Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T22:55:47.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The inseparability of cognition and emotion in second language learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2011

Merrill Swain
Merrill Swain*
Affiliation:
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Torontomerrill.swain@utoronto.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The scholarly literature about the process of second language (L2) learning has focused to a considerable extent on cognitive processes. Left aside are questions about how emotions fit into an understanding of L2 learning. One goal of this plenary is to demonstrate that we have limited our understanding of L2 learning by failing to take into account the roles played by emotions. A perspective which brings together cognition and emotion is that of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT) of mind. Vygotsky saw the two as being inextricably interconnected. However, many in the Western world who have taken up Vygotsky's ideas, myself included, have focused on the cognitive side of learning and development. The second goal of this plenary is therefore to redress this imbalance.

Type
Plenary Speeches
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , April 2013 , pp. 195 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chomsky, N. (1959). A review of B. F. Skinner's ‘Verbal behavior’. Language 35, 26–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Rio, P. & Álvarez, A. (2002). From activity to directivity: The question of involvement in education. In G. Wells & G. Claxton (eds.), 59–72.Google Scholar
Donato, R. & Lantolf, J. P. (1990). The dialogic origins of L2 monitoring. Pragmatics and Language Learning 1, 83–97.Google Scholar
Dorfman, A. (1998). Heading south, looking north: A bilingual journey. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Doughty, C. & Long, M. (eds.) (2003). The handbook of second language acquisition. Malden, MA: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. R., Braver, T. & Raichle, M. E. (2002). Integration of emotion and cognition in the lateral prefrontal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 99, 4115–4120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grevisse, M. (1980). Le bon usage (3rd edn). Brussels: Ducolot.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez, A. G. (2008). Microgenesis, method and object: A study of collaborative activity in a Spanish as a foreign language classroom. Applied Linguistics 29, 120–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harter, S. & Whitesell, N. R. (1989). Developmental changes in children's understanding of single, multiple, and blended emotion concepts. In Saarni, C. & Harris, P. L. (eds.), Children's understanding of emotion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 81–116.Google Scholar
Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B. & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal 70, 125–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imai, Y. (2010). Emotions in SLA: New insights from collaborative learning for an EFL classroom. The Modern Language Journal 94, 278–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, R. K. & Swain, M. (eds.) (1997). Immersion education: International perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kowal, M. & Swain, M. (1997). From semantic to syntactic processing: How can we promote it in the immersion classroom? In R. K. Johnson & M. Swain (eds.), 284–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Lado, R. (1964). Language teaching: a scientific approach. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Lantolf, J. P. (ed.) (2000). Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lantolf, J. P. & Thorne, S. L. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, P. D. (2002). Motivation, anxiety and emotion in second language acquisition. In Robinson, P. (ed.), Individual differences in second language acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 45–68.Google Scholar
Mahn, H. & John-Steiner, V. (2002). The gift of confidence: A Vygotskian view of emotions. In G. Wells & G. Claxton (eds.), 46–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkinson, B. (1996). Emotions are social. British Journal of Psychology 87, 663–683.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pavlenko, A. (2005). Emotions and multilingualism. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pavlenko, A. (ed.) (2006). Bilingual minds: Emotional experience, expression and representation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pessoa, L. (2009). Cognition and emotion. Scholarpedia, 4.1: 4567, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pica, T. (1994). Research on negotiation: What does it reveal about second-language learning conditions, processes and outcomes? Language Learning 44, 493–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratner, C. (2000). A cultural-psychological analysis of emotions. Culture and Psychology 6, 5–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumann, J. (1997). The neurobiology of affect in language. Language Learning 48, Supplement 1.Google Scholar
Schutz, P. & DeCuir, J. (2002). Inquiry on emotions in education. Educational Psychologist 37, 125–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schutz, P. A. & Pekrun, R. (eds.) (2007). Emotion in education. Burlington, MA: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Skehan, P. (1989). Individual differences in second-language learning. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Solomon, R. C. (1993). The philosophy of emotions. In Lewis, M. & Haviland, J. M. (eds.), Handbook of emotions. New York: Guilford, 3–15.Google Scholar
Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning. In Cook, G. & Seidlhofer, B. (eds.), Principle and practice in applied linguistics: Studies in honour of H. G. Widdowson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 125–144.Google Scholar
Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In Lantolf, J. P. (ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 97–114.Google Scholar
Swain, M. (2005). The output hypothesis: Theory and research. In Hinkel, E. (ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 471–484.Google Scholar
Swain, M. (2006). Languaging, agency and collaboration in advanced second language learning. In Byrnes, H. (ed.), Advanced language learning: The contribution of Halliday and Vygotsky. London: Continuum, 95–108.Google Scholar
Swain, M. (2010). ‘Talking-it-through’: Languaging as a source of learning. In Batstone, R. (ed.), Sociocognitive perspectives on language use and language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 112–130.Google Scholar
Swain, M. & Johnson, R. K. (1997). Immersion education: A category within bilingual education. In R. K. Johnson & M. Swain (eds), 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swain, M., Kinnear, P. & Steinman, L. (2011). Sociocultural theory in second language education: An introduction through narratives. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Swain, M. & Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics 16, 371–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swain, M., Lapkin, S., Knouzi, I., Suzuki, W. & Brooks, L. (2009). Languaging: University students learn the grammatical concept of voice in French. The Modern Language Journal 93, 5–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vocate, D. R. (ed.) (1994). Intrapersonal communication, different voices, different minds. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cole, M., John-Steiner, V., Scribner, S. & Souberman, E. (eds.), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, Volume 1: The problems of general psychology, including the volume ‘Thinking and speech’. Rieber, R. W. & Carton, A. S. (eds.), New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (2000). Thought and language (revised). Kozulin, A. (ed.), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Wajnryb, R. (1990). Grammar dictation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wells, G. & Claxton, G. (eds.) (2002). Learning for life in the 21st century. Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar