Advances in the psychology of the language teacher and the language learner

Dear Colleagues,

The field of second/foreign language education, as a whole, is complicated due to the interaction of countless factors, the most important of which are related to teachers’ and students’ psychology, emotions, and interaction. The psychology of language education, however, has long been confined to “learner psychology” due to to learner-centered movements in the field. Although it is understandable to strongly focus on learners, teachers’ emotions, cognitions, beliefs, motivation, values, identity, and many other psycho-emotional factors are of equal importance. Both teachers and students are significant stakeholders in language education, and their sense of well-being and psychological health determine the success of a program. Now, teacher and learner psychology are intermingled as a result of ‘contagion’ that stresses interpersonal psychology and the concurrent psychological transfer between teachers and students. This concept draws on insights from various aspects of neuroscience, such as reciprocity, mirror neurons, theory of mind, and brain coupling. So far, it is clear that both teachers and learners are active agents and recipients of behavioral experiences in the classroom, whose rapport determines the quality of classroom life and success. However, it is unclear what factors mediate the relationship between teacher psychology and learner psychology.

Constructs such as motivation, self-efficacy, burnout, autonomy, intelligence, anxiety, stress, etc., have long dominated the limelight in comparison to positive emotions (e.g., love, engagement, enjoyment, stroke, etc.) that flourished in positive psychology. Furthermore, cognitive perspectives have been the sole theoretical lens for interpreting the data in this field. However, in recent years, social perspectives and complexity theories have been implemented to examine different aspects of the psychology of language education.

This Special Issue aims to collect research studies inspecting novel perspectives in teacher and learner psychology. Original papers, conceptual papers, mini reviews, systematic reviews, opinions, and meta-analyses are welcome. With respect to research design, we are seeking large-scale quantitative studies, in-depth qualitative studies, and mixed-methods research. In gathering their data, scholars are recommended to use instruments such as intervention, questionnaires, semi-structured and focus group interviews, audio journal writing, narrative frames, audio and video diary writing, think-aloud protocols, and observations.

We are seeking research studies which benefit from new approaches and perspectives in collecting and analyzing data concerning both teacher psychology and learner psychology and their contributing factors. To this end, emerging trends include systems-informed psychology (SIP), psychologies in online settings, ‘Time Series Analysis (TSA)’, ‘Ecological Dynamic Systems Theory’, ‘Latent Profile Analysis (LPA)’, and ‘Idiodynamic Method’. Future studies may also utilize Ecological Momentary Assessment, Experience Sampling Method, Relational Theory, Retrodictive Qualitative Modeling, Social Network Analysis, and Latent Growth Curve Models. Furthermore, the dyadic and contagious nature of psycho-emotional factors related to teachers and students and their process tracing and ergodicity can be explored by enthusiastic scholars. The role of globalization and the internationalization of English in relation to teacher and learner may also be considered. In addition, cross-cultural studies can be conducted to unveil the role of multinational and multicultural contexts on psycho-emotional and cognitive factors involved in English language education.

Potential topics include (but are not limited to):

• The relationship between teacher psychology and learner psychology across times and contexts;
• The applications of complexity theory to EFL/ESL teachers’ psychological states;
• The applications of complexity theory to EFL/ESL students’ psychological states;
• The role of neurons and neurology in language teacher/learner psychology;
• Cross-cultural investigations of different constructs related to language teacher/learner psychology;
• The use of novel methods and approaches to collect and analyze data in studies on language teacher/learner psychology;
• The contribution of treatment and training courses in fostering positive emotions and curbing negative ones;
• Different stakeholders’ perspectives of the barriers and challenges of various psycho-emotional factors in L2 education.
• The emotioncy level of EFL/ESL teachers and students in light of different psychological factors.
• The impact of neuroscience and emotioncy on EFL/ESL teachers’ and students’ self-regulation strategies.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Ali Derakhshan
Guest Editor

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