Learning Spanish online : emotions and identity in role-play settings : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Second Language Teaching, Massey University

This study focuses on the dynamic interaction between the learner, the context, and the target language using as its framework the learner-context interface model (White 1999, 2003, 2005; White, Direnzo & Bortolotto, 2016). The research considers the online learning context as social, collaborative, interactive and dynamic. Using Spanish as the target language, the analysis is guided by one research question: How do emotions and identity contribute to the construction of the learner-context interface in online Spanish role-plays? Data for this research was gathered from a series of voluntary, non-assessed Adobe Connect online technology role-play sessions for Intermediate Spanish distance students at Massey University in New Zealand, and from two Stimulated recall interviews, where the use of the web-cam became significant for the analysis. The data set consisted of Stimulated recall sessions, students’ questionnaires and diaries, and a teacher’s journal. The four role-play sessions took place over a period of two weeks: two sessions of one hour duration each week. Four students participated and all of them had at least an intermediate level of competence in the Spanish language, as well as previous experience in online learning settings. Making use of the rich data collected the study records and analyses the moment-by-moment interactive emergence of emotions -with salience of humour- and identities and how these impact L2 (second language) learning in a technology-mediated L2 classroom. Insights from this research will offer a contribution to the growing study of emotions in L2 learning, as well as to the study of the complex dynamics of identity and language learning, particularly in relation to role-play settings

“To Teach and Delight”? Emotions and second language acquisition: onsite and online practices

Sir Philip Sidney’s words quoted in the title envisaged the general all-encompassing idea that teaching and learning should go hand in hand with positive emotions. Several education experts have pointed out that emotions are directly associated with and affect learning performance. Emotion and cognition are strongly interrelated processes, meaning that thought is imbued with emotion and vice versa. In a learning context, motivation, the direction of attention, the stored contents and how they will be understood and retrieved will be influenced by an emotional component. Therefore, students’ emotional state and learning are strongly intertwined. In the case of second language acquisition, feelings and emotions assume particular relevance, as has been amply demonstrated. Language influences how we think, interact, apprehend our surroundings, and feel and express our emotions. The alterity produced (and that underlies) communication in a second language contains a vast number of emotions, both positive and negative, which are also present in a classroom, whether onsite or online. Garrett & Young (2009), Bown & White (2010), Lopez & Aguilar (2013), among others, demonstrated the determining role of emotions and theoretical analysis of their importance in understanding bi- and/or plurilingualism. Studies on online second language acquisition using synchronous communication concluded that sets of positive emotions, with corresponding negative emotions, might be relevant to learning, namely anxiety- confidence, boredom – fascination, frustration – euphoria, and discouragement – enthusiasm. This paper aims to identify the emotional state of second language students in an online (e-learning) environment (totally asynchronous) and to analyse whether there are differences between the emotions experienced in a face-to-face learning model and an online learning system. It is also the purpose of our paper to detect any emotional variations according to gender and age. A questionnaire with two Likert scales (Well-being and Emotional discomfort) was applied in two higher education institutions for data collection. The results clarify any requirements on adjusting classroom dynamics, teacher-student interaction and teaching methodologies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sentiment cascades in the 15M movement

Recent grassroots movements have suggested that online social networks might play a key role in their organization, as adherents have a fast, many-to-many, communication channel to help coordinate their mobilization. The structure and dynamics of the networks constructed from the digital traces of protesters have been analyzed to some extent recently. However, less effort has been devoted to the analysis of the semantic content of messages exchanged during the protest. Using the data obtained from a microblogging service during the brewing and active phases of the 15M movement in Spain, we perform the first large scale test of theories on collective emotions and social interaction in collective actions. Our findings show that activity and information cascades in the movement are larger in the presence of negative collective emotions and when users express themselves in terms related to social content. At the level of individual participants, our results show that their social integration in the movement, as measured through social network metrics, increases with their level of engagement and of expression of negativity. Our findings show that non-rational factors play a role in the formation and activity of social movements through online media, having important consequences for viral spreading.Comment: EPJ Data Science vol 4 (2015) (forthcoming

An Agent-Based Model of Collective Emotions in Online Communities

We develop a agent-based framework to model the emergence of collective emotions, which is applied to online communities. Agents individual emotions are described by their valence and arousal. Using the concept of Brownian agents, these variables change according to a stochastic dynamics, which also considers the feedback from online communication. Agents generate emotional information, which is stored and distributed in a field modeling the online medium. This field affects the emotional states of agents in a non-linear manner. We derive conditions for the emergence of collective emotions, observable in a bimodal valence distribution. Dependent on a saturated or a superlinear feedback between the information field and the agent's arousal, we further identify scenarios where collective emotions only appear once or in a repeated manner. The analytical results are illustrated by agent-based computer simulations. Our framework provides testable hypotheses about the emergence of collective emotions, which can be verified by data from online communities.Comment: European Physical Journal B (in press), version 2 with extended introduction, clarification

Emotional persistence in online chatting communities

How do users behave in online chatrooms, where they instantaneously read and write posts? We analyzed about 2.5 million posts covering various topics in Internet relay channels, and found that user activity patterns follow known power-law and stretched exponential distributions, indicating that online chat activity is not different from other forms of communication. Analysing the emotional expressions (positive, negative, neutral) of users, we revealed a remarkable persistence both for individual users and channels. I.e. despite their anonymity, users tend to follow social norms in repeated interactions in online chats, which results in a specific emotional "tone" of the channels. We provide an agent-based model of emotional interaction, which recovers qualitatively both the activity patterns in chatrooms and the emotional persistence of users and channels. While our assumptions about agent's emotional expressions are rooted in psychology, the model allows to test different hypothesis regarding their emotional impact in online communication.Comment: 34 pages, 4 main and 12 supplementary figure