Abstract
While positive psychology has drawn increasing interests among researchers in the second language (L2) acquisition literature recently, little is known with respect to the relationship between positive psychology and mental processes during L2 reading. To bridge the gap, the present study investigated whether and how positive psychology (self-efficacy) influences word reading strategies during L2 sentence reading. Based on previous studies, eye-movement patterns with first-fixation locations closer to the beginning of a word can be characterized as an attempt to process the word with a local strategy, whereas first-fixation locations farther away from the beginning and closer to the center of a word can be considered as an attempt to use a global strategy. Eye movements of a group of Japanese learners of English (N = 59) were monitored, and L2 reading self-efficacy was used to assess the participants’ positive belief toward their L2 reading skills. Based on Fredrickson’s (1998) broaden-and-build theory, we predicted an effect of L2 reading self-efficacy on participants’ first-fixation locations. Results from mixed-effects regression showed that while reading strategies depended in part on other factors such as L2 reading proficiency and word properties, L2 self-efficacy influenced reading strategy. The present data suggest that while more self-efficacious L2 readers prefer a more efficient global strategy, attempting to read the word as a whole word, less self-efficacious L2 readers tend to employ a local strategy, focusing more on sublexical information. These findings lend support to the broaden-and-build theory in the context of L2 processing. The present study has implications for how positive psychology works along with L2 proficiency in the development of strategic selection during reading.
Highlights
While negative emotions, predominantly anxiety, have been the center of research interest in the second language (L2) acquisition literature until recently, researchers have shed light on the role of positive psychology, arguing for a more comprehensive perspective on the dimensions of emotions that encompasses the effects of both negative and positive emotions on L2 learningEye-Tracking L2 Self-Efficacy (e.g., MacIntyre and Gregersen, 2012a,b; Dewaele and MacIntyre, 2014; MacIntyre and Mercer, 2014)
The present study aimed to investigate whether and how positive psychology is associated with L2 mental process during L2 reading behavior
We connected Fredrickson’s (2001) broadenand-build theory with the dichotomous conceptualization of eyemovement patterns based on the dual-route word recognition model (Coltheart et al, 2001), with a view to expounding the mechanism underlying how positive belief toward L2 reading, indexed by L2 reading self-efficacy, might influence word reading strategies
Summary
Predominantly anxiety, have been the center of research interest in the second language (L2) acquisition literature until recently, researchers have shed light on the role of positive psychology, arguing for a more comprehensive perspective on the dimensions of emotions that encompasses the effects of both negative and positive emotions on L2 learningEye-Tracking L2 Self-Efficacy (e.g., MacIntyre and Gregersen, 2012a,b; Dewaele and MacIntyre, 2014; MacIntyre and Mercer, 2014). Apart from the link between positive psychology and L2 proficiency/L2 test performance, some studies have focused on the relation between positive psychology and L2 behavior, reporting that foreign language enjoyment enhanced L2 learners’ willingness to communicate in the classroom (Dewaele and Dewaele, 2018; Khajavy et al, 2018). These findings are in line with Fredrickson’s (2001) notions on the function of positive emotions to broaden people’s thought-action repertoires (see Khajavy et al, 2018). The present study aimed to build on the notions of Fredrickson (1998, 2001, 2003, 2004) with respect to the effects of positive psychology on L2 behavior, focusing on the mental processes underlying real-time L2 reading behavior, which, to date, has drawn comparatively little attention in the literature of L2 acquisition.
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