Emotions in Student Teachers’ L2 Learning Experiences: Do Language Ideologies Play a Role?

Abstract

This paper reports on a qualitative study which investigated a group of student teachers’ emotions in their second language (L2) learning experiences, with particular attention to the mediating role of language ideologies. The findings revealed that the participants reported both positive emotions (enjoyment and pride) and negative emotions (anxiety, frustration and embarrassment) in their L2 learning experiences. In particular, these different emotions were found to be mediated by multiple and sometimes conflicting language ideologies, including the ideology of native-speakerism, the World Englishes ideology and the ideology of language as a tool for communication. The findings also showed that the different emotions evoked in the participants’ L2 learning experiences not only impacted on their identities as L2 learners and L2 users/communicators in divergent ways, but also shaped their goals and agentive efforts in their subsequent L2 learning. Overall, the analysis points to the complex, dynamic and reciprocal relationship between emotions, language ideologies, identities and agency in understanding the affective dimension of L2 learning in a more holistic manner. It also calls attention to the potential of incorporating reflections on L2 learning experiences in student teachers’ professional development programmes in order to enhance their emotional awareness for L2 learning and teaching.

Keywords

L2 learning emotion identity language ideology student teacher

Introduction

With the ‘affective turn’ in Second Language Acquisition (e.g. Dewaele 2015; MacIntyre 2002; Pavlenko 2013), there has been a growing interest among applied linguists in understanding the role of emotions in L2 learning. Earlier research on the affective dimension of L2 learning has focused primarily on negative emotions, especially anxiety (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1986). It has been found that anxiety arises from negative L2 learning experiences, which may in turn lead to lower willingness to communicate (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1986; MacIntyre and Gardner, 1994). With the advent of positive psychology as an emerging field, more recent research has begun to pay attention to the role of positive emotions in shaping L2 learning (Dewaele and MacIntyre, 2014; Dewaele et al., 2019; MacIntyre and Gregersen, 2012). Feelings of pride have been found to have a significant impact on L2 learning, especially in real-life communicative contexts (Ross and Stracke, 2016). Enjoyment has also been identified to enhance learners’ performance in the L2 and support their L2 motivation (Dewaele, 2022). In an empirical study, Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) found that anxiety and enjoyment are the two important emotions associated with L2 learning, given that learners are likely to experience both communicative difficulties and successes over time. In another study, Sampson (2020) found that L2 learners express both positive and negative emotions with regard to L2 learning in the classroom context and that their emotions can be associated with their perceptions of classroom activities, other students and the language teacher. To further our understanding of the relationship between L2 learning and emotions, more research is needed to understand how sociocultural factors such as language ideologies may play a role in invoking positive and/or negative emotions in L2 learning.

L2 learning experiences have been considered to be potentially powerful resources for language teachers in shaping their approaches to language teaching (Ellis, 2016). It has been noted that many language teachers draw on their past L2 learning experiences in their language teaching practices to the benefit of their students (Ellis, 2016). Pennington and Richards (2016: 12) also suggest that language teachers often see their L2 learning experiences and improvements in their L2 proficiency as ‘central to their professional development as language teachers and to their identity as knowledgeable professionals’. However, within the existing research literature, ‘the language-learning experience of teachers is largely ignored in their professional formation and in their careers’ (Ellis, 2016: 601). Thus, there is a need for more research into the L2 learning experiences of language teachers. With the aim to extend our understanding of the role of emotions in language teachers’ L2 learning experiences, this paper investigates the different emotions experienced by a group of student teachers in their past L2 learning experiences, with a focus on the mediating role of language ideologies.

Theoretical Background

Emotions in L2 Learning

L2 learning has been increasingly seen as ‘an emotionally driven process’ (Douglas Fir Group, 2016: 36). Emotions can be understood as ‘short-lived, feeling-purposive-expressive-bodily responses that help us adapt to the opportunities and challenges we face during important life events’ (Reeve, 2015: 340). In general, emotions can be divided into positive emotions (e.g. joy, gratitude, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe, love) and negative emotions (e.g. anger, contempt, disgust, embarrassment, guilt, hate, sadness) (MacIntyre and Vincze 2017).

From a sociocultural perspective, emotions are not simply internal psychological reactions to external events, but rather can be considered to be sociocultural practices which vary across time and space (Ahmed, 2010; Moate and Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2020). Benesch (2012:36), for example, conceptualizes emotions as ‘socially constructed dimensions of human experience’. With its focus on the social, cultural and historical contexts in which L2 learning is embedded, a sociocultural perspective also conceives emotions in L2 learning to be imbued with social meanings (Douglas Fir Group, 2016; Richard, 2020). It should also be acknowledged that emotions in L2 learning are often viewed as being emergent in response to various stimuli or ‘object foci’ and as being derived from interactions with other people and social relationships with them (Sampson, 2020). As Benesch (2012) suggests, emotions can be seen as effects of human encounters with objects, including ideas, policies, other people, events, activities and places. Furthermore, emotions in L2 learning are thought to be closely intertwined with learners’ identities, especially their sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world (Norton, 2000). As Barcelos (2015: 312) suggests, when we learn our L2, ‘[w]e are shaped by the emotions we feel (fear, desire, joy, love), and these in turn shape the kinds of identities we construct of ourselves’.

Language Ideologies in L2 Learning

Research on the sociocultural dimension of L2 learning has found that language ideologies are an important element in shaping L2 learning experiences. According to Martinez-Roldán and Malave (2004: 161), language ideologies can be understood as ‘beliefs and attitudes towards the learning and use of a particular language’. Empirical research has suggested that dominant language ideologies may influence language learners’ agentive efforts to learn the L2 and construct their L2-related identities (Douglas Fir Group, 2016). For example, it has been found that the ideology of native-speakerism (i.e. the belief in the superiority of ‘native-speaker’ varieties over other varieties) may negatively impact on learners’ L2 learning experiences and their L2-related identity construction, including the development of an identity of inferiority (Liu and Tannacito, 2013). Moreover, the standard language ideology (i.e. the belief in the linguistic correctness of one variety that is considered superior to other varieties) has been found to have an influence on how L2 learners think about their own and others’ language varieties (Douglas Fir Group, 2016; Maa and Burns, 2021; Sung, 2020).

Despite the extensive research on language ideologies in L2 learning (Douglas Fir Group, 2016; Liu and Tannacito, 2013; Maa and Burns, 2021; Martinez-Roldán and Malave, 2004; Sung, 2020), the role of language ideologies in shaping emotions in L2 learning is still under-researched. By taking a sociocultural perspective, the present study investigates the different emotions experienced by a group of student teachers in their past L2 learning experiences and how these emotions may be mediated by various language ideologies. It seeks to answer the following research questions:

What emotions were experienced by the participants in their L2 learning?

How were their emotions in L2 learning shaped by their language ideologies?

How did their emotions influence their identities and their subsequent L2 learning?

The Current Study

The research study from which this paper is derived employed a qualitative case study methodology (Sung, 2022). It entailed an in-depth exploration of L2 learning as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon through in-depth data collection (Yin, 2009), including the interplay of various sociocultural and affective factors involved in L2 learning in its real-life contexts. While the research study focused on a bounded group of participants with similar linguacultural backgrounds, it also paid attention to their individual experiences and perspectives relating to their L2 learning.

Setting and Participants

The data of the study came from 27 participants (23 females and four males) who were non-local postgraduate students enrolled in a Master's programme in English, with a specialization in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) at an English-medium university in Hong Kong. All of the participants originated from Mainland China and undertook a one-year full-time Master's programme in the hope of pursuing a career in TESL upon graduation. All the participants were in their early to mid-twenties at the time of the study and completed their Bachelor's degree in Mainland China before arriving in Hong Kong for their postgraduate studies. All of the participants reported to be L1 speakers/users of Chinese (Putonghua) and self-identified as L2 speakers/users of English.

Data Collection

The data were collected when the participants were enrolled in a sociolinguistics course as part of their Master's programme.¹ As the present paper focused on the participants’ past L2 learning experiences and the emotions linked to these experiences, it drew on their posts on an online discussion forum as the main source of data. Their reflective essays and the interviews with them were used as secondary sources of data for the purpose of triangulation. Informed consent was obtained from the participants for their posts on the online discussion forum, their reflective essays and the interviews with them to be used for research purposes.

As part of the sociolinguistics course, the participants took part in an online discussion forum on their L2 learning experiences over a 13-week semester. The intention of the online discussion forum was to open up a space for them to understand and reflect on their L2 learning experiences, including the emotions related to these experiences. Specifically, the participants were asked to share their experiences of learning English as an L2, especially critical events related to their L2 learning experiences. They were also asked to describe the emotions they experienced during these critical events. Eliciting these critical events in their L2 learning journeys is considered particularly important for their reflections, because critical events are often ‘highly charged moments and episodes that have enormous consequences for personal change and development’ (Webster and Mertova, 2007: 75), including a change of understanding the self and their worldviews. In the online discussion forum, the participants were also encouraged to respond to other participants’ posts and exchanged ideas with each other on L2 learning.

Towards the end of the course, the participants submitted a reflective essay on how they felt about sharing their L2 learning experiences in the online discussion forum, what they had learnt from each other's L2 learning experiences and how they had benefitted from their sharing on the online discussion forum. Moreover, semi-structured interviews with the participants were also undertaken in order to find out about their past L2 learning experiences, their L2 learning experiences during their Master's studies in Hong Kong, and their future L2 learning plans upon graduation from the Master's programme. The interviews were conducted in Chinese (either Cantonese or Putonghua) and the majority of the interviews lasted for approximately one hour.

Data Analysis

The qualitative data were analysed via thematic analysis and the process of data analysis was inductive and recursive (Lichtman, 2012). I first immersed myself in the data in order to gain a holistic understanding of the participants’ L2 learning experiences and the emotions associated with these experiences. In the process of data coding (Saldaña, 2021), I paid particular attention to the different kinds of emotions in different L2 learning experiences and the types of language ideologies linked to different emotions in L2 learning. Recurring themes and links between them were subsequently identified. By way of a constant comparison process, the emergent themes were compared, revised and cross-checked between different datasets (Lichtman, 2012).

Findings

The key findings that emerged from the analysis are as follows:

The participants experienced both positive and negative emotions in their L2 learning experiences which took place in a variety of contexts, ranging from the ‘learning context’ (i.e. the general classroom setting, with an emphasis on improving overall language competence) at one end of the continuum to the ‘communicative context’ (i.e. other settings where a focus is placed on the use of language to participate in everyday social interactions)² at the other end.

Their emotions in L2 learning appeared to be mediated by multiple and sometimes conflicting language ideologies, including the ideology of native-speakerism, the World Englishes ideology and the ideology of language as a tool for communication.

Their emotions impacted on their identities as L2 learners and L2 users/communicators and served as catalysts that shaped their goals and agentive efforts in their subsequent L2 learning.

In what follows, representative extracts have been included below in the reporting of the findings. These extracts have been taken from the participants’ posts on the online discussion forum and have been slightly edited to improve their readability.

Positive Emotions in L2 Learning

Enjoyment and pride were identified as the two main positive emotions experienced by the participants, and these positive emotions were found to co-occur in their L2 learning experiences (see Table 1).

Table 1.

The main positive emotions identified in the analysis and the language ideologies associated with these positive emotions in L2 learning experiences.

Positive emotions	No. of participants	Language ideologies associated with positive emotions	No. of participants
Enjoyment	15	Native-speakerism	5
Pride	12	World Englishes	3
Others (e.g., interest. motivated)	4	Language as a tool for communication	7

The Ideology of Native-Speakerism

The participants’ positive emotions in their L2 learning experiences appeared to be mediated by their embrace of the ideology of native-speakerism – an ideology that is built on the assumption that ‘native’ speakers of English have a special claim to the language (Holliday, 2006). Such an ideology is often accompanied by a belief in the superiority of ‘native-speaker’ varieties of English over ‘non-native’ ones (Liu and Tannacito, 2013). In the data, the participants’ sense of pride was attributable to not only their perception of their ability to speak like an L1 speaker of English as some kind of achievement, but also the fact that their ability to conform to ‘native’-like pronunciation was praised by others, including teachers and/or other interlocutors in everyday communication (Ross and Stracke, 2016). For example, P20's sense of pride seemed to be the result of praises from judges for her ‘native’-like pronunciation displayed in the speech contests at school.

I took part in various English contests in primary and middle school and the judges were mostly impressed with my native-like English pronunciation. Thus, my pronunciation gives me quite a lot of courage and confidence while I’m delivering on the stage. (P20)

It was also found that the participants’ feelings of pride and enjoyment helped them build their identities as competent L2 learners and that these positive emotions in turn served as driving forces that encouraged them to continue to pursue their goal of reaching ‘native’-like competence in their subsequent L2 learning, especially ‘native’-like pronunciation.

I was thrilled when I heard other saying that I sounded like a native speaker since it had always been my goal to achieve. Though I knew there is still room for me to improve in English, I was genuinely proud of myself and all the hard work had finally paid off […] I will work harder to sound more native-like. (P4)

The World Englishes Ideology

The participants’ positive emotions in L2 learning also seemed to be related to their acceptance of the World Englishes ideology, that is, a belief in the plurality and diversity of English used by different L1 and L2 speakers of English and the co-existence of different Englishes, including different English accents, in everyday communication (Marlina, 2018; Sung, 2016). When recounting their experiences of communicating with L2 speakers of English, the participants often expressed enjoyment and/or pride when they were able to comprehend their interlocutors’ ‘non-native’ English accents. For instance, P3 mentioned that her ability to understand the English spoken by Indian speakers during her internship not only evoked feelings of enjoyment and pride, but also enabled her to gain recognition by others, including her boss.

Due to my experience of having a foreign teacher from India with a strong Indian accent, I’m the only one in that booth who can understand the Indian accent very well and communicate with them freely. Therefore, I became the most valued employee there. At first, my boss said they need my help for three days, but after knowing my ability to communicate with Indian customers, they said to my school that they need to keep hiring me. At that moment, I was very happy and honored. I felt that my ability has been recognized. (P3)

Also of note is that the participants’ sense of achievement derived from understanding the English spoken by L2 speakers prompted them to recognize the need to expand their receptive abilities to comprehend different English accents that they might encounter in the future and enhanced their agency to gain wider exposure to different ‘non-native’ English accents through everyday communication.

I know that not only be[ing] able to learn and understand standard British English or American English is important, be[ing] able to understand more kinds of widely used accents is also important. Therefore, my Indian teacher has given me a precious chance to adapt to this accent and develop my ability. (P25)

The Ideology of Language as a Tool for Communication

The participants’ ideology of language as a tool for communication was also found to contribute to their positive emotions when they were able to successfully communicate with others through English. With their perception of their L2 as a communicative resource in their everyday lives, their ideology of language as a tool for communication led them to focus on the communicative function of English, as opposed to the importance placed on conformity to ‘native-speaker’ norms (Sung, 2018). As shown in the following extract, P7's belief about the role of language as a means of communication helped her to conquer her anxieties about speaking English in a ‘native’-like manner and subsequently feel a sense of pride.

Although I made some mistakes, she [an L1 of English] didn't make laugh at me. And gradually I found I could speak more and more frequently, using the phrases that I’ve learned during the preparation of IELTS, which gave me a sense of achievement. After that day, I found I become more confident and realize it's important to overcome inside fear to speak English with native speakers. (P7)

P3's belief in the role of language as a tool for communication also relieved her of the pressure to conform to ‘native-speaker’ norms in intercultural communication settings, thereby generating feelings of enjoyment and pride.

I was happy. I know I often make small errors grammatically when I speak and I struggle with words when I talk about something I am not so familiar with. Even though we are not from the same culture, we can understand each other. He, as a native speaker, also praised me for no reason (I mean he was not selling me anything). I was so glad and proud. (P3)

It was also found that the participants’ positive emotions in their L2 learning experiences prompted them to prioritize their communicative competence (i.e. meaning-making ability) over their ability to conform to ‘native-speaker’ norms as their L2 learning goal in the future.

I also used to overemphasize the function of pronunciation, advanced vocabularies, grammar, and sentence structure in real communication. However, having more and more chances to talk with foreigners, I found these are my biases on communication via English. When we use English to exchange our ideas in communication, we should mainly focus on the meaning of interaction. (P15)

Negative Emotions in L2 Learning

The main negative emotions identified in the participants’ past L2 learning experiences were anxiety, frustration and embarrassment, and these negative emotions often co-existed in their accounts of L2 learning experiences (see Table 2).

Table 2.

The main negative emotions identified in the analysis and the language ideologies associated with these negative emotions in L2 learning experiences.

Negative emotions	No. of participants	Language ideologies associated with negative emotions	No. of participants
Anxiety	12	Native-speakerism	8
Frustration	10	World Englishes	3
Embarrassment	5	Language as a tool for communication	4
Others (e.g.. shame, boredom)	5

The Ideology of Native-Speakerism

The participants’ negative emotions were found to be shaped by their acceptance of the ideology of native-speakerism, especially their perception of ‘native’ English as an ideal model for L2 learning and their aspiration towards achieving ‘native’-like proficiency, including pronunciation and grammar. More specifically, the ideology of native-speakerism added unnecessary pressure on the participants and caused negative emotions in their L2 learning experiences. For example, several participants expressed anxiety and/or frustration when they failed to achieve the goal to speak like L1 speakers of English, forcing them to accept such negative L2-related identities as failed ‘native’ speakers of English and incompetent L2 learners. In the following extract, for example, P1 felt frustrated when her L2 proficiency was negatively judged by her mentor against the L1 speaker yardstick in the learning context.

When I was a freshman, the school required English majors to take an oral test thereby pushing us to correct pronunciation and sound more native-like […] I had visited my mentor, wondering if she could give me some advice. Probably because I didn't practice as much as expected and my intonation was flat and expressionless, after my reading, the teacher said, “Well, it is quite impossible for you to pass the test” […] My mentor's comment really discouraged me so much that I even had no mood for listening what she said afterwards. (P1)

P21 also reported feelings of embarrassment when her inability to adhere to ‘native-speaker’ grammatical norms was explicitly pointed out by another L2 learner at school.

I went to the English Corner where students of different majors could practice their speaking with foreign teachers every week […] After some guy finished his talk, I said “I don't know too” to agree with him. And he instantly corrected me by pointing out that I should use “either” instead of “too” in a negative sentence in front of around eight people including two foreign teachers. I felt so embarrassed that I spent more than ten minutes indulging myself in the stupid grammatical mistakes. (P21)

Also of note is that the participants’ acceptance of ‘native-speaker’ norms as the yardstick for measuring L2 proficiency levels of different L2 learners of English gave rise to feelings of frustration and embarrassment. For example, some participants expressed frustration when their ability to speak ‘native’-like English was compared unfavourably to the English spoken by other L2 learners at school.

I seldom pay attention to my English accent, while [but] my classmates spoke just like native speakers with a quite good British or American accent, so I was not confident when speaking English, because I thought my oral English was awkward and unpleasant to hear compared to others. (P7)

The World Englishes Ideology

The participants’ negative emotions were also found to be mediated by their embrace of the World Englishes ideology, that is, a belief that emphasizes the diversity of different ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ English varieties in everyday communication (Marlina, 2013). With an emphasis on their ability to understand the English spoken by both L1 and L2 speakers from different language backgrounds, some participants expressed anxiety and/or embarrassment when they were unable to understand the English spoken by other L2 speakers in everyday communication. Indeed, by accepting the World Englishes ideology, the participants also seemed to accept the responsibility for failing to understand ‘non-native’ English accents as a result of their own lack of prior exposure to different ‘non-native’ English accents.

When I received the first foreign customer, he asked me in a very strong accent […] But I didn't really care that much as I thought I was just not used to it at the beginning. Then the second and third customer came, and I was confronted with the same problem, not able to understand as each of them has a very peculiar accent! Indeed, these people all come from different corners of the world. Most of them don't speak native English. Several foreign customers came in and became rather impatient as I was not able to communicate with them properly. I remember one foreigner from Arabia noticed my struggle and suddenly started to speak Chinese to me! I was rather frustrated and confused. (P15)

Moreover, it was found that the participants’ negative emotions resulting from their inability to understand L2 speakers’ English adversely impacted on their identities as L2 users/communicators of English. P8, for example, questioned her previous self-evaluation of herself as a confident L2 user of English as a result of her failure to comprehend the English spoken by an L1 Japanese speaker.

I still remember my frustration during the whole phone call [with a Japanese hotel receptionist]. I was confident about my English before that phone call […] I should be capable of understanding others’ English. But obviously I failed. (P8)

As a result of their negative emotions in their L2 learning experiences, the participants seemed to have come to the realization that an overemphasis on ‘native’ English may cause them to overlook the importance of comprehending ‘non-native’ English accents and miss out on the opportunities to adapt to these ‘non-native’ English accents in everyday communication. Consequently, the participants’ negative emotions led them to make efforts in gaining exposure to different accents of English so as to develop their receptive abilities to understand different ‘non-native’ accents of English in real-life communication.

I always listen to formal accent such as the speakers of BBC or VOA. As a result, when I grew up, I sometimes cannot understand some English with other accents […] I should have more exposure to different accent[s] and try to understand different accent[s]. For the future, I will try to adapt my ears to more English with different accents. (P19)

The Ideology of Language as a Tool for Communication

The participants’ negative emotions were also found to be closely intertwined with their ideology of language as a tool for communication. Some participants expressed frustration and/or embarrassment when they found themselves incapable of expressing themselves competently in English in everyday communication. Their failure to express themselves appropriately through English also dampened their confidence as L2 speakers/communicators of English.

We helped them [foreign students] learn and experience Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting, as well as Peking Opera mask painting. I found it difficult to explain the correct way to hold the brush. Then, I made it with the help of body language. It was a terrible experience, which struck a blow to my self-confidence. I felt embarrassed. (P6)

It was also found that the participants’ negative emotions led to their realization of a gap between ‘textbook English’ and ‘real English’, which eventually prompted them to make efforts in gaining access to real-life L2 communication opportunities beyond the classroom context in order to become more effective L2 communicators.

I felt bad not only because I did not help them [tourists] but I realised that I lacked the knowledge of giving clear directions in English. This incident reminds me that learning English is never confined to the academic aspect but also everyday life. Since then, I have started to talk more in English outside the school context and have kept in touch with my foreign teachers via Facebook so as to strengthen my command of English language. (P3)

Discussion

This study identified a number of positive and negative emotions experienced by the participants in their L2 learning trajectories. The main positive emotions were enjoyment and pride, and the main negative emotions were anxiety, frustration and embarrassment. These different positive and negative emotions were found to co-occur in the participants’ accounts of critical incidents in their L2 learning experiences. The study also found that the participants’ emotions in L2 learning can be situated in two broadly distinct contexts, namely, the ‘learning context’ and the ‘communicative context’ (Batstone, 2002) and can be closely connected with a range of object foci in these two contexts, including different people (e.g. teachers, mentors/tutors, other students, foreign students, customers, tourists, L1 speakers of English, L2 speakers of English), activities (e.g. speech contests, telephone conversations, internships, ‘English Corner’) and artefacts (e.g. praises from teachers, feedback from peers, Facebook).

An important finding emerging from the study was that that the participants’ emotions in their L2 learning experiences appeared to be mediated by multiple and sometimes conflicting language ideologies, namely, the ideology of native-speakerism, the World Englishes ideology, and the ideology of language as a tool for communication. Although the ideology of native-speakerism and the World Englishes ideology might be seemingly contradictory to each other, they co-exist in the same participant's L2 learning experiences, evoking a diversity of emotions. What is also noteworthy is that these language ideologies are not linked to either positive or negative emotions in a straightforward manner, but rather these language ideologies can evoke both positive and negative emotions in the participants’ L2 learning experiences. For example, while the ideology of native-speakerism created considerable anxiety for the participants when they attempted to achieve the often unrealistic goal of attaining ‘native’-like proficiency, the same ideology generated a sense of pride in the participants when their ability to speak like L1 speakers of English was affirmed by others. Moreover, while the World Englishes ideology gave rise to the participants’ feelings of frustration and embarrassment as a result of their failure to understand ‘non-native’ English accents in everyday communication, the same ideology led them to feel a sense of pride in themselves when they were able to comprehend the speech of other L2 speakers of English. Thus, the findings caution against the view of a simplistic one-to-one relationship between emotion and language ideology and suggest that there can be complex, multiple, and varied relationships between the two constructs.

The study further revealed that the participants’ emotional responses to their L2 learning appeared to impact on their L2-related identities as L2 learners and L2 users/communicators in varied ways. On the one hand, their negative emotions tended to result in a variety of negative L2-related identities, including those of failed ‘native’ speakers of English, incompetent L2 learners, and ineffective L2 users/communicators. Arguably, these negative L2-related identities could be the result of their sense of ‘emotional dissonance’ (Kubanyiova, 2012), that is, the discrepancy between the participants’ aspirational identities and their actual self-perceived identities. On the other hand, the participants’ positive emotions seemed to generate positive L2-related identities, including those of successful L2 learners and proficient L2 users/communicators. Indeed, given that the participants experienced both positive and negative emotions at different times in their L2 learning trajectories, their L2-related identities seemed to vary markedly from time to time and from context to context.

Furthermore, the analysis suggests that the participants’ emotional experiences can serve as a catalyst which guides their goals and agentive efforts in their subsequent L2 learning experiences. As Moate and Ruohotie-Lyhty (2020) suggest, emotions can be considered as a mediating tool for sense making and meaning giving. By reflecting on their positive and negative emotions in their L2 learning experiences, the participants appear to have gained insights into the causes of their emotional responses and subsequently come up with ways to confront and transform their emotional challenges in a positive way for their subsequent L2 learning trajectories. Put another way, the participants’ emotions are not merely intuitive responses to their past L2 learning experiences, but rather can be viewed as triggers that prompt subsequent reflections on the meanings and significance of their emotional responses in L2 learning. Given the adaptative nature of emotions (MacIntyre and Vincze, 2017), the participants’ emotional responses appear to be capable of spurring their agency in modifying their goals and strategies in their subsequent L2 learning efforts.

Overall, the present study argues for the complex, dynamic and bidirectional relationship between emotions, language ideologies, identities and agency in shaping L2 learning experiences that are situated in a variety of contexts, and these contexts can fall into a continuum ranging from the ‘learning context’ at one end to the ‘communicative context’ at the other (see Figure 1). As evident in the study, the participants’ emotions, language ideologies, identities and agency appear to be closely interconnected, interacting with each other in a reciprocal and bidirectional manner. Of note here is that the relationship between emotion, language ideology, identity and agency is ‘not one of causality but of interaction and reciprocity’ (Barcelos, 2015: 308). That is, these constructs are likely to influence each other in L2 learning in complex and dynamic ways, potentially leading to change and adaptation (Barcelos, 2015; Sung, 2021). Moreover, the kinds of interactions between them are likely to be variable from one context to another and from one person to another. It is therefore important to note that emotions in L2 learning should be understood in connection to their complex and dynamic interplay with language ideologies, identities and agency in a contextualized way in order to gain a nuanced and holistic understanding of emotions in L2 learning.

Figure 1.

The interplay between emotion, language ideology, identity and agency in L2 learning experiences.

Implications

The findings of the study offer some implications on the use of reflections on emotions associated with L2 learning in student teachers’ professional development programmes. As evidenced in the study, the participants’ reflections on their L2 learning included not just their identification of the emotions evoked in their past L2 learning experiences, but also their understanding of the sources of their emotions and the impacts of different emotions on their L2 learning. Given the benefits of reflections on L2 learning in raising student teachers’ emotional awareness, reflections on emotions associated with L2 learning can be incorporated into student teachers’ professional development programmes. For example, student teachers may be provided with structured guidance and support in their reflections in order to help them better understand how their emotions have influenced their past L2 learning experiences, how their emotions have been shaped by their language ideologies and how their emotional experiences have changed their approaches to L2 learning and teaching. Indeed, as Richards (2020: 13) points out, ‘emotions can be brought to the forefront through the use of activities that encourage learners to reflect on the role emotions play in their own language learning and in their responses to the emotional demands of learning and using English’. Different activities such as journal writing, peer coaching and participation in online forums can help student teachers reflect deeply on their emotional experiences associated with L2 learning so as to enhance their emotional awareness. With an enhanced emotional awareness, student teachers can be in a better position to self-regulate the emotions they might encounter in their subsequent L2 learning and develop more positive L2-related identities in their future L2 learning and teaching experiences.

Footnotes

Funding

The work reported in this paper was supported by a research grant from City University of Hong Kong [project number 7200568].

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Chit Cheung Matthew Sung

Notes

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