Positive Psychology Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching

This book introduces readers to the principles of a fairly new branch of psychology - positive psychology - and demonstrates how they can be applied in the context of second language acquisition in a natural environment and in instructed foreign language (FL) learning. It focuses both on the well-being and success of the learner and the professional and personal well-being of the teacher. Further, the book stresses the importance of the positive emotions and character strengths of those involved in the process of language learning and teaching, as well as the significant role played by enabling institutions such as school and, at the micro-level, individual FL classes.

Danuta Gabrys-Barker is Professor of English at the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland, where she lectures and supervises M.A. and Ph.D. theses in applied linguistics, psycholinguistics and especially in second language acquisition. She also works as a teacher trainer. Her main areas of interest are multilingualism (especially at the level of mental lexicon and syntax) and applied psycholinguistics (modalities, learner profiles and affectivity). As a teacher trainer she lectures on research methods in second language acquisition and TEFL projects. Her major concern is the role of action research in teacher development. Prof. Gabrys-Barker has published over a hundred articles nationally as well as internationally and a book Aspects of multilingual storage, processing and retrieval, Katowice: University of Silesia Press, 2005 and Reflectivity in pre-service teacher education which came out in 2012.  She has edited nine volumes, among others a volume Morphosyntactic Issues in Second Language Acquisition (Multilingual Matters, 2008), Topics in Applied Psycholinguistics (University of Silesia Press, 2015) and co-edited The Affective Dimension in Second Language Acquisition (Multilingual Matters, 2013). She is the Vice-president of the Polish Association for the Study of English (PASE) and a Board member of International Association of Multilingualism. She is the editor-in-chief (together with Eva Vetter) of the International Journal of Multilingualism (Taylor & Francis/Routledge).

Dagmara Galajda received her Ph.D. degree in linguistics from the University of Silesia, where she works as assistant professor. The research area of her doctoral thesis concentrated on willingness to communicate (WTC) in L1 and L2 and on other related communication variables like communication apprehension (CA) and self-perceived communicative competence. Apart from communication studies, her research interests focus on teacher's action zone in facilitating group dynamics, affect in language learning, individual learner differences in SLA / FLL and reflective teaching. Recent publications include: Teacher's Action Zone in Facilitating Group Dynamics in M. Pinto (ed.) (2012) Linguarum Arena Vol. 3, Anxiety and perceived communication competence as predictors of willingness to communicate in ESL/FL classroom in D. Gabrys-Barker, J. Bielska (eds) (2013) The Affective Dimension in Second Language Acquisition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, Communication apprehension and self-perceived communication competence as variables underlying willingness to communicate in K. Piatkowska, E. Koscialkowska-Okonska (eds) (2013) Correspondences and Contrasts in Foreign Language Pedagogy and Translation Studies. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Currently she is co-editing  Young Scholars on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics: Research Projects Oficyna Wydawnicza - Wyzsza Szkola Humanitas (together with Maria Wysocka, Artur Kijak and Pawel Zakrajewski).