Positive psychology is a rapidly expanding subfield in psychology that has important implications for the field of second language acquisition (SLA). This paper introduces positive psychology to the study of language by describing its key tenets. The potential contributions of positive psychology are contextualized with reference to prior work,…

Research has not addressed issues of life meaning in a life-span developmental framework. The Loss and Transcendence paradigm was developed as a humanistic-existential approach to life-span development which has as its central theme the concept that individuals are in a continuous process of creating their lives and their selves. To explore loss…

As a teacher, the humanist develops a learning climate that is positive, enriching, and psychologically nourishing. A humanist's teaching style reflects psychological wholeness and is characterized by deep respect for the learner, effective communication, acceptance of learners, concentration on the needs and feelings of learners, and a liberating…