Emotioncy: a post-linguistic approach toward vocabulary learning and retention

Abstract

Inspired by the Developmental Individual-difference Relationship-based (DIR) model of first language acquisition and Emotion-Based Language Instruction (EBLI) in bilingual education, the current study explores the function of emotioncy as an effective benchmark for vocabulary teaching. In particular, it attempts to empirically extend the earlier work on emotioncy, investigate learners' vocabulary development, and draw a link between learners' emotioncy and their diverse socio-economic backgrounds. In order to do this, 45 English language learners were selected from schools located within various regions of Mashhad, Iran with high, mid and low socio-economic status. Thereafter, a list of 21 vocabulary items was taught to them during 4 successive sessions. At each session, 7 words were presented to the learners and finally their retention was examined by means of immediate and delayed tests. To analyse the data, MANOVA was run to detect the likely influence of emotioncy on learners' ability of vocabulary learning and retention. Subsequently, ANOVA was employed to determine the probable discrepancies among the three groups of learners. Lastly, Pearson Product Moment Correlation was utilised to investigate possible correlations between learners' tests and their level of emotioncy, English score and overall GPA. The findings indicated that learners from the high socio-economic class outperformed their counterparts from the mid or low social class, concluding that learners' economic/social/cultural capital significantly determines their degree of emotioncy. Furthermore, the learners' emotional competencies surpassed their cognitive abilities in accounting for their general vocabulary learning success. Finally, some suggestions and implications were provided within the realms of vocabulary learning and language education.

Toward an Emotioncy Based Education: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Additionally, the reviewed studies in English language teaching revealed that emotioncy has received more attention than the other five fields. The researched topics ranged from language skills (i.e., willingness to read, willingness to communicate, readability measurement, vocabulary retention) (see Pishghadam and Shayesteh, 2016 ; Shahian et al, 2017 ; Borsipour et al, 2019 ; Makiabadi, 2020 ) to life syllabus (Shakeebaee, 2020 ), emotionalization (Shakeebaee et al, 2017 ), teacher emotional labor and teacher burnout (Momenzadeh, 2020 ), test bias (Pishghadam et al, 2017a ), emo-sensory capital (Pishghadam et al, 2018a ) and Emotion-based language instruction (Pishghadam et al, 2013 ). There is abundant room for future studies on other areas of English language teaching, particularly other language skills, in light of emotioncy study.…”

“…This shift could be both forward and backward along with the emotioncy continuum levels. For example, someone involved in a task might get exvolved or metavolved with time (Pishghadam and Shayesteh, 2016 ). Hence, human socialization processes and internal and external mandates could influence their emotioncy levels in one way or another.…”

Developing New Software to Analyze the Emo-‎Sensory Load of Language

“…For example, Rodriguez-Esteban and Rzhetsky (2008) showed the dominance of a sensedeprived style in biomedical texts by analyzing more than 250000 articles. Moreover, individuals` perspectives of reality and outlook on the future can be influenced by their emotions and sensory inputs from their surroundings (Pishghadam & Shayesteh, 2016). Existing senses are primarily responsible for their connections to themselves, other persons, and other organisms (Pishghadam & Shakeebaee, 2020).…”

Multisensory Input Modulates P200 and L2 Sentence Comprehension: A One-Week Consolidation Phase

“…Following Pishghadam et al (2021b) and Shayesteh et al (2020) , we elaborated on the meaning and features of the selected items in a session we called the instruction session. To control the weight of senses in giving the instructions, we relied on previous behavioral (e.g., Pishghadam and Abbasnejad, 2016 ; Pishghadam and Shayesteh, 2016 ; Pishghadam et al, 2018 ) and electrophysiological ( Shayesteh et al, 2020 ; Pishghadam et al, 2021a , b ) studies and used Pishghadam (2016) sensory-based model of emotioncy (emotion + frequency) which exclusively illustrates different combinations of senses. The model sets the ground for discriminating a blend of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile senses (coined as exvolvement) from a combination of auditory, visual, kinesthetic/tactile, olfactory, and gustatory modalities (coined as involvement).…”