Emotions and Feelings in Language Advising Discourse

Abstract

Although the literature on foreign language learning and second language acquisition (SLA) recognizes the importance of the affective dimension in learning processes, little is known about how to support it throughout the autonomous learning process. One possible way of attending to the affective dimensions could be through language advising. Language advising refers to a special form of learning support in which an adviser helps a learner to organize and reflect on their learning process in individual face-to-face sessions or as an email exchange, often as a complement to self-access learning. Language advising serves as a privileged space for addressing, beside cognitive and metacognitive aspects, affective aspects of language learning. Within the professional and interpersonal relationship between adviser and learner, it is easier to reflect on learners’ emotions and feelings, and their implications for learning. However, in order to focus on affective questions, language advisers need to be able to address them with learners: To react to negative or positive emotions expressed by the learner; to recognize them, even if they are not explicitly mentioned; and to counterbalance them in order to support the language learning process. The present investigation focuses on the expression of emotions and feelings in the learner’s and adviser’s discourse in a language advising setting in higher education. The aim of the study is to shed light on affect in autonomous language learning processes and thus help language professionals to recognize and deal with affective issues as they arise. Based on audio-recordings and transcripts of individual advising sessions, the research design focuses on discourse analysis of the learner’s and the adviser’s discourse. The results show significant expressions of emotions in the learner’s discourse, related both to past learning experiences and to planning further learning steps. In the adviser’s discourse, emotions are less present, and the adviser tends rather to mirror, empathise or counterbalance the learner’s emotions. These findings may help advisers and professionals to better acknowledge the role of emotions and feelings both in the learning and in the advising process and to reflect on their own role in supporting learners to regulate their emotions.