Well-Being

Abstract

A focus on well-being is also beginning to take hold within second language acquisition (SLA), particularly, within the field of the psychology of language teaching and learning. This chapter reviews some of what has been learned thus far about well-being, including how it has been measured and conceptualized within psychology, as well as some of its causes and consequences. It provides a brief overview of the foundation upon which explorations on well-being within SLA are built and what the implications of this are for language education. Academic explorations on well-being have a long history in psychology and allied disciplines, yet it is has only recently gained attention in SLA. A number of studies in SLA have explored teacher well-being, with comparatively fewer studies having focused on learner well-being. As well-being is a relatively newer domain of inquiry within SLA, the conceptual contributions have tended to flow from psychology to SLA.