A Study on the Application of the Confidence-Building Diary in the Italian Lower Secondary School

Abstract

Drawing inspiration from a previous study (Shelton-Strong and Mynard, 2020), the present research project implements the confidence-building diary (CBD) in an Italian state school in the northeast of Italy. The CBD is posited to be a valuable tool to motivate and boost students’ confidence in their language learning path, as long as it is adapted to the peculiar group of students it is administered to. Building on these premises, this study aims to investigate whether this kind of positive psychology intervention can feasibly enter the Italian state school system at lower levels of education. To address this point, research questions on the positive learning activities chosen by students, their subsequent feelings, the relevance of the CBD as a motivational booster in language learning and its feasible application in the Italian school system are investigated. To meet the purpose of the study, diaries completed by 42 learners and a questionnaire survey administered to educators underwent a qualitative analysis, thus examining both students’ and teachers’ perspectives.