TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning andidentity
Vander Tavares
York University, Toronto, Canada
vander1@yorku.ca

Abstract
This paper explores the role of emotions and corporeal sensations in the experiencesof foreign language learning and identity of one Canadian adult learner of Portuguese.
Emotions in second and foreign language learning have become the subject of growinginterest since other perspectives other than the cognitive have been included in Second
Language Acquisition (SLA) research. Yet, much of the recent literature on therelationship of emotions, foreign language learning, and identity continues to reflect theexperiences of English language learners, and has also paid little attention to whether
learners develop and include an awareness of and an attention to the contribution of
corporeal sensations to their experiences of foreign language learning, and identity
enactment in the foreign language. This paper draws on concepts of sociocultural theory
and construals-of-the-self to understand the learner’s perceptions of her experiences
learning Portuguese, and of her identity-related experiences in this language with a focus
on emotions. Findings suggest that the learner’s conceptualisations of her target identity
were imagined and constructed also through corporeal sensations that she experienced
and regarded as being characteristic of her target language identities. In addition, aconnection between past subjective experiences and the learner’s perceptions of foreign
language identities was also found. With this understanding, this paper calls for future
research to expand on this attention to these emotional aspects that, in addition to
linguistic ones, may constitute learners’ aspirations and ideas of target language
identities.

Key-words: identity, foreign language, Portuguese, corporeal sensations, emotions

1 – Introduction
In the emerging days of second language acquisition (SLA) research as a field ofstudy, second language learning was viewed largely as a primarily cognitive experience(Myles, 2013). A few decades later, some researchers called for a more holistic approach

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

to conceptualising second language acquisition which would encompass otherdimensions involved in the processes of learning (Atkinson, 2011; Block, 2003). Today,
for instance, emotions have become the object of much investigation in the field as theaffective characterises one of these interrelated dimensions. Diverse methods,
approaches, and perspectives have been employed to explore the role of emotions in
informingandinfluencing

second-language-learning

experiences.

Of

course,considering the significance and complexity of the relationship between emotions andsecond language learning, it should be of no surprise that research on this topic
continues to grow quickly and to pose new challenges to the field.
A number of SLA researchers now consider the affective to be an integral dimensionof learning, and to influence the second-language-learning experiences of learners invery dynamic ways. An emotion such as anxiety, the focus of much early research (e.g.
Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986; Krashen, 1985), can play both positive and negativeroles in influencing the outcomes of second-language-learning experiences; yet, it does
not affect every learner in the same manner or to the same extent. Still, early insights
into the ways in which emotions might affect second language learning stemmed
exclusively from the classroom context, and reflected cognitive-focused perspectives of
SLA without meaningful reference to the social dimension of learning (Phillips, 1991;
Swain, 2013; Young, 1990).
Inevitably, as emotions influence the second-language-learning experience, they also
impact the development and enactment of learners’ identities in the second language,
both in and outside the language classroom (Morita, 2004). Identity development in asecond language is in itself complex, evoking and influenced by the affective in addition
to various other aspects that help constitute one’s identity, such as race, ethnicity,
gender, age, and sexuality. However, in the SLA literature, the embodied experience hasreferred to the interplay between cognition and psychological feelings, consequently
rendering the contribution of corporeal (physical) sensations to the experience noticeably
less explored. Moreover, as Kinginger (2013) has argued, insights into identity-related
experiences in the second language continue to be overwhelmingly dominated byresearch concerning English as either the second or foreign language.

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

1.1 – This study
This study aims to contribute to SLA research by expanding our knowledge of therelationship between emotions, foreign language learning, and identity. One Canadian
adult learner of Portuguese describes her foreign-language-learning-related experienceswith a focus on emotions. In doing so, she reveals her perceptions of the ways in which
emotions and corporeal sensations (e.g. gustation, audition, sight) played a role in
influencing the outcomes of her foreign language learning and foreign language identityrelated experiences. To better analyse and discuss the findings, this study draws upon
two relevant concepts of Vygotskyan sociocultural theory (SCT): perezhivanie andregulation, and on the framework of construals of the self for understanding emotional
experiences as culturally influenced. This study is guided by the following questions: (1)what role does emotion play in informing and shaping the learner’s foreign language
learning experiences? and (2) in what ways do emotions and corporeal sensations
contribute to learners’ identity-related experiences in the foreign language?

2 – Theoretical frameworks
2.1 – Emotions within language learning through sociocultural theory
From a Vygotskyan SCT stance, an individual’s development of their cognitive
functions occurs through social interactions and with the assistance of culturallyproduced artefacts, whether material or symbolic (Swain, Kinnear, & Steinman, 2015).
In this theory, language is considered one of many culturally-constructed symbolic
artefacts which mediate mental functions. Yet, ‘language’ (i.e. speech) is also a mental
function in itself. In the context of foreign language learning, the acquisition of language– the cognitive processing of speech – unfolds through social interaction and issymbolically mediated through one or more cultural linguistic codes (e.g. through one’s
dominant or target language).
Many concepts stemming from sociocultural theory have lent themselves tohypothesising and challenging SLA research. Considering the focus of this study, two ofthese concepts have been applied: first, the concept of regulation. Briefly speaking, in
SCT, developmental and behavioural experiences are understood to be regulated andto occur in stages (Lantolf, Thorne, & Poehner, 2015). In the first stage – objectregulation – objects regulate mental functioning, as in using wooden blocks to help
mentally process calculation. In the second stage – other-regulation – mental functioning
depends on the assistance of individuals, normally more skilled than the learner him- or

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

herself. As development progresses over time, an individual reaches the last stage: selfregulation. In this stage, the individual is able to regulate an experience by him- or
herself. Although normally presented in sequential stages, depending on the complexityof a task or experience, learners may not move through this continuum linearly. With thisunderstanding, regulation is employed to analyse learners’ perceptions of their foreign
language learning and identity-related experiences.
The second relevant concept is perezhivanie (plural: perezhivaniya). Because of thecomplex meaning behind this Russian term, no direct equivalent term in English has
been proposed, hence the continuous use of the term in its original language. According
to Blunden’s ‘translation’ (2016), “perezhivaniya have a beginning, a middle, and an end;
they are events, episodes, activities, happenings or experiences in which people are
active participants” (p. 275). Each perezhivanie is an inter-related unit in one’s life –whether positive or negative, big or small – which has contributed in some significant
and memorable manner to the individual’s personality development and life history. Whatis particular to this term is that in addition to it being a lived emotional experience, it also
encompasses the working-through of this experience. To exemplify, losing a loved one
is a perezhivanie, since both the loss and the working-through of that loss (e.g. grieving)
constitute two essential, inter-connected sides of the same experience. Therefore, theworking-through of some perezhivaniya may take years to conclude, and to somethinkers, it may also require the assistance of a more experienced other, such a therapist,
to reach its conclusion. Blunden (2016) explained that many scholars regard
perezhivaniya as “a unity of affect and intellect” (p. 278) because one’s cognitive
development directly affects his or her emotional development, and vice-versa, as the
product of each concluded experience. Blunden (2016) explained the significance ofmemorable episodes to one’s sense of self in light of this theory:
Perezhivaniya are the units or chapters of one’s autobiography, the episodes
that stand out in the memory from the background of one’s life, and having been
worked over by you and told and retold (to yourself or others), and “coded” inlanguage and images, become meaningful. Together perezhivaniya form thebasis of who you are: not just what happened to you, but what you did, what you
made of your life, in the context of the life-projects to which you were committed
and that made the event life-changing and emotion-charged, how you worked
over them and gave them meaning (p. 278).

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

2.2 – Construals of the self
The expression and perception of emotions by different cultural groups has been
explored in interdisciplinary approaches by scholars in psychology, anthropology, andlinguistics (Berry, 2002; Nisbett, 2004; Pavlenko, 2005; Samovar et al., 2012). The
seminal work of Markus and Kitayama (1991) has illuminated our understanding of thesystematic ways in which cultural groups express and perceive emotions by focusing on
construals of the self. By this light, various aspects of cognition and emotion are viewed
as partially mechanised in response to how individuals conceptualise the self, the other,and the relationship between the two in different societies around the world. The scholars
drew on American and Japanese societies to broadly exemplify two conceptualisationsof the self: the independent and the interdependent.
For the independent construal of the self – more commonly labelled “individualistic”– the inner aspects of the self are seen as detached from or unaligned with those ofothers, and are therefore representative of interests of the independent individual alone.
These inner aspects (e.g. individual desires, preferences, abilities) function as regulatorsof the behaviour of the independent self. On the other hand, for the interdependent
construal of the self - also referred to as “collectivist” – one’s inner aspects intersect withthose of others. In this sense, the behaviours and attitudes of the interdependent self
primarily reflect those formed by and within the self-and-other relationship, thus fosteringa more meaningful sense of the self for the individual when the self is a member of alarger, inter-connected social unit; this does not, however, signify the interdependent
individual lacks an individually unique set of inner aspects of the self.
Markus and Kitayama (1991) then suggest that the expression of emotions is
performed in relation to the culturally-regulated position of the self within a particularsocial interaction. In such contexts, private feelings may be overtly expressed, orbackgrounded for the sake of a harmonious interaction: “For those with independent
selves, emotional expressions may literally “express” or reveal the inner feelings suchas anger, sadness, and fear. For those with interdependent selves, however, anemotional expression may be more often regarded as a public instrumental action that
may or may not be related directly to the inner feelings” (p. 236).

3 – Emotions and foreign language learning
Learning a foreign language is a very emotional experience. Whether it is the journeyof learning through instruction – situated, for example, within the classroom – or theexperience of naturalistically using the foreign language in target contexts, it is not

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

uncommon that both processes should evoke a wide range of emotions in the learner.
In turn, these emotional experiences can influence the language learning experience
positively or negatively. However, contrary to the belief that negative emotions andemotional experiences such as frustration and embarrassment necessarily prevent
language acquisition or de-motivate a learner to continue learning, these experiences
may actually result in productive and successful learning outcomes at times (Imai, 2010;
Santiago, 1993).
Indeed, the famous case study of Schmidt learning Portuguese in Brazil anddocumenting his daily learning experiences with classmates and interactions with local
Brazilians in his journal reveals a diverse range of emotions that characterised his overall
experience. These encompassed frustration, eagerness, embarrassment, satisfaction,
annoyance, exhaustion, euphoria, discouragement, stimulation, gladness, surprise,
nervousness, and a sense of feeling lost and strange (Schmidt & Frota, 1986). Schmidt
reported that his feeling of frustration – which resulted from his continuous inability to
proficiently carry a casual conversation in Portuguese early on – motivated him to further
invest in learning the language in and outside the classroom, even though there might
not have been a realistic need for him to do so considering most of his colleagues spoke
fluent English at the university in Rio, his site of work.
From a Vygotskyan sociocultural perspective, affect and cognition form an
inextricable relationship (Vygotsky, 2000). In the context of foreign language learning,
thinking and feeling can together enhance the process and the outcome of learning (delRío & Álvarez, 2002; Swain, Kinnear & Steinman, 2015). After feeling frustrated, Schmidt
felt eager to study and learn more. He reported that, after days into his beginner’s course,
he would answer the instructor’s questions with more advanced vocabulary and syntax
for the class level by cause of his self-teaching, since his goal was to be able to engage
in productive conversational interactions with local Brazilians as fast as possible.
Through a sociocultural analytical lens, the feeling of eagerness and the emotional
experience of frustration may represent the impetus for his cognitive-related language
learning success. Other emotionally negative experiences can be found extensively in
his journal entries; however, these only seemed to inspire him to further his learning.
On several occasions, additionally, Schmidt reported relying on the affective supportof local Brazilians in the form of patience and encouragement for his development ofcomprehension and oral conversational skills in Portuguese. This affective support
played a role in fostering a sense of self-confidence and fluency in him over time. In otherinstances, the cognitive control over speech on the part of local Brazilians, as in

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

deliberatively slowing down the rate of speech, made Schmidt feel welcomed, included,
and supported. When he could not keep up with the level of discourse among intellectual
Brazilians, he would depend on an interlocutor to negotiate him back into theconversation. Paying attention to the needs of others may be therefore construed as aninter-personal dimension of affective-cognitive relationships in SLA-related experiences(Mahn & John-Steiner, 2002).
Analogous to the ways by which emotions can provoke changes to learning processes
and outcomes in the foreign-language (learning) context, they can also impact thelearner’s identity enactment in the dominant language (L1) and identity development in
the foreign language (L2). Emotions and emotional experiences are relational to thelearner’s socially-constructed, foreign-language-based identity (or identities) (e.g. feelinglike a competent, fluent speaker of the foreign language in light of recognition, praise,and encouragement by others), but also to the performance of an identity (or identities)
the speaker has socioculturally constructed in and through the dominant language.
Everett’s (2008) detailed documentation of his linguistic fieldwork with the Amazon’s
indigenous Pirahã community illustrates one of the possible ways in which emotions,foreign language learning, and identity may intersect and, in this particular instance,
clash. Everett experienced internal conflict and uneasiness throughout his journey oflearning the indigenous Pirahã language not because the language was a completely
new code to learn, with new grammatical and phonological rules to be mastered. Rather,
these emotional experiences originated primarily from his encounter with new indigenous
social and cultural values – embedded in and reflected through the Pirahã sociolinguistic
practices – which led him to challenge his own personal values. As a result, Everett
questioned religious, social, and cultural aspects of his dominant identity that he had
acquired from growing up in an English-speaking society.
The complexity of the relationship between emotions and the construction of foreign
language identities has been explored extensively in the SLA research. Relevant to thisstudy is the recognition that a learner’s identity is neither singular nor fixed. Instead, it is
dynamic; constituted of multiple roles; contextually-shaped; socially, linguistically andcollaboratively constructed; and oftentimes, ascribed to the learner by others, although
they can also be claimed by the learners themselves (Duff, 2012; Edwards, 1985;
Kinginger, 2013; Norton, 2010; You, 2016). Learners’ membership into foreign language
social groups may also be interfered with by issues of race, gender, sexuality, age, andethnicity. To capture the complex and multiple constituents of a learner’s identity,
Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004) have defined it as “a dynamic and shifting nexus of400

TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
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multiple subject positions, or identity options, such as mother, accountant, heterosexual,or Latina” (p. 35).
Tavares (2016) analysed a number of studies concerning the linguistic experiencesof speakers of English as a second language in conversational peer interactions inEnglish-medium higher education contexts. On the subject of foreign language identity,
Tavares found that the degree of support offered by interlocutors in the academic setting
contributed critically to how learners perceived themselves in and outside the classroom:
their self-perceptions fluctuated contextually between more or less competent speakers
of English. Furthermore, threats to the identity in the foreign language initiated by peers
provoked a range of negative psychological and psychiatric emotions in the learner,
varying across depression, anxiety, isolation, shyness, embarrassment, and feelings of
exclusion. In this light, as learners’ emotions fluctuate, so do their perceptions of theirown identities, and vice-versa. Findings such as these reinforce our understanding that
foreign language identities are not static, and that their enactment can turn into a very
visceral experience of legitimacy and positionality for the learner.

4 – Methodology
This study sought to explore the inter-relatedness of emotions, foreign language
learning, and identity by drawing on the experiences of an adult learner of Portuguese
as a foreign language in Toronto, Canada. Marta (pseudonym), the study’s participant,
was a multilingual learner whose linguistic repertoire included knowledge of English,
Spanish, and Russian. After immigrating to Canada in her late 20s in the early 2000s,
Marta met her soon-to-be husband, a native of Portugal who had also immigrated to
Canada as an adult. Marta grew up speaking Russian as an L1, and began learning
English as a foreign language in middle school. Additionally, she studied French for three
years in elementary school, and Spanish for one year in high school.
At the time of the study, Marta was in her late 30s and learning beginner’s Portugueseat a post-secondary institution in Toronto. However, prior to the language course in thefall of 2016, Marta had spent two years self-teaching Portuguese through lessons in
textbooks and on the internet. At home, Marta and her husband spoke primarily English.
When practicing her Portuguese at home, Marta relied on her husband for feedback, but
as she progressed in the language through self-teaching, she decided to enroll in thecourse to gain more specialised feedback. Other interactions which afforded her
additional exposure to the language consisted of annual trips to Portugal with her

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

husband to visit his side of the family. In addition to her self-teaching, Marta also reported
drawing on her knowledge of Spanish to make sense of unfamiliar content in Portuguese.
Two semi-structured interviews (Richards, 2009) were conducted to learn about therole of emotions in Marta’s foreign language learning experiences. The interviews lasted
40 minutes on average and were conducted in the winter of 2017, two months after theend of her language course. Data analysis was completed through a three-step process:transcribing, identifying, and categorising. Identifying and categorising the themes
consisted first of what Richards (2009) described as “scribbling down in the margin the
topics covered in the interview. At this stage it does not matter how many or how specificthese [topics] are” (p. 192). A number of topics emerged from the interviews, including
family, marriage, languages, schooling, travelling, and goals. The topics were thengrouped into the broader categories of emotions, language learning, and identity, which
Kelchtermans (1993) referred to as the ‘vertical analysis.’

5 – Findings
5.1 – The influence of family in formal foreign language learning
Several may contribute to an individual’s decision to enroll in classroom-based foreign
language instruction. These factors may include the need to know the language for
employment or academics, the desire to pursue a hobby, or the push to learn based onfamily relations, to cite a few examples. This categorical section describes specificallythe role which family relations played in motivating Marta to learn her respective foreign
language in an instructed learning setting.
As mentioned previously, Marta was married to a Portuguese national who resided in
Canada. Her motivation to learn Portuguese as a foreign language stemmed from thedesire to develop closer family relations:
My husband travels once a year to Portugal for about a month to see his
brothers and sisters. His family members don’t speak English. I knew thateventually I would be visiting them and was hoping that it would be [a] yearly
thing. I wanted to learn Portuguese so I could communicate with them and that’s
the reason I took Portuguese. (Interview 1)

Marta and her husband spoke to each other in English, and to a lesser extent,
Portuguese, especially at home. However, Marta’s preoccupation

was withcommunicating with her in-laws and other extended family members who lived in
Portugal and only spoke Portuguese. She considered the language difference a major

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

obstacle to her communication with and integration into the family. When considering thefrequency in which she and her husband travelled to Portugal for family visits, Marta
decided that investing in classroom-based learning would be beneficial in strengthening
her language skills and, as a consequence, also her family ties.
Language learning for Marta may be better seen from a perspective of heritage
languages (Valdés, 2001) as she developed a personal connection, through family, witha language not normally taught in Canadian schools. Typically, these languages are
spoken in the home fluently by the parents or grandparents, while the children might
possess different proficiency levels gained from infrequent speaking with or listening to
the heritage language speakers. Marta’s case was differentiated by the fact her primary
influence was not only her husband, but also, and perhaps of equal or more weight, hisfamily living in Portugal. For her, the early family-focused interactions in the language,
which she could only minimally understand, led her to pursue formal classes in thelanguage in order to improve her communicative skills.

5.2 – Emotional experiences regulate perceptions of foreign-languagelearning experiences and respective identities, and vice-versa
In the past, Marta’s experiences in Portuguese were regulated by her husband
translating and including her in conversations with his family members. After finishingher Portuguese language course, Marta reported she could regulate her own interactions
more independently. The ability to self-regulate resulted in two positive experiences for
Marta: first, she was better able to feel like a part of the family, in the roles of sister- or
daughter-in-law; and second, the experience evoked feelings of happiness, inclusion,pleasure, and enjoyment. Consequently, these memorable family-related conversational
episodes – or perezhivaniya – had a positive impact on Marta and on her relationshipwith the language, and have contributed to the construction of her (family member)
identity in the foreign language. Marta described her experience speaking Portuguesewith her new family members in a positive light:
When I visited Portugal in January this year, to my surprise I found out that I
understood my new family members approximately about 70 to 80%. It made mevery happy, it was so easy to communicate to them, they felt so comfortable beingaround me… they did not treat me as a foreigner and spoke fluently around me
all the time. It made my trip so pleasurable for me and for my husband because
he did not have to worry about translating to me or feeling bad that I’m being left
out of a conversation or feeling bad that I don’t understand what they are talking

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Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

about and where he would be forced to translate or include me in [a] conversation.
Being able to communicate and to understand made me enjoy being aroundfamily. (Interview 1)

Marta explained how the experiencing of important upcoming family-related events in
Portugal informed her motivation to continue to learn the language. She mentioned
studying the language on a daily basis, even if for brief periods of time, in order to acquire
new knowledge or solidify content she had learned previously and considered relevant
for conversational interactions. The emotional events (e.g. a baptism and a wedding in
the family) in the foreign language are tied to Marta’s enactment of her hoped-for(Portuguese) family identity as they afford her an opportunity to use the language topresent herself from an identity position she would like others to meet her in whilesocialising with guests at the events who, like her in-laws, may only speak Portuguese:
In the end of July until the end of that August [2017], for a month my family isplanning to visit Portugal this year again. I am motivated to learn how to speakPortuguese more fluently so I can enjoy my time with my family members. There’s
going to be a baptism of two kids and a church wedding and there are going to
be a lot of people that I haven’t met before and would like to communicate with.
In order to get better I am practising and learning Portuguese on a daily basis.
Even if it takes 15 minutes a day to learn a few new words or repeat the words
that I’ve learned before, I know it will give me more confidence to speak and makeme understand more. (Interview 2)

One particular family-related experience that has stayed with Marta since its
occurrence illustrates an intersection between emotions, foreign language learning, andidentity that strengthened both affect and intellect. In this experience, Marta’s use of
Portuguese in an intimate conversation with her sister-in-law – which in her view she
could not easily perform prior to the language lessons – played an important role infostering a sense of self-reassurance with respect to her skills in the language and herrole in the family. She made reference to a meaningful, bonding conversational
interaction which included attentive listening, speaking, sympathising, and crying
together with her sister-in-law. In addition to the using the language more proficiently,
Marta felt closer to her extended family through the experience. In turn, the experiencechanged her husband’s perspectives of her proficiency in the language. Initially, Marta
reported he was skeptical of her abilities in Portuguese, but after hearing about the404

TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

experience directly from his sister, who only spoke Portuguese, he felt “amazed” that
Marta was able to engage in a conversation in which sensitive topics were discussed
and deep emotions were shared.
I asked my sister-in-law to give me a tour of the rest of the house. We left thearea where my husband and my brother-in-law were talking and drinking somecoffee, and went across the garage to the second floor of the house. My sisterin-law and I had about 20-minute conversation about her daughter-in-law andsome other things that happened in her life… We talked, we cried, we talked how
life is unfair and how hard it is for her. When we left her house, I spoke to myhusband about the conversation I had with his sister. My husband listened anddid not see much. The next day, when we went to visit his sister, she talked tohim about everything she and I discussed the night before. When we left herhouse, my husband told me: “I am very amazed, I’m stunned, I can’t believe it.”
When I asked him what he is referring to, he told me that his sister told him
everything we talked about the night before. He couldn’t believe his ears because
she said exactly the same thing that I told him the night before and that made him
realize that I understand more that he thought I did. He felt very happy and proudof me and almost not believing that I was able to hold a very deep conversation
with the sister and was able to understand… because in his opinion, Portuguese
is not an easy language to learn. (Interview 2)

These episodes demonstrate a potential relationship between emotions andmotivation. Positive emotional experiences in the foreign language – as in being
recognised and accepted in the immediate foreign language community, which in Marta’s
case was her husband’s immediate and extended family, or in experiencing happinessand enjoyment as a result of either positive learning outcomes or successful interactional
attempts – motivated Marta to continue to want to learn and speak her target language,as generally found in the SLA literature discussed earlier. As for identity, emotions andemotional experiences regulated the perception of the learner’s own identity in theforeign language in proportionate ways. Positive emotions and emotional experiences,such as the one identified above, resulted in positive perceptions, usually of a morecompetent speaker, and of a more tangibly attainable identity in the family constructed
and enacted through the language.

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Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

5.3 – Corporeal sensations influencing foreign language identity
experiences
This category focuses on the role played by corporeal experiences in the learner’s
construction and enactment of her foreign language identity. As Marta described hercharacterisation of her hoped-for foreign language identity, she pointed to direct andsubjective experiences in which not only psychological emotions were experienced, as
elaborated in the previous section, but also those of a corporeal nature. Marta’s
perception concerning some of the traits characteristic of an identity of Portuguese
language speakers was also shaped initially by a subjective, corporeal experience. Thistime, it originated from how the language sounded to her: “beautiful, poetic, smooth, andsexy.”
When I first heard my husband speak to his friend in Portuguese, I liked thelanguage and the way it sounded. I like Romance languages and the way theysound. I studied French in elementary school for four years and I studied Spanishin high school for one year. Portuguese language has some similar words as the
Spanish language, which is in my opinion the sexiest language on earth. Before
I started studying Portuguese and understanding it, I was able to sit in a roomwith people who speak Portuguese and even though I did not understand a word,
it did not bother me because [of] the way [the] Portuguese language sounds toan ear. It’s a beautiful and poetic language. It sounds smooth and sexy. (Interview
2)

In fact, it is not uncommon to find such associations to romance languages andromance language speakers (Karandashev, 2015; Pérez, Fiol, Guzmán, Palmer &Baudes, 2008). For example, in their study with high school students, Williams, Burdenand Lanvers (2002) found that female learners were interested in learning Frenchbecause of how it sounded, considering it the language of love; while male learners
preferred German because they considered German to be the language of logic and to“sound” more masculine. Guttfreund’s analysis (1990) of Spanish-English bilinguals’
language use revealed affection was expressed significantly more in Spanish than it wasin English. Schmidt (Schmidt & Frota, 1986) reacted to the sound of Portuguese while
listening to it on the radio and TV by saying “Portuguese is certainly a beautiful language”(p. 243).

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Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

When describing her views of Portuguese people, Marta mentioned events in which
both the language and the culture were experienced through the emotions and corporeal
sensations of gustation and audition:
Portuguese people, in my opinion, are very kind, down-to-earth people, wholove family get-togethers and enjoy eating food with family and friends. Since I
come from a background that has similar values, that’s why it’s easy andenjoyable to be around Portuguese people for me. Portuguese culture is rich andfilled with long history. It’s famous for its medieval castles, museums and ancientchurch buildings. The music Fado that only exists in Portuguese culture, andSamba [are] different in a good way. (Interview 2)
Marta’s emotional transition into the new family’s cultural dynamics was
unproblematic and rather “easy and enjoyable” because she did not seem to experience
any conflict to her (interdependent) sense of self already in place. In her words, comingfrom a background with “similar [social and cultural] values” allowed her to transitionsmoothly into another culturally-mediated environment where she considered emotional
experiences to be familiar and enjoyable. The unproblematic cultural alignment between
her two cultures—that is, between her home and the Portuguese cultures—allowed her
to focus on the development and improvement of other aspects of her foreign language
experience, such as on the use of language itself and the enactment of her hoped-for
identity.
Corporeal sensations were present in most of Marta’s recollections of her foreignlanguage-learning-related experiences. Whether the mentioning of these associations
was produced unconsciously or otherwise, Marta did refer to experiencing events in theforeign language through corporeal sensations to a noticeable extent: primarily
gustatory, and often around food-sharing moments with her family in Portugal. Indeed,cross-cultural experiences of food sharing or preparing can provide unique insights into
the ways identities of cultural groups are individually and collectively constructed(Almerico, 2014; Hayes-Conroy, 2010; Hayes-Conroy, 2014; Kittler, Sucher & Nelms,
2012; Sutton, 2001).
Therefore, corporeal sensations not only helped characterise the foreign language
learning experience, but also extended into identity development and enactment in theforeign language. Perceptions of an enacted identity in the foreign language involved a
direct attention to the linguistic—for instance, how native speakers of Portuguesesounded or the correct sentence structure—and to the emotional, as in how Marta

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TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

subjectively characterised the foreign language and culture (e.g. “kind and down-to-earth
people”). Yet, identity experiences involved also an awareness of corporeal sensations:the sound of the local music, the taste of the typical food, the temperature of the local
weather—corporeal sensations that, to the learner, represented experiencescharacteristic of the target identity. In this light, perceptions of foreign language identities
may then involve an attention to corporeal sensations because these perceptions are
imagined and constructed through these sensations. Lastly, Marta’s experiences point
to a direct connection between her past, memorable experiences – perezhivaniya – andher foreign language identity perceptions. Therefore, to more adequately understandhow foreign language learners conceptualise broader cultural identities and who they
hope to become, it may be useful to consider the past emotional and corporeal
experiences in which they participated in the foreign language.

6 – Conclusion
This study sought to explore the influence of emotions in the foreign-languagelearning and identity experiences of one Canadian adult learner of Portuguese as aforeign language. A construals-of-the-self framework and sociocultural theory’s conceptsof regulation and perezhivanie were employed to understand the learner’s cross-culturaland emotional language-focused experiences. In addition to the role of psychologicalemotions, this study also considered the role of corporeal sensations: in, on, or throughthe body.
The experiences of the learner in this study support a complex theory of SLA
characterised by interconnected dimensions, which include the affective. As Fleer andcolleagues (2017) have noted, Vygotskyan sociocultural theory has always approachedcognitive and affective processes as inseparable, even if this inextricable relationshipwas left unsophisticatedly explored in the early days of SCT theory. In the accounts of
the learner’s experiences presented in this paper, emotions and emotional experiences
informed the course of the language learning experience in cyclical and corresponding
ways: positive learning experiences resulted in positive emotions, and the opposite wasalso true. This finding is consistent with the literature reviewed early on in this paper.
With specific reference to identity in the foreign language, the learner’s experiences
help strengthen the theoretical foundation upon which this study was built: that identity
is a complex, multifaceted, and dynamic nexus for foreign language learners.
Experiences within and around this identity nexus are informed by distinct factors – inthis paper emotions are the focus factor. . A reading of the learner’s experiences also408

TAVARES, Vander – The inter-relatedness of emotion, language learning and identity.
Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

suggests that, despite her linguistic progress emotions and emotional experiences
seemed to regulate her perception of one aspect that may for some be an indispensable
part of their identity in the foreign language – that of linguistic competency – rather thantheir actual competency (Swain et al, 2015). However, when thinking of the influence ofemotions on identity-related experiences, it is essential to consider also the role ofcorporeal sensations as emotions go beyond the psychological but may seem lesssubjective given the discursive ways in which emotions are “labelled” in relation to theself: we feel psychological emotions (e.g. tiredness, embarrassment, anxiety,confidence, joy), but do not reference corporeal sensations in the same way: the music
is loud, the sun is hot, the food is sour, and so on; even though corporeal sensations arealso felt and experienced in, on, and through the body – gustation, warm weather, anddigestion to cite a few.
Therefore, corporeal sensations may also be present, implicitly or explicitly, inlearners’ foreign-language-identity-related experiences. They may be present in two
temporal instances: the present – corporeal experiences learners experience whilelearning a language in the present time which have direct influence on theirconceptualisations of target language identities – or the (distant) past, which may thendemonstrate the existence of a connection between perezhivaniya and (imagined or
hoped-for) foreign language identities: past experiences influence identity experiences,
conceptualisations, and enactment. In this sense, corporeal sensations, in addition topsychological ones, also co-constitute the basis for perezhivaniya. A past andmeaningful emotional experience – a perezhivanie – such as an intense sensation in theforeign language (environment), is also experienced and constructed through corporeal
sensations, even if felt but unacknowledged, unlike the way psychological sensations
may be more frequently expressed (or linguistically performed) by different culturalgroups (see Bamberg, 1997; Markus & Kitayama, 1991, for more discussion).
This study is based on the perceptions of the learner’s on the relationship between
emotions, foreign language learning, and identity-related experiences, and did not
examine other factors that might have directly influenced her experiences, such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and knowledge of other languages in close relation to her
respective foreign language of study. Future research can explore these and otheraspects. Finally, the importance of continuing to include less traditional or under-exploreddimensions of learning in SLA research, such as the affective, should not be
underestimated, as these contribute to the development of a more holistic understanding
and representation of the foreign language learning and identity experiences for learners.

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Para lá da tarefa: implicar os estudantes na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no ensino superior.
Porto: FLUP, 2019, pp. 394-413
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21747/9789898969217/paraa22

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