Affective Dimension in Second Language Acquisition

Affectivity is at the core of everything we do in life. Thus, its development is also central to learning/acquisition and is important for educational contexts. The studies presented in this volume consider the different contexts of language learning and examine different types of participants in this process. Most of them look at a formal instruction context, while others look beyond the classroom and even report on the author's own affectivity and its involvement in learning experiences. Affectivity is discussed here in relation to learners but also to teachers in their own professional contexts of teaching foreign languages. In the majority of cases, affectivity is explored in the case of bilinguals, but there are also articles which focus on multilingual language users and their affectivity as an evolving factor.

Danuta Gabryś-Barker is Professor of English at the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland, where she lectures and supervises MA and PhD theses in applied linguistics and psycholinguistics, with a particular focus on second language acquisition and multilingualism. She has published numerous articles and books including The Affective Dimension in Second Language Acquisition (co-edited with Joanna Bielska, 2013) and Morphosyntactic Issues in Second Language Acquisition (2008). She is the co-editor of the International Journal of Multilingualism (Taylor & Francis) and the co-founder and the co-editor of the journal Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition (University of Silesia Press).

Joanna Bielska is involved in language teacher education programmes at the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland and lectures on theories of second language acquisition, research methods in applied linguistics and the methodology of foreign language teaching. She has had a long-standing interest in the psychology of the language learner with special focus on the role of individual differences in SLA. Her current work revolves around the theme of self-efficacy in language learning and teaching.