A Junior Middle School Student’s Vocabulary Learning Emotions

In recent years,with the "affective turn" in applied linguistics research,the study of emotions in language learning has become a new growth point in the psychological studies of foreign language learning.Meanwhile,since vocabulary is an important part of English learning,its learning emotions cannot be ignored.English picturebooks,as a new type of teaching material,can arouse students’ learning interest and fit the demand of English Curriculum Standards(2011).Therefore,the researcher aims to study how the use of English picturebooks and textbooks may impact learners’ emotions in vocabulary learning by conducting a comparative case study.The participant’s vocabulary learning emotions in the situations of using both textbooks and picturebooks are investigated.Three research questions are addressed.1)What emotions does the participant’s demonstrate in vocabulary learning using textbooks?How are these emotions related to various aspects of vocabulary learning?2)What emotions does the participant’s demonstrate in vocabulary learning using picturebooks?How are these emotions related to various aspects of vocabulary learning?3)Why are the emotions in the two situations of the participant’s vocabulary learning similar to and different from each other?Data sources include coding of transcripts and semi-structured interview.Major findings are summarized below:Firstly,in vocabulary learning using textbooks,negative emotions far exceeded positive emotions.The major negative emotions include "being stressed","disgust",and"feeling scared",among which,"being stressed" and "disgust" were related in a somewhat even manner to vocabulary learning aspects pronunciation,spelling,meaning,and use)and the textbook content and activities,while "feeling scared" was most often linked to the dimension of meaning.Positive emotions such as "pride" and "interest" were often based on specific topics and situations in a manner that was neither continuous nor stable.Secondly,in vocabulary learning using picturebooks,positive emotions were predominant.The top three ones were "pride","interest",and "joy".Among them,"pride"was most often linked to the dimension of meaning,while "interest" and "joy" were mostly related to the aspects of meaning and the content and activities.Negative emotions mainly focused on "being stressed",which was mostly related to the aspects of pronunciation and meaning.Thirdly,the similarity of emotional patterns in the two situations of vocabulary learning lies in "embarrassment",related to the aspects of pronunciation and meaning.The emotion is more closely associated with participants’ personality traits.The differences are more related to the participants’ experiences with the spelling,meaning,and content and activity in vocabulary learning.In the aspect of meaning,word-guessing experience was distinct.In the aspect of the content and activities,the degrees of classroom engagement transformed greatly.Based on the above findings,this study provides inspiration for peer teachers in the following aspects.First,the case may inspire peer teachers to adopt picturebooks with junior middle school students in vocabulary teaching.Also,it can inspire teachers to make full use of the characteristics of picturebooks to facilitate vocabulary teaching.Second,this study provides a sample of how to design vocabulary learning activities based on picturebooks.Third,it provides peer teachers with a set of practical criteria to select appropriate picturebooks.