In addressing the recent special issue in Frontiers in Psychology, namely “Positive Psychology in Foreign and Second Language Education: Approaches and Applications,” calling language education researchers around the globe to study positive emotions, positive personality traits, and positive institutional tendencies and their implications for language education systems, stakeholders, and policy practices, the present conceptual review paper aims to acquaint language education researchers, practitioners, instructors, and learners with the main tenets of positive psychology and their application in second/foreign language (L2) education research. Accordingly, by drawing on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, we explain how individuals' positivity can result in their flourishment and development in any aspect of life, including L2 learning and teaching. Then, we introduce and conceptualize seven instances of positive psychology variables, namely academic engagement, emotion regulation, enjoyment, grit, loving pedagogy, resilience, and well-being and explain how these positive factors contribute to desirable L2 learning and teaching experiences. Subsequently, potential theoretical and pedagogical implications are drawn to enhance the quality and effectiveness of language education systems and their respective stakeholders. In the end, the limitations of the studies in this area are explicated, and suggestions for future research are provided to expand the extant literature on positive psychology in the domain of L2 education.

This study aimed to validate a newly‐developed instrument, The Writing Strategies for Self‐Regulated Learning (SRL) Questionnaire, with respect to its multifaceted structure of SRL strategies in English as a foreign language (EFL) writing. A total of 790 undergraduate students from 6 universities in Northeast China volunteered to be participants. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) through structural equation modeling (SEM) were applied to evaluate 3 hypothesized models. The results of the CFA validated a 9‐factor correlated model of second language (L2) writing strategies for SRL with satisfactory psychometric characteristics. Model comparisons confirmed a hierarchical, multidimensional structure of SRL as the best model, in which self‐regulation, as a higher order construct, accounted for the correlations of the 9 lower‐order writing strategies, pertaining to cognitive, metacognitive, social–behavioral, and motivational regulation aspects. Multiple regression analysis revealed that 6 out of 9 SRL strategies had significant predictive effects on EFL writing proficiency. The empirical evidence lends preliminary support to a transfer of SRL theory from educational psychology to the field of L2/EFL education, particularly L2/EFL writing. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The sudden global outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019 has led to thriving online teaching, including the teaching of languages, across the world. As the online teaching of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) in Chinese universities is facing new challenges, EFL teachers have been positively exploring new solutions. To understand how EFL teachers were coping with the challenges, we set up this research as part of a larger study to examine EFL teachers' cognitions about online teaching in response to the disruption of normal teaching plans. We did so by taking a qualitative approach through analyzing in-depth interviews with three EFL teachers from a Chinese university. Through thematic analysis we found that teachers had clear cognitions about features, advantages, and constraints of online EFL teaching and that they acquired information and communication technology (ICT) literacy through understanding students' learning needs, online teaching practice, and the necessity of integrating traditional classroom teaching methods into online delivery. We conclude this study with a discussion on its pedagogical implications for similar contexts or colleagues facing similar challenges in other parts of the world.

No abstract