The place of affect in second language acquisition

Abstract

The aim of the article is to show that affective learner characteristics play a crucial role in the process of second language acquisition (SLA). Although often neglected by contemporary linguists, preoccupied with an individual’s cognitive capacities, in many instances it is emotions rather than intellect that account for the difficulties students may experience when learning a foreign language. SLA researchers point to motivation, ego-boundaries, anxiety, social distance, and risk-taking among others, as instrumental in the process. Also, numerous classroom-oriented studies corroborate the impact students’ emotional states have on their learning. Therefore, care should be taken to create classroom conditions in which learners’ positive emotions could be fostered. While the above claim has been emphasized by humanistic psychologists for a few decades now, classroom research shows that teachers often lack either the will or the means to attend to their students’ emotional well-being.