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THE MICHEL BLANC LECTURE IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS 2023 - Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele: The Emergence of Emotion Research in Applied Linguistics

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Venue: Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street

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The Emergence of Emotion Research in Applied Linguistics

Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele

"In this lecture, I will reflect on the growing interest in emotion in various areas of applied linguistics and neighbouring areas such as educational psychology, cognitive psychology and psychotherapy. While everybody agrees that emotions are at the heart of social interactions, it has taken a time to overcome applied linguists’ view that emotions are irrational and not worthy of attention. I will show that the ability to perceive and express emotions accurately in a first or foreign language is crucial for mental wellbeing. Moreover, the classroom emotions of foreign language learners and teachers affect their flourishing and performance."

References

  • Costa, B. & Dewaele, J.-M. (2019). The talking cure – building the core skills and the confidence of counsellors and psychotherapists to work effectively with multilingual patients through training and supervision. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 19, 231–240.
  • Dewaele, J.-M. (2019). When elephants fly: the lift-off of emotion research in applied linguistics. The Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 533-536.
  • Dewaele, J.-M. (2022). Research into multilingualism and emotions. In G. L. Schiewer, J. Altarriba & B. Chin Ng (Eds.), Language and Emotion. An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, pp. 1217-1237.
  • Gkonou, C., Dewaele, J.-M. & King, J. (2020) The Emotional Rollercoaster of Language Teaching. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Bionote

Jean-Marc Dewaele is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism at Birkbeck, University of London. He has published ten books and over 350 papers and chapters in Second Language Acquisition and Multilingualism. He is former president of the International Association of Multilingualism, the European Second Language Association and is the current president of the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning. He is General Editor of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. He won the Equality and Diversity Research Award from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013), the Robert Gardner Award for Excellence in Second Language and Bilingualism Research from the International Association of Language and Social Psychology (2016) and the Distinguished Scholar Award from the European Second Language Association (2022).

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Speakers
  • Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele -

    Jean-Marc Dewaele focuses on the linguistic, pragmatic and socio-cultural challenges that multilinguals face in communicating and recognising emotions in different contexts.  The main findings of this research are that the first (L1) and foreign languages (LXs) of multilinguals are differently embodied which explains why LXs typically feel more detached and have less emotional resonance than the L1.  As a consequence, LX swearwords may be used too lightly and LX words of love feel fake. It has led to a large number of papers, chapters and books, co-authored with students and researchers from the EU, the US and Saudi Arabia.

    The second strand of this research is a continuation of the former in the context of psychotherapy, an on-going investigation that started in 2010 with Beverley Costa.  We found that therapists around the world do not know enough about the complex relationships between language, emotion and identity among their multilingual and multicultural clients. The aim of this research is to raise awareness of psychotherapists, integrating modules on this topic into their curriculum. 


    The final strand of emotion research focuses on classroom emotions. A new holistic perspective was developed with Peter MacIntyre (Cap Breton University, Canada), focusing on both positive and negative emotions that foreign language learners and teachers experience in the classroom. Data have been collected through online questionnaires from large numbers of secondary school and university learners in the UK, China, Japan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as from international samples. The findings were reported in more than 40 papers and one book co-authored with researchers from Canada, the EU, Japan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan.  They feed into the development of more positive and effective pedagogical practices that boost mental well-being of learners and teachers.This project attracted 7 visiting scholars to the CMMR since 2014.

    Finally, Jean-Marc Dewaele participates actively in debates on methodological, epistemological and ideological issues in the field of applied linguistics and multilingualism research.  This includes critical reflections on the concept of the native speaker with Lourdes Ortega (Georgetown University) and Thomas Bak (University of Edinburgh).