Positive Psychology and Language Education: Promoting Well-being in the Classroom

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Background

The present contribution is aimed to offer an overview of a new area of research in the field of Positive Psychology and Language Education (LE). It is focused on positive emotions and educators that enable students to achieve academic success in language learning. Using positive psychology as a guide may enhance the meaning of the learning and allows for an emphasis on the accomplishments in the language. Research on positive psychology has identified several strategies and skills that educators can implement to help learners deal with difficulties such as prioritizing good relationships, cultivating kindness, engaging with activities, and discovering strengths. Language education can benefit a great deal from Positive Psychology research and professional application on the facilitation and promotion of well-being in the classroom.

Positive psychology is a fairly new branch of general psychology and not much has been done in terms of its application in teaching and learning languages. The overarching goal of this article collection on “Positive Psychology and Language Education” is to provide an evidence-based practice informed by the theories and research of positive psychology for the enhancement of achievement and well-being in the second/foreign language classroom. It includes research studies that range from children to secondary school and university students who learn a second language, as well as mature adults who learn a second language for specific purposes.

We invite researchers and language educators who are currently conducting research or applying positive psychology to provide resources for people who want to learn more about the way positive psychology is taught and how it might fit into their second/foreign language classroom.

Topics appropriate for the article collection include original research on language learner well-being in the classroom, activating character strength through activities in the classroom, positive emotions in training language skills (reading/writing and listening/speaking), positive emotions and student engagement, and the positive emotions and language teachers. Articles that evaluate constructs such as optimism, character values, and emotional intelligence are also invited. The special edition publishes empirical research studies and theoretical and review articles representing original contributions.

Keywords: Positive Emotions; Positive Language Education; Flourishing Teacher; Positive Strategies for Student Engagement

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