Dewaele, Jean-Marc and Pavelescu, L. (2021) The relationship between incommensurable emotions and willingness to communicate in English as a Foreign Language: a multiple case study. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 15 (1), pp. 66-80. ISSN 1750-1229.
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Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the link between Foreign Language Enjoyment, Foreign Language Anxiety and Willingness to Communicate in Denisa and Anda, two high school learners of English as a Foreign Language in Romania. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative data were collected during a school semester including lesson observations, a written task and semi-structured interviews with the aim of obtaining retrodictive data (Dörnyei, 2014) in order to gain a better understanding of the nature and amount of fluctuation and change in participants’ Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in English over time. The approach is strongly influenced by Dynamic System Theory and is based on the concept of constructed emotions (Feldman Barrett, 2017a, b). Findings and Originality/value: The study revealed that WTC was related to the uniquely constructed emotions of Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language (Classroom) Anxiety (FLCA) (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014) in dynamic, idiosyncratic ways, that took root during the first contact with English, extending into the present and the future. Learners’ personality and their experiences inside and outside the English classroom shaped their emotions which had direct and indirect repercussions on their WTC. The paper concludes that case studies into and WTC offer a crucial complement to quantitative studies as they highlight the fact that emotions cannot be essentialized (Feldman Barrett, 2017a, b) and that their relationship with WTC can fluctuate sharply over the short term and develop over the longer term, depending on a range of interacting learner-internal and contextual variables. FLE and FLCA do remain useful concepts at a super-ordinate level.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis, available online at the link above. |
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | Emotions, Foreign Language Enjoyment, Foreign Language Anxiety, Willingness to Communicate, English as a Foreign Language |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication |
| Depositing User: | Jean-Marc Dewaele |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Sep 2019 08:36 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2023 12:46 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/28934 |
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