Emotion, Positivity, and Beyond: Three Hypotheses on Micro-Level Emotions in Foreign Language Learning

Abstract

The idea that emotion is inseparably fundamental to cognition has been theorized and supported in multiple academic disciplines including philosophy, psychiatry, neuroscience, and second language acquisition. Emotion, as a socially constructed phenomenon, is also integral to socio-emotional literacy, underscoring its close relationship with both cognition and social interaction. This paper overviews three evolving hypotheses on micro-level emotions in foreign language learning. The first hypothesis is the Emotion-Involved Processing Hypothesis (EIPH), according to which emotional elaboration in semantic processing results in stronger incidental memory traces (i.e., is deeper) than semantic processing without elicited emotion involvement. The EIPH is supported by multiple empirical studies. The next question is what kind of emotion should be involved for better language learning, leading to the second abductive hypothesis: the Deep Positivity Hypothesis (DPH), according to which deeper/semantic processing and learning are facilitated more by positive emotions than negative emotions. The DPH is not only empirically tested but also is harmonious with the flourishing positive psychology with valuable practical insights in second language acquisition. Are positive emotions the panacea, then? The answer is not always yes. Based on the free energy principle, the Deep Epistemic Emotion Hypothesis (DEEH) has been proposed, according to which higher order intellectual acquisition would be facilitated more by epistemic emotions such as intellectual surprise and curiosity than hedonic emotions. The DEEH is supported empirically as well as pseudo-autoethnographically. Collectively, these evolving hypotheses provide theoretical and practical insights for understanding and making the most of the dynamic interplay between emotion and cognition in language learning.