Assessing EFL Learners' Ability to Express Emotions Linguistically as a Means of Improving their Communication Skills and Cultural Literacy

Resumen

This research examines Second Language Acquisition (SLA) issues, especially theaffective dimension of language in the process of teaching and learning English as aforeign language (EFL) in formal instruction contexts. Considering the limitedcommunicative and pragmatic competence of learners of a second language (L2) informal educational settings and students’ frustration at the inability to makethemselves understood in the new language, the main aim of this study is to find outwhether EFL learners have a linguistic repertoire to express their feelingsappropriately as this lack can impoverish their intercultural communication skillsby making them unprepared to talk about emotions they perceive and experiencethemselves (Dewaele, 2015; Gabrys-Barker & Bielska, 2013; Piasecka, 2013).Subjects will be first-year undergraduate students, at B2 level according to theCommon European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), taking a degreein English Studies at the University of Salamanca (Spain) during the first term of the academic course 2016-2017. The instrument of data collection will be aquestionnaire written in English, with different emotionally loaded situations. Theparticipants will have to write what they would say if they experienced such asituation (Piasecka, 2013). The data will be analysed quantitatively and qualitatively.The results of the study will reveal to what extent the participants at B2 level areable to decode and express linguistically the emotions described in the situationsfrom the questionnaire. The results will also provide the teacher’s with valuableinsights about which weaknesses need to be overcome during the English lessonsthroughout the course. Furthermore, testing EFL students’ familiarity with emotionallanguage will favour the gradual development of their cultural literacy in theforeign language, which is regarded as necessary for interpersonal communicationin everyday contexts.