Foreign Language Learning from the Perspective of Individual Well-Being

Abstract

Positive psychology is said to: “address three topic areas: The workings of positive internal experiences such as emotions, positive individual characteristics such as traits associated with living well, and institutions that enable people to flourish” (MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014, p. 154). This paper will approach the second topic area. It may be predicted that learning and knowing a foreign language will contribute, in a number of ways, to an individual’s well-being. This approach seems to coincide with interpreting language as a life skill, represented mainly by Rogers et al. (2014) in their course book series. Learning a foreign language, apart from providing learners with the necessary skills and abilities to successfully function in a target community, will also assist the development of such useful life skills as assertiveness, logical thinking, memory and problem-solving abilities, negotiation skills, planning and setting goals, and many others. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss students’ opinions on the extent to which they believe their language learning process and the knowledge of language contributed to the development of selected life skills which are necessary for any individual to function successfully in the twenty-first century. The findings indicate significant differences in opinions among students representing different social backgrounds.