2018 Research in the Capitol
Presentation Type
Open Access Poster Presentation
Keywords
Second language acquisition--Psychological aspects; Language and languages--Study and teaching (Higher);
Abstract
The three studies in this presentation examine the use of positive psychology (the study of what goes right in life) to benefit language learners. The first study examines the implementation of culturally responsive teaching by interviewing adult Chinese students and professors in the English for Academic Purposes program and in mainstream college classes. The interviews explored culturally responsive teaching and determined how students perceived and reacted to the lessons. The second study investigates the implementation of a personal strengths intervention to mitigate learners’ foreign language anxiety and improve classroom performance. This study provided students with the opportunity to self-reflect and apply their strongest attributes to learning English and Spanish. The third study evaluates existing positive psychology claims concerning how to stimulate an individual’s empathy by determining whether exposure to photographs of subjects–in this specific case, refugee learners–will increase the empathetic reactions of teachers toward them.
Start Date
3-4-2018 11:30 AM
End Date
3-4-2018 1:30 PM
Event Host
University Honors Programs, Iowa Regent Universities
Faculty Advisor
Tammy Gregerson
Department
Department of Languages and Literatures
Copyright
©2018 Lauren Anderson, Alyssa Hanken, and Tessa Horn
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Lauren; Hanken, Alyssa; and Horn, Tessa Noes, "Positive Language Teaching: Culturally Responsive, Strengths-Based and Empathetic" (2018). Research in the Capitol. 1.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/rcapitol/2018/all/1
Positive Language Teaching: Culturally Responsive, Strengths-Based and Empathetic
The three studies in this presentation examine the use of positive psychology (the study of what goes right in life) to benefit language learners. The first study examines the implementation of culturally responsive teaching by interviewing adult Chinese students and professors in the English for Academic Purposes program and in mainstream college classes. The interviews explored culturally responsive teaching and determined how students perceived and reacted to the lessons. The second study investigates the implementation of a personal strengths intervention to mitigate learners’ foreign language anxiety and improve classroom performance. This study provided students with the opportunity to self-reflect and apply their strongest attributes to learning English and Spanish. The third study evaluates existing positive psychology claims concerning how to stimulate an individual’s empathy by determining whether exposure to photographs of subjects–in this specific case, refugee learners–will increase the empathetic reactions of teachers toward them.
