So Far So Good: An Overview of Positive Psychology and Its Contributions to SLA

Abstract

Positive psychology has the potential to become a prominent research area in SLA. The field is focused on positive emotion, positive character traits, and institutions that enable individuals to flourish, all of which are major concerns in language learning. The present chapter identifies key trends, such as the move toward studying positive emotions, flow, and learner strengths in SLA, as well as novel conceptual framework called EMPATHICS developed by Rebecca Oxford. The paper also addresses some of the fair and unfair criticism of positive psychology based on the tendency to separate positive and negative emotion, a failure to study individuals in sufficient depth, measurement issues, and an over-reliance on cross-sectional research designs. Two issues in particular, the health benefits of positive emotion and the critique of the 3:1 positivity ratio, are considered in some detail. In several notable respects, the development of positive psychology within SLA already is addressing these issues creatively and proposing solutions. The paper concludes that research into positive psychology in SLA is off to a good start, and is in some ways already ahead of positive psychology more generally.