A Positive Psychology Perspective on Positive Emotion and Foreign Language Enjoyment Among Chinese as a Second Language Learners Attending Virtual Online Classes in the Emergency Remote Teaching Context Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study adopted a positive psychology perspective to investigate positive emotion and foreign language enjoyment among Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners in an emergency remote teaching (ERT) context amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A set of 90 preparatory Chinese language students (40 males and 50 females) was assessed for their level of foreign language enjoyment using the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale (FLES). Participles' scores on self-perceived language achievement and actual test scores were adopted as the measurement of their Chinese language proficiency. The results revealed that: (1) CSL learners experienced high level of FL enjoyment in an online learning context, (2) no significant correlation was found between FLE and leaners' actual language achievement nor between FLE and their self-perceived achievement, (3) female learners showed higher FLE than male learners and gender was found to have a significant effect on FLE-Private, (4) participants' geological location, i.e., whether in China or at home countries, significantly influenced their FLE, (5) participants' regional group was not a significant predictor of FLE, and (6) teacher-related variables and learner self-perceptions of achievement were strong predictors of FLE among CSL learners. The findings highlight the importance of teacher's role in an online learning environment and suggest that FLE may not boost performance in the short term for language beginners but is still conducive in the long run. Implications for both teachers and learners, and suggestions for future researches are provided.

Taking a Fresh Look at Foreign Language Enjoyment Research in SLA: Current Status, Future Directions, and Pedagogical Implications

Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE), as the most prevalent positive emotion predicting L2 learners' academic performance and well-being, and a critical factor contributing to the creation of positive micro-institutions (e.g., the classrooms), has received remarkable scholarly attention across the globe in the past eight years. Despite the fact that FLE is the most extensively investigated positive emotion and extant research has yielded rich and invaluable findings, it is far from being adequately studied, leaving vast lacunas to be explored. Therefore, this conceptual review article is written to familiarize language education researchers, practitioners, instructors, and learners with the current status of FLE research and its potential applications in L2 education, and suggest potential avenues for future research. To this aim, by making a diachronical and synchronical delineation of extant literature with regard to the conceptualization and theorization of FLE, and the methodology of FLE research, we argue that it is incumbent on researchers to make a new line of enquiry into the actualization of the ascertained affordances of FLE and its transmission in the microsystem of the classroom. Subsequently, by drawing on the broaden-and-build theory and the control-value theory, we highlight the significance of conducting FLE research with theoretical triangulation and methodological diversity to validate the data and minimum bias. Next, while highlighting the critical role of FLE in L2 education, we suggest some pedagogical implications with the hope of enlightening the practice of key stakeholders such as instructors, teacher educators, and teacher recruiters. In the end, the limitations of existing literature are explicated, and avenues for future studies on FLE in L2 education domain are put forward for interested researchers.

Research on the Influence of Visual Factors on Emotion Regulation Interaction

To guide the design direction of emotion regulation products that improve the positive emotions of users, investigation into the correlation between relevant visual factors and multi-dimensional complex emotions is needed. In the present study, an extended product emotion measurement method was adopted to describe the multi-dimensional emotional set of each influencing factor and calculate their weight according to the order. The positive and negative emotion indicators of all influencing factors were compared and the evaluation and ranking factors that affect users’ emotional value of emotion regulation products were analyzed. The experimental results reveal that specific emotion mapping scenes on positive emotion are the most significant among the key factors affecting user emotion. Further, the influence of emotional stickers, interactive data visualization, and text on positive emotions decreased in turn. The influence of emotional text on positive emotion was the lowest. Through investigating the visual factors that affect the psychological emotions of users, the development of emotion regulating products could be guided in a more scientific and reasonable manner.

How Does Experiential Value toward Robot Barista Service Affect Emotions, Storytelling, and Behavioral Intention in the Context of COVID-19?

This study aims to examine the antecedents of storytelling and intention to a behavioral robot barista coffee shop (RBCS) by exploring experiential values and emotions. For the analysis, a set of hypotheses was developed and tested based on data collected from 300 customers who had visited a RBCS in South Korea. In the verification, the atmosphere showed the greatest influence on positive emotion, followed by consumer return on investment (CROI). These results mean that atmosphere, CROI, and escapism are important to induce positive emotion and behavioral intention for robot barista coffee shop. This is the first study to examine consumers’ experiential value regarding non-face-to-face robot service in the food service industry. This design is different from previous experiential value studies on human services in the hospitality industry. By integrating artificial intelligence and digital innovation into food service, this study broadens the scope of research in consumer behavior, making a significant theoretical contribution to the literature. Furthermore, this study proposes practical implications for sustainable coffee shop management in a COVID-19 environment.

The peculiarities of using emoji pictograms in online communities with different frequency of use of obscene lexicon

The subject of this research is the use of pictograms for expressing emotions and feelings in network communication. The object is the comments in several communities in the popular among youth social network VKontakte. The goal of this article lies in the comparison of preferred emoji used by the users to express their emotions and feelings, who are part of the communities with different frequency of use of obscene lexicon. The hypothesis is advanced that the groups with different frequency of use of obscene lexicon differ in their emotional tonality and the emoji pictograms used for expressing emotions and feelings. The research is based on the method of survey in form of the questionnaire about the peculiarities of Internet preferences and most attractive communities in social network for the respondents; as well as the method of content analysis. The questionnaire survey involved 854 persons; the data on the frequency of use of emoji was collected on the example of 14 communities in VKontakte social network. It is determined that in communities with lesser use of obscene lexicon, the rating of emoji denoting positive (hedonic and affinity) emotions is higher. In communities with more obscene lexicon, the users equally use pictograms that express negative and positive emotion; most frequent negative emotions such denote anger and frustration, or melancholy, sadness. The acquired results can be applied in development of the methods for monitoring the moods of the users of network communication.

The Influence of Emotional Awareness on Time Perception: Evidence From Event-Related Potentials

Prior studies found that participants overestimated both negative and positive emotional stimuli, compared with neutral emotion. This phenomenon can be explained by the “arousal mechanism.” Participants demonstrated individual differences in emotion perception. In other words, high emotional awareness resulted in high emotional arousal, and vice versa. This study extended existing findings by exploring the influence of emotional awareness on time perception in a temporal generalization task, while recording electroencephalographic (EEG) signals. The findings revealed that in the positive emotion condition, the high emotional awareness group made more overestimations, compared with the low emotional awareness group. However, no difference was observed in the neutral or negative emotion conditions. Moreover, the event-related potential (ERP) results showed that in the positive emotion condition, the high awareness group elicited larger vertex positive potential (VPP) amplitudes, compared with that of the low awareness group. However, no such differences were observed in the neutral and negative emotion conditions. Moreover, the contingent negative variation (CNV) (200–300, 300–490 ms) component showed that in the positive emotion, the amplitudes of the high awareness group were larger than that of the low awareness group; however, they did not show differences in the neutral condition. The findings of this study suggest that high emotional awareness produces higher physiological arousal; moreover, when participants were required to estimate the time duration of emotional pictures, they tended to make higher time overestimation. Thus, our results support the relationship between emotional awareness and time perception.