Kim, T.-Y. (2021). Perezhivaniya in L2 learning and motivation from a sociocultural perspective: A qualitative anslysis of retrospective L2 learning essays. To appear in Language, Culture and Social Interaction, 30, 100521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2021.100521
Abstract
This article focuses on the role of perezhivaniya, or “emotional experiences,” in understanding L2 learning motivation. In creating, maintaining, and possibly terminating L2 learners' ideal or ought-to L2 selves (Dörnyei, 2009), not all L2-related experiences but only emotional ones having personal, subjective meaning are primarily involved. By using a grounded theory approach, 103 pre-service teachers' previous L2 learning experience and their motivational fluctuations from preschool to high school were analyzed. The motigraph of students showed that early childhood English education made a noticeable difference. The qualitative data proved the importance of early English input, the role of significant relationships, and the synergistic effect of emotional experiences and their positive appraisal. This article argues that L2 learners' accumulation of emotional experiences and their appraisal of those experiences are crucial to recognizing their L2 selves and enhancing the level of L2 learning motivation. The issue of self- and other-regulation and the expansion of the zone of proximal development through perezhivaniya are also discussed.