The impact of altruism on the emotions and English summary writing skills of L2 learners: An intervention study in light of positive psychology

Abstract

According to positive psychology (PP), positive emotions contribute to language learning by helping learners recognize their strengths and overcome obstacles. One form of PP is altruism (altruistic teaching), which requires teaching without self-focus. The present study aimed to investigate how altruism affects the emotions and second language (L2) summary writing skills of Iranian L2 learners, drawing on an experimental (comparison group, pretest–posttest) design within a sequential explanatory design. The participants of the study were 130 Iranian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) with B1 general English language proficiency who were assigned to one intervention and one comparison group, and underwent the intervention and control intervention, respectively. Both the intervention and control intervention involved an instructional program of 12 sessions on summary writing with one teacher. What distinguished the intervention from the control intervention was that each student in the intervention group was supposed to teach for one hour one peer what they learned about English summary writing out of altruism. Analysis of the data showed that altruism has a positive instructional influence on the L2 summary writing skills of L2 learners by promoting their self-esteem, gratitude, connectedness and community, happiness, and compassion. The article ends with implications for research and practice in second language acquisition (SLA) and PP.

The Impact of Altruistic Teaching on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners’ Emotion Regulation: An Intervention Study

“…That is, to prosper in different aspects of life, such as language learning, an individual (1) needs to invest emotionally, (2) be highly engaged in the activity, (3) be connected to others, (4) find meaning in life, (5) and achieve accomplishments. Altruistic teaching leads to people’s well-being by enhancing positive emotions such as enjoyment, compassion, empathy, devotion, self-esteem, gratitude, bonding, and connectedness, consistent with the results of this study and those of others [ 22 , 23 , 26 ], which necessitates exerting control over one’s emotions. Additionally, altruistic teaching leads to a high level of engagement with language learning tasks and people [ 23 ].…”

“…Among these elements, emotion, empathy, meaning, motivation, agency, autonomy, character strengths, self-efficacy, self-concept, self-esteem, and self-regulation are most relevant to altruistic teaching. Learners who undergo altruistic teaching are capable of managing their emotions; show empathic emotions towards others; find motivation and meaning in assisting others; are agents of their own actions and emotions; reach autonomy by teaching instead of just learning; find out about their character strengths by teaching others; are self-efficacious; develop self-concepts of their abilities; show high self-esteem; and are able to self-regulate their cognition, emotion, motivation, and learning [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 26 ].…”

“…More importantly, as it involves constant control and evaluation of one’s emotions, it is likely to impact learners’ emotion regulation. In this respect, Zare, Aqajani, and Derakhshan [ 22 ] explored the impact of altruistic teaching on learners’ emotions and summary writing skills, drawing on an experimental (comparison group, pre-test–post-test) and sequential explanatory design. The results of their analyses with 130 Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners pointed to a positive instructional influence on their emotions and summary writing skills by enhancing their self-esteem, gratitude, connectedness and community, happiness, and compassion.…”

“…As pointed out by Buragohain and Senapati [ 28 ], altruistic teaching enables students to pay more attention to their classmates, form strong bonds with them, and develop a sense of belonging. This is why altruistic teaching directs learners toward pleasant emotions such as enjoyment, happiness, and fulfillment [ 22 , 28 ]. Despite the importance of altruistic teaching in educational environments and its salience in PP, a limited number of investigations have been conducted on this variable and its possible outcomes.…”

“…Despite the importance of altruistic teaching in educational environments and its salience in PP, a limited number of investigations have been conducted on this variable and its possible outcomes. The results of previous inquiries [ 22 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ] uncovered that altruistic teaching has significant, favorable impacts on teachers, learners, and academic outcomes.…”