There is a growing research interest in a variety of emotions in foreign and second language (L2) classrooms, especially since the introduction of positive psychology. However, research on the ubiquitous emotional experience of boredom is scant. Building on its prevalence and documented deleterious effects, I argue that research on the antecedents…

In light of popular nationalism on the rise in China and Japan, this inquiry develops and validates a survey instrument to document university students' motivation to learn Japanese in mainland China and explore how the learning of a foreign language may lead to better cross-cultural understanding. A total number of 398 Chinese learners of…

This study analyzes the language learning narratives of 3 NNS foreign language teachers. It uses as a theoretical framework the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) (Dörnyei, 2009) but adds the dimension of psychological reactance (Brehm, 1966). Our findings indicate that the L2MSS underestimates the relationship between "I" and…

It is widely accepted that teacher cognitions--what teachers know, think, and believe--play a significant part in teachers' decision-making processes. The present study investigated the specific cognitions that 74 Dutch undergraduate and postgraduate student teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) had on grammar instruction and how these…