A Positive Psychology Perspective on SLA emotions: Foreign Language Enjoyment in German-Language University Learners in Northeast Italy

Abstract

The effects and interactions of learners’ emotions during foreign language learning is still an under-researched area within Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Although negative emotions such as foreign language anxiety have been extensively investigated, the field has recently seen a rise in research due to a new focus on positive emotions, particularly Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE). By adopting a Positive Psychology perspective, the present study explores Foreign Language Enjoyment and its dynamic dimensions in students learning German as a foreign language in universities located in northeast Italy after mainly returning to face to-face learning in an almost ‘post-pandemic normality’ in the current period. The first part of this research builds a theoretical framework around this positive emotion, examining previous research and the Italian context, while the second part describes the mixed-method empirical study and analyses quantitative and qualitative data collected through a questionnaire using the Short Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale and semi-structured interviews. The aim was to obtain the FLE profiles of the students, explore the effects of other internal and external variables related to their learning experience, and identify the sources and key points of particularly strong FLE episodes. The findings contribute to an emerging field that investigates what goes right in the foreign language learning experience and provide important pedagogical implications for both language teachers and learners.