaw (1999) and Oxford
University (2000), he has since translated more than a dozen books into Polish and
English, including positive psychology titles such as Martin P. Seligman’s Flourish
and Dan Goleman’s Focus. His Polish translation of Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking:
Fast and slow won the Economicus Prize for Best Polish Translation (Non-Fiction)
in 2013. In 2014 Piotr was voted an Inspiration for Tomorrow for “inspiring his
students at the Institute of English Studies to become the best versions
of themselves.”
Małgorzata Tetiurka is Assistant Lecturer at John Paul II Catholic University of
Lublin, where she currently teaches the course Teaching English to Young Learners
at the Department of ELT Typhlomethodology and Alternative Communication.
Her research focus concerns foreign language acquisition and learning for children
in all age groups. She is interested in language learning processes in both formal
and informal contexts, learner engagement, and in developing language learning
materials for children. She is currently working on her doctoral thesis on the role
and use of L1 in a foreign language classroom. She is also an in-service teacher
trainer, materials writer, and Cambridge ESOL Oral Examiner.
Anna Ligia Wieczorek holds a Ph.D. degree in Linguistics from the University of
Silesia. She is a researcher whose main interest lies in the use of qualitative research
methods. She currently works at the Institute of English, University of Silesia,
Poland. Her main research interests revolve around affective variables and their role
in the development of a foreign language teacher and educator; academic writing
skills and soft skills; and their impact on an international career of a scholar. She is
also interested in Business English.


xx

Editors and Contributors

Teresa Maria Włosowicz obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Silesia in
Katowice and the University of Strasbourg in 2009. She is now working on her
postdoctoral thesis entitled The interface between grammar and the mental lexicon
in multilingualism. Her research interests include psycholinguistics, language
acquisition, multilingualism, contrastive linguistics, translation studies and applied
linguistics in general. She currently teaches at the Social Academy of Sciences in
Cracow.
Jan Zalewski is Professor of English at the University of Opole, Poland. He has
published many articles (including in TESOL Quarterly) and authored two books
(Enhancing linguistic input in answer to the problem of incomplete second language acquisition, and Epistemology of the composing process). He is co-editor
of the electronic journal Explorations: A Journal of Language and Literature
(www.explorations.uni.opole.pl). His current research interests focus on the
acquisition of academic literacy in English as a foreign language.


Part I

Introducing Positive Psychology in Second
Language Acquisition


So Far So Good: An Overview of Positive
Psychology and Its Contributions to SLA
Peter D. MacIntyre

Abstract Positive psychology has the potential to become a prominent research
area in SLA. The field is focused on positive emotion, positive character traits, and
institutions that enable individuals to flourish, all of which are major concerns in
language learning. The present chapter identifies key trends, such as the move
toward studying positive emotions, flow, and learner strengths in SLA, as well as

novel conceptual framework called EMPATHICS developed by Rebecca Oxford.
The paper also addresses some of the fair and unfair criticism of positive psychology based on the tendency to separate positive and negative emotion, a failure
to study individuals in sufficient depth, measurement issues, and an over-reliance on
cross-sectional research designs. Two issues in particular, the health benefits of
positive emotion and the critique of the 3:1 positivity ratio, are considered in some
detail. In several notable respects, the development of positive psychology within
SLA already is addressing these issues creatively and proposing solutions. The
paper concludes that research into positive psychology in SLA is off to a good start,
and is in some ways already ahead of positive psychology more generally.
Keywords Second language acquisition
of positive psychology

Á Emotion Á Flow Á Strengths Á Criticism

1 Introduction
One might say that the arrival of Positive Psychology (PosPsy) in the field of
Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is overdue. The topics of PosPsy fit like a
glove within the zeitgeist of modern language pedagogy with its dual emphasis on
successful communication among people along with the development of the language learner as a person. The emphasis in PosPsy is on the empirical study of the
P.D. MacIntyre (&)
Department of Psychology, Cape Breton University,
PO Box 5300, Sydney B1P 6L2, Nova Scotia, Canada
e-mail:
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
D. Gabryś-Barker and D. Gałajda (eds.), Positive Psychology Perspectives
on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, Second Language Learning
and Teaching, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32954-3_1

3

4

P.D. MacIntyre

good things in life and the techniques that can be shown to promote living well
(Peterson, 2006). The goal of the first part of this paper is to provide an overview of
PosPsy with an eye toward applications within SLA that already are happening,
along with future possibilities. The second section of this paper considers some of
the criticism of PosPsy and what SLA might draw from the critiques.

2 A Brief History of PosPsy
PosPsy can be said to have a short history and a long past (Peterson, 2006). The
narrative of modern PosPsy most often originates in 1998 when Martin Seligman
was elected president of the American Psychological Association. His focus during
his year as president was on “prevention” (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000,
p. 7) and the ideas that formed the pillars of PosPsy began to take shape. The
millennial issue of American Psychologist featured 16 papers that served to introduce PosPsy as a subfield. In their seminal article, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi
(2000) outline the core issue:
(…) psychologists know very little about how normal people flourish (...). Psychology has,
since World War II, become a science largely about healing. It concentrates on repairing
damage within a disease model of human functioning. This almost exclusive attention to
pathology neglects the fulfilled individual and the thriving community. The aim of positive
psychology is to begin to catalyze a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation
only with repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities (p. 5).

Defined in this way, PosPsy represents a form of “rebirth” for humanistic psychology (Funder, 2010). Indeed, the term Positive Psychology was first used by the
eminent humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow (1954) noted, as
Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi did later, that psychology has “(…) voluntarily
restricted itself to only half its rightful jurisdiction, the darker, meaner half”

(p. 354). Maslow’s career-defining concern was with the positive qualities that
make humans successful, fulfilled, and self-actualized. However, the humanistic
tradition in psychology, compared to other subfields, tended to discount empirical
research as a way of building knowledge about positive human qualities (Funder,
2010). Perhaps for this reason more than any other, the humanistic tradition did not
build a cumulative knowledge base on which to support itself. The founders of
PosPsy have emphasized that scientific grounding is required to advance knowledge. Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) concluded their seminal article with a
prediction for the future:
We believe that a psychology of positive human functioning will arise that achieves a
scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving in individuals, families,
and communities (…) psychologists will learn how to build the qualities that help individuals and communities, not just to endure and survive, but also to flourish (p. 13).

Perhaps the most straightforward definition of positive psychology was offered
by the late Peterson (2006) who said that positive psychology is “The scientific


So Far So Good: An Overview of Positive Psychology …

5

study of what goes right in life”. This definition succinctly captures two of the main
elements of positive psychology, the study of what goes right or the good things in
life and a reliance on a scientific perspective.
Psychology is not just a branch of medicine concerned with the illness or health; it is much
larger. 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
(Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 7).

The proponents of positive psychology emphasized that scientific methods are
required in this field, a stance that helps to define the procedures of positive psychology differently from its humanistic cousins (Waterman, 2013).
The emphasis on the scientific method has been softened somewhat in recent
years as the diversity of rigorous research methods appropriate to study PosPsy has
been expanded. The value placed on diverse research methods and the expanded
range of possible research questions they bring might be one area where SLA
actually is ahead of mainstream PosPsy (MacIntyre, Gregersen, & Mercer, 2016).

3 SLA and the Subject Matter of PosPsy
According to Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000), PosPsy was founded on three
pillars: (1) positive experiences (including emotions), (2) positive character traits,
and (3) positive institutions. Positive institutions have been the least well studied of
the three pillars, with research in psychology focusing on issues such as positive
emotions and character strengths. The second edition of the Oxford Handbook of
Positive Psychology (Snyder & Lopez, 2009) includes an impressive 65 chapters
within its more than 700 pages. Using the contents of the book as an index of the
range of topics with which the field has engaged shows the breadth and depth of
material available in the area (see Table 1). Many of these topics were being studied
prior to the naming of the field, but PosPsy is serving as an umbrella under which to
collect a wide variety of topics. In addition, the notion that deliberate and effective
interventions can be made to increase wellbeing for both individuals and communities is a central tenet in PosPsy and is a defining feature of education itself,
with language at the very center of the process. For this reason, and many others,
there are connections between PosPsy and SLA that are well worth exploring.
Over the past 15 years or so, there have been a number of significant contributions made within positive psychology. There are four key contributions of
positive psychology that can be highlighted here to show both the development of
knowledge surrounding key PosPsy concepts and applications to SLA. By adopting
a PosPsy perspective, SLA is able to move in several interesting research directions.
We will consider four of these emerging directions below.

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P.D. MacIntyre

Table 1 A partial list of topics in positive psychology (based on Snyder & Lopez, 2009)
1. Attachment security
4. Compassion
7. Emotional creativity
10. Forgiveness
13. Hope
16. Love
19. Optimism
22. Positive emotions
25. Reality negotiation
28. Self-determination
31. Self-verification
34. Sustainable happiness

3.1

2. Benefit-finding
5. Courage
8. Emotional intelligence
11. Gratitude
14. Humility
17. Meaning in life
20. Optimistic explanatory style
23. Positive ethics
26. Relationship connections
29. Self-efficacy

32. Social support
35. Toughness

3. Character strengths
6. Curiosity and interest
9. Flow
12. Happiness
15. Life longings
18. Mindfulness
21. Personal control
24. Positive growth
27. Resilience
30. Self-esteem
33. Subjective well-being
36. Wisdom

From Negative to Positive Emotion

Arguably the most significant contribution yet from PosPsy has been Fredrickson’s
(2001, 2013) theory differentiating positive and negative emotions. Although all
emotions serve to help persons adapt to their surroundings, Fredrickson (2003)
made the valuable point that there is a qualitative, functional difference between
positive and negative emotion. On the one hand, the role of negative emotion is to
focus behavior and produce a specific thought-action tendency. For example, anger
arises when one’s pursuit of goals is threatened and is accompanied by a focused
urge to destroy the obstacle (Reeve, 2015). Another negative emotion, anxiety, is
associated with fear which tends to produce avoidance behavior, as when anxious
students avoid using the target language. On the other hand, the function of positive
emotions is fundamentally different from negative emotion. The role of positive
emotions is to broaden and build, according to Frederickson (2001). Broaden means

that when we are experiencing positive emotions we tend to have a broader field of
vision; we tend to take in more information and we tend to notice things that we had
not noticed before. Building means that the function of positive emotions is to
assemble various types of resources for the future, resources that help individuals
deal with negative events and/or negative emotions down the road. One of the
consequences of positive emotions is to undo the lingering effects of negative
emotional arousal.
Already the field of SLA has taken up the key distinction between positive and
negative emotion. MacIntyre and Gregersen (2012) highlighted the role of positive
emotions that accompany the imagination of future selves, as in Dörnyei’s (2005)
influential L2 self-system theory. Two types of emotion can be identified, the first
type, anticipated future emotions, reflect what a person expects to feel in the future
(e.g., expecting pride and satisfaction during a graduation ceremony). The second
type, anticipatory emotions, reflects the emotions actually felt as one is imagining
the future event (e.g., feeling excitement now at the prospect of graduating in the


So Far So Good: An Overview of Positive Psychology …

7

future). Both types of emotion contribute to energizing motivation, providing the
positive energizing “kick” that is missing from the L2 self-system (Dörnyei, 2005).
Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) also examined the connections between positive
and negative emotion when studying enjoyment and anxiety in an internet-based
survey of language learners. They found only a modest correlation between anxiety
and enjoyment and reported evidence that suggests they are not opposing ends of a
seesaw, but rather two separate dimensions of experience with different types of
effects on learning. These studies and others that are on the horizon suggest that
emotion may become a significant topic in SLA; future studies will benefit greatly

from the theoretical and empirical distinctions between positive and negative
emotion.

3.2

From Deficiencies to Strengths

The second major contribution of positive psychology that can be identified as
applicable to SLA is the model of character strengths, including the VIA inventory
of character strengths and Seligman’s more specific concept of “signature
strengths”. In mainstream psychology, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the
DSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association is the major classification scheme for the field of mental illness used by psychologists, psychiatrists,
and other mental health professionals worldwide. If PosPsy has anything similar it
might be the VIA Inventory of Strengths. According to its website, to date the
online VIA inventory has been completed by over 2.6 million people in 190
countries making it a highly successful web-based research project (VIA Institute,
2015). If the DSM captures what goes wrong, the VIA inventory captures what
goes right in personal development. The list of strengths in the VIA inventory can
be categorized in a set of 6 broad virtues and 24 underlying character strengths that
are widely applicable across cultures and ages. The classification scheme is summarized in Table 2.

Table 2 A summary of the
VIA classification of virtues
and strengths

Wisdom

Courage

Humanity

•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•
•

• Love
• Kindness
• Social intelligence

Creativity
Curiosity
Love of learning
Judgement
Perspective

Bravery
Perseverance
Honesty
Zest

Temperance

Justice

Transcendence

•
•
•
•

• Fairness
• Leadership
• Teamwork

• Appreciation of
beauty and excellence
• Gratitude
• Humour
• Spirituality
• Hope

Forgiveness
Humility
Prudence
Self-regulation

Adapted from Park, Peterson, and Seligman (2004)


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P.D. MacIntyre

Research is beginning to undertake an examination of strengths applicable to
SLA. In a recent paper, MacIntyre, Gregersen, and Abel (2015) consider what it
means to take a strengths-based approach to dealing with anxiety in language
learning. Language anxiety has been the most widely studied emotion in SLA, with
a long list of sources and consequences that can seriously disrupt both learning and
communication (Gkonou, Daubney, & Dewaele, in press). Language anxiety is a
significant concern for teachers, learners, and educational leaders because it affects
the quality of teaching, learning, and assessment. Traditionally, the approach to
language anxiety has been to focus on ameliorating its symptoms, including
reducing negative arousal, reducing distracting thoughts, countering exaggerated
negative beliefs, and so on (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). MacIntyre et al.
(2015) contemplate what a strengths-based approach might look like, using the
virtue of courage as a focal point. Interventions developed based on a model of
strengths rather than dealing with learners’ weaknesses generates a very different
approach to education. “A strength-based approach to enhancing courage leaves
anxiety to one side and encourages learners to acknowledge anxiety but take action
in spite of it. In a metaphorical sense, courage provides a shield against waves of
anxiety”. The authors propose four specific activities that are designed to facilitate
the development of learner courage: putting on a brave face, drawing on community
to persevere, imagining integrity, and zestful zeal. MacIntyre et al. recommend that
these specific exercises be tested empirically, as would be required by the founding
tenets of PosPsy.

3.3

From PERMA to EMPATHICS

The third key contribution of PosPsy is Seligman’s (2011) PERMA model.
PERMA stands for Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning in life,

and Accomplishment. In a sense PERMA is the new “happy”. Initially, as positive
psychology discussed happiness, the concept was so multifaceted, and generated so
many different types of definitions, that the word happiness itself became quite
difficult to deal with. Lazarus (2003b) noted that “(…) there is no muddier concept
in the history of at least 2000 years of philosophy and psychology than the nature
of happiness” (p. 177). PERMA on the other hand is a multidimensional concept
with greater definitional precision.
Although PERMA has been around a relatively brief time, it already has been
applied to SLA. Helgesen (2016) has developed ELT classroom interventions that
are directly tied to PERMA, such as expressing gratitude, giving complements, and
savouring the good things that happen. All of these activities also may serve the
goals of language instruction at various levels and with various types of students.
Oxford and Cuellar (2014) used PERMA to understand the personal narratives of
adult learners of Chinese in Mexico, producing a rich account of the learners’
experiences.