Verbal communication of emotion in foreign language and intercultural learning

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K21980
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0102:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Toyo University
• Principal Investigator: Sandu Roxana 東洋大学, 国際観光学部, 講師 (90637638)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: emotion expression / intercultural / foreign language

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aimed to determine how English language learners from various cultural backgrounds verbally communicate their emotions. Carefully selected emotion-eliciting videos were shown to various groups of students and their reactions, as well as their follow-up interactions were recorded. The results revealed that participants experienced a range of emotions while watching the videos, but they refrained from reactive responses. While most participants have knowledge of various emotion words, few actually used expressive language to communicate their emotions. Most participants chose not to verbally express their emotions while watching the videos. These results could indicate both a lack of formal instruction regarding expressive linguistic forms, and a lack of everyday socialization in English.

Free Research Field

intercultural pragmatics

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

Communicating emotions in an intercultural setting may be challenging. This study suggests teaching expressive language for use in various settings and encouraging greater exposure to L2 through authentic media materials, will allow students to observe expressive language in diverse contexts.