Positive Psychology: Reframing English Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Recent researches in SlA have exhibited the affect-turn, highlighting the role of affect in promoting students’ English acquisition. Beginning from this, the papers argues to reframe English teaching and learning from positive psychology, concerned with developing students’ emotional development and holistic development. One of the central aims of language education is to produce holistic persons, and English as a second language is no exception. English can contribute greatly to producing sound and holistic persons with its great literature and its stories. To expand and and enrich English education, positive psychology sheds a new light. Based on literature review, the paper argues the necessity, validity, and pathways of reframing English teaching and learning. From the positive psychology, the reframing of English teaching and learning encompasses: developing learners’ emotional development as veritable teaching aims; building caring and emotional teacher-student relationships; constructing positive learning experiences for learners by employing humanistic activities; developing learners’ positive traits and growth mindset; and developing positive teachers. Incorporating Positive Psychology into SLA has highlighted the contribution SLA has made to produce whole people by promoting learners’ emotional development, to redress the imbalance of affect and cognition in English education. The core values of positive psychology and the core mission of English education align with each other, and their merge into one benefits to produce holistic learning and holistic people. No instrumental people are produced and human dignity is restored. The great changes in the world call for deeper learning, and the integration of positive psychology with SLA is the exact move needed for this, for personal thriving, national thriving, and the world’s thriving.