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Learner Perceptions and Experiences of Pride in Second Language Education

Article  in  Australian Review of Applied Linguistics · December 2016

DOI: 10.1075/aral.39.3.04ros

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 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride
in second language education

Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

Southern Cross University / University of Canberra
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Within applied linguistics, understanding of motivation and cognition has

benefitted from substantial attention for decades, but the attention received by
language learner emotions has not been comparable until recently when inter-
est in emotions and the role they can play in language learning has increased.
Emotions are at the core of human experience, so a greater understanding of
their impact on language learners is critical. In particular, the role and impact of
positive emotions on learners and their learning experience has been overlooked
in favour of a focus on issues of confidence and anxiety. One particular positive
emotion that has a meaningful connection with the learning experience is that
of pride. Drawing on qualitative interview data from tertiary English language
learners in Australian universities, this article singles out pride as a means of
confirming the critical role of positive emotions in language learning. The inter-
views revealed that pride had a significant impact on the experiences of learn-
ers. It was also discovered that within the notion of pride there exists a degree
of dimensionality. Pride is felt in communicative contexts whereas a feeling of
‘non-pride’ can occur in learning contexts. The article also presents implications
arising from the study concerning the place of emotions in language teaching
and learning.

Keywords: emotions, ESL, language learning, positive emotions, pride

1. Introduction

Until recently, emotions had received scant attention in applied linguistics re-
search. Emotions lie at the very heart of the human experience and are present
in all aspects of life. Generally, we feel happy if we succeed at something, embar-
rassed if we make a mistake in class, or angry when we feel as though we have been
wronged. Learning a language is a challenging task and it is likely any language

Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 39:3 (2016), 272–291.  doi 10.1075/aral.39.3.04ros

issn 0155–0640 / e-issn 1833–7139 © John Benjamins Publishing Company
 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 273

learner would testify that the experience of learning a language and using it both
inside and outside the classroom has triggered a range of positive and negative feel-
ings and experiences. One particular emotion is pride, generally seen as a positive
emotion as “our most meaningful achievements, both everyday and life changing,
are accompanied by feelings of pride” (Tracy & Robins, 2007, p. 147). Pride is an
especially important and powerful emotion within educational contexts, emerg-
ing in different students in different manifestations and situations, thus providing
valuable insight into language learner psychology. Nonetheless, the discrete emo-
tion of pride is not necessarily always ‘positive’. It is possible to see that within indi-
vidual emotions – pride included – there exists a degree of dimensionality that can
manifest in different forms ranging from an absence of the feeling of pride (where
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it would otherwise be assumed to be felt) to the exhibition of hubris through being

overly proud. In this article we present the case of pride and its dimensionality as
a means of reinforcing the importance of emotions to the learning experience. In
order to understand the dimensionality of pride, a clear conceptual understanding
of the definition and categorisation of emotions along with the growing focus on
them in applied linguistics is essential.

2. Literature review

2.1 Defining emotions

There are differing opinions on how emotions can be defined. Keltner and Ekman
(2000) posit emotions are individual responses to events or experiences involv-
ing experiential, psychological, and behavioural activity. Kalat and Shiota (2007)
put forward four useful criteria for understanding exactly what basic emotions
such as happiness are. The first criterion states that a basic emotion is necessarily
universal. Universal does not mean that a basic emotion should be described the
same way linguistically in different cultures and countries, but just that it exists
in all cultures. Of course, some emotions will have an exact translation in mean-
ing, while others might not have an equivalent word in other cultures, a situation
Pavlenko (2008) refers to as conceptual non-equivalence. The second criterion is
that basic emotions are caused by a specific life event. For example, most would
find it hard to disagree that the death of a loved one would evoke sadness. The
third criterion is that basic emotions should be evident early in life, which helps
to distinguish complex and basic emotions. Basic emotions can be expressed in
the facial expressions of infants (happiness/sadness) whereas complex ones can-
not until later in life (such as guilt). A final criterion is that there must be a way to
express the emotion that is built into human physiology and neurobiology such as
 274 Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

facial expression and voice. Izard (2011) provides a more general and simplistic
definition of basic emotions in stating that they are those emotions critical to hu-
man nature such as fear and happiness.
Another more complex category of emotions is that of ‘self-conscious’ emo-
tions. Self-conscious emotions require an evaluation of the self in relation to a spe-
cific event to be successfully evoked (Lewis, 2008; Tangney, 2002). Pride belongs
in this category, and in particular the category of the positive self-conscious emo-
tions due to its association with feelings of achievement and satisfaction (Stoeber,
Kobori, & Tanno, 2013).
Emotions are also generally divided into the categories of positive and nega-
tive emotions. These categories need to be briefly explored, particularly in light
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of the focus of the current study. Fredrickson (1998, 2001, 2003) defines positive
emotions as carrying a pleasant subjective feeling such as joy or happiness. In con-
trast, negative emotions can carry an unpleasant subjective feeling such as sadness
or fear. Positive emotions have tended to be particularly underrepresented in emo-
tion research in psychology, and this remains true within the field of applied lin-
guistics (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014) in comparison to negative emotions such as
language learner anxiety. The distinction between positive and negative emotions
can be problematic considering that emotions are grouped as such according to
how they are commonly perceived, without giving weight to the different manner
in which they might or might not be experienced.

2.2 Pride

Pride can be triggered both by an individual’s perception that they have achieved
some kind of outcome of personal value or that they are valued as a person by oth-
ers. Such perceptions establish an important self/other distinction in terms of the
evocation of pride; that is, the individual has achieved something of value to the
self, or something that is appraised as valuable and good by others thus allowing
and fostering an improvement in self-esteem or self-worth, as well as improving
others’ perceptions (Muris & Meesters, 2014). In relation to the self, Tracy and
Robins (2004) differentiate between authentic pride based on specific individual
achievements (as in “I’m proud of what I just did”) and hubristic pride, which
refers to a pride in the global self (“I’m proud of who I am”). Similarities with self-
esteem might be seen in both of these forms of pride, but there is a distinction that
needs to be made on the basis that pride is considered to be a feeling or a state, and
self-esteem a trait. The difference between a state and a trait rests in the temporary
nature of a state, where an emotion is evoked in response to a particular event or
situation, whereas a trait is a more stable personality characteristic. Brown and
Marshall (2001, p. 581) have expanded on this connection between pride and
 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 275

self-esteem and explain that because pride involves “an appraisal of one’s worth as
a person” it is a significant predictor of self-esteem. Pride can therefore contribute
to the trait-like nature of self-esteem, but should not be seen as synonymous.
Discussion of authentic and hubristic pride helps to reveal some of the dis-
tinct positive and negative connotations of the emotion. Essentially, authentic
pride carries positive connotations and provides a connection with self-esteem.
For example, after achieving success, people experience feelings of pride. These
may eventually promote self-esteem (Tracy & Robins, 2007), making authentic
pride the more socially desirable experience of pride. On the other hand, the nega-
tive connotations of pride cannot be ignored. In fact, pride as a negative emotion
can be traced back to the Bible and its presence among the ‘seven deadly sins’.
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Such a connotation is the result of hubristic pride and is connected to synonyms

of ‘proud’ such as arrogant, egotistic and haughty. Tracy and Robins (2007, p. 149)
further point out that hubristic pride is often termed “self-aggrandizing narcis-
sism”. Thus, any study focusing on the self-conscious emotion of pride must dem-
onstrate an awareness of these varying connotations, as they can be significant
factors in the manner in which pride is experienced and perceived across person-
alities and cultures.
Although evidence will be provided that demonstrates the presence of pride
as a result of the appraisal and praise of others, primarily the focus in this paper is
on the experience of pride in the true nature of ‘self-conscious emotions’, from an
evaluation of the self, whether it be as authentic or hubristic pride.

2.3 Emotions in applied linguistics research

Emotion research within applied linguistics was significantly lacking for a signifi-
cant period of time as recognized by Scovel (2001) who stated, “affective variables
are the area that SLA researchers understand the least” (p. 140). More recently,
Swain (2013, p. 205) has contended that there is still some truth to this situation
and has described emotions in SLA research as “the elephants in the room – poor-
ly studied, poorly understood, seen as inferior to rational thought”. Her statement
highlights the focus on cognition, rather than affect and emotions, in SLA research
in earlier decades.
Nonetheless, to date there has certainly been valuable research, and the vol-
ume of research continues to grow. Firstly, language learner anxiety has received
extensive coverage. Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) produced the most no-
table work in this context when they developed the concept of Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety, the most researched emotion to date in SLA. Further research
included that of Schumann (1997), who used neurological and psychological ex-
posure to stimulus material to explore the role of emotion in the SLA process.
 276 Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

Arnold’s (1999) volume addressed a range of other affective variables such as

anxiety, self-esteem and learner autonomy. In addition, Dewaele (2005; 2011) in-
vestigated the psychological dimensions of second language learning in relation
to multilingualism and the differing manners in which emotions are expressed
by multilinguals in their languages. Bown and White’s (2010) social cognitive
model of emotion in language learning further contributes to understanding of
the role of emotions in language learning through an emphasis on the social ante-
cedents of emotions, the importance of cognitive appraisals of situations, and the
regulation of emotion. Finally, in Dörnyei and Ryan’s (2015) revised version of
Dörnyei’s (2005) volume, the authors have increased the focus on emotions and
acknowledge the importance of emotions in SLA research. Pavlenko (2013) argues
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that this shifting research paradigm is the result of a move away from considering
emotions only as part of a group of ‘affective factors’ including those of anxiety,
motivation and willingness to communicate, and towards a focus on emotions
in their own right.
Although this move away from merely focusing on affective factors is un-
derway, Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) L2 motivation self system still holds relevance in
the current study due to the close link between emotions and motivation. In fact,
MacIntyre, Mackinnon, and Clément (2009, p. 47) described emotions as “funda-
mentally important motivators”. This link should not be ignored. The key compo-
nents of the L2 Motivational Self System of significance in the current study are
the Ideal L2 self and the Ought-to self. The Ideal L2 self refers to the learner’s goals
and aspirations as a language learner, whereas the Ought-to self is concerned with
attributes the learners believe they ought to possess in order to meet external ex-
pectations. Emotions in general, and pride specifically, can be seen to play a role in
the Ideal and Ought-to L2 selves.
There is clear indication that emotion research is continuing to gain momen-
tum as part of an ‘affective turn’. Further evidence can be seen in the influence
of the positive psychology movement, which has become visible within applied
linguistics. The category of positive emotions represents one of the core elements
of positive psychology (MacIntyre & Mercer, 2014) defined as development of
the ability to “understand and foster the factors that allow individuals, communi-
ties, and societies to flourish” (Fredrickson, 2001, p. 218). Dewaele and MacIntyre
(2014) highlight the growing attention to positive emotions in a study that contin-
ued the interest in the negative emotion of anxiety, but also focused on the positive
emotion of enjoyment. Another study by Gregersen, MacIntyre, Finegan, Talbot,
and Claman (2014) explores how the emotional intelligence of language learn-
ers can be used to harness positive emotions and aid in the language acquisition
process. Within SLA the interest in positive psychology continues to grow, and a
 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 277

recent volume on the topic edited by MacIntyre, Gregersen, and Mercer (2016)
can be taken as further evidence.
Playing our own part in Pavlenko’s (2013) ‘affective turn’, we present our find-
ings regarding the self-conscious, positive emotion of pride and explore percep-
tions and experiences of pride of tertiary international ESL students in Australia.
In the following section we offer some background information for the study be-
fore providing relevant information about the participants, the interviews, and the
subsequent data analysis.

3. The study
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The focus of the current paper is drawn from a large-scale mixed methods re-
search project investigating the emotional experiences and motivation of tertiary
English language learners in Australia (Ross, 2015). During the project, the emo-
tion of pride evoked a multitude of salient responses from the participants. This
resulted in the current project that focuses solely on pride from a qualitative per-
spective. We explore how pride is, and is not, experienced by these ESL learners
both in the context of learning, that is the classroom; and in the context of social
interaction, that is, the communicative context (Batstone, 2002). We also consider
these experiences in relation to the implications they present for language teach-
ing and learning.

3.1 The participants

The participants were 12 English language students at university level and under-
taking academic English courses (English for Academic Purposes – EAP) on a
degree pathway program at an Australian university.
In qualitative research, generally the overarching aim is to “describe the as-
pects of an idiosyncratic experience rather than determining the most likely, or
mean experience within a group” (Dörnyei, 2007, p. 126). It was therefore vital
that the research participants were able to deliver relevant, rich and varied insights
into the phenomena in question. Thus, a purposive sampling approach was ad-
opted wherein participants were selected in accordance with certain criteria. The
primary criterion was related to language proficiency. The participants needed to
be learners of academic English in order for us to have a degree of confidence that
they could actually engage with the interviewer and the questions and topics of the
interviews effectively enough to produce comprehensive data. Proficiency is also
an important factor in relation to the target emotion of pride as learners accom-
plish goals in their studies, as they progress and develop as language users. The
 278 Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

participants were drawn from three different university language centres in major
Australian cities and were unknown to the researchers.
Other criteria concerned a desire for a gender and nationality mix. As can
be seen in Table 1, however, half of the participants were Chinese. Although not
our initial desire, the large proportion of Chinese participants eventuated, re-
flecting student numbers at each participating institution where students from
China make up the greatest part of student populations. The gender mix is as
good as we were able to achieve, with the proficiency and nationality criteria taken
into account first.
The details of the participants can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1.  Basic information of interview participants

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Name Age Gender Nationality

Alice1 30 Female Chinese
Antonio 21 Male Brazilian
Cathryn 21 Female Chinese
Claudia 27 Female Chilean
Ellen 21 Female Chinese
Kanako 32 Female Japanese
Michelle 22 Female Chinese
Mitchell 21 Male Chinese
Penelope 21 Female Chinese
Rita 23 Female Spanish
Sepan 23 Male Kurdish
Yumiko 23 Female Japanese

3.2 The interviews

Three semi-structured to open interviews were conducted with each participant

over a period of six months (one interview per two months). Interviews were cho-
sen as the means of data collection as they provide the most practical means of
exploring the lived experiences of the participants from their own very personal
perspective (Richards, 2009). Pavlenko (2007) has also endorsed interviews as a
methodological approach to investigating emotions. She contends that interviews,
among other types of retrospective autobiographic narratives such as diaries, fos-

1.  All names are pseudonyms.

 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 279

ter a greater understanding of the manner in which people experience second lan-
guage learning and subsequently make sense of that experience.
The first author conducted the interviews at a pre-arranged time on the re-
spective participant’s campus. All interviews were audio-recorded in addition to
notes being taken by the interviewer. Each interview started out with general con-
versation before focusing on the topic of the research. During the actual interview
process, the interviews attempted to:
1. Gain a general overview of the participants’ experience of learning English
(where/how long/teachers and teaching style/learning style/beliefs etc.)
2. Elicit different times in participants’ language learning that triggered different
emotions
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3. Elicit descriptions of the feelings the participants experienced at that time and
the reaction they had to them and how they processed them.
The initial interview aided in the development of rapport. The majority of the data
for the study came from the second interview. To stimulate the discussion on the
participants’ emotions, they were emailed the first question of the interviews ask-
ing what their best and worst language learning experiences were. This proved to
be an especially useful and beneficial approach to the qualitative researching of
emotions as it allowed the participants time and opportunity to reflect on the in-
formation they wished to divulge and expand on in the interview itself. The third
interview allowed for further clarification of any comments made in the previous
two interviews. More importantly, it provided an avenue for deeper investigation
of anything arising in earlier comments.
The interviews were conceptualised as what Holstein and Gubrium (2003,
p. 68) describe as “interactional procedures of knowledge production” meaning
that the interviews were co-constructed with the researcher, with participants rec-
ollecting subjective emotional experiences (Prior, 2015). The interviews did not
focus solely on the emotion of pride, but it was among those discussed and the
comments of the participants in relation to pride were deemed particularly salient,
and thus it was established as a theme. Sample interview questions can be seen
below, but it should be noted that interview guides are not included as appendices
as the complete guides are not relevant to the current paper due to the focus on
other emotions beyond pride alone.
– Can you describe how you feel when you are able to keep up with the material
in class well? Can you give an example?
– When you can contribute something in class in a discussion or other activity,
what effect does it have on you? How do you feel?
 280 Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

– What about outside of class? Have you ever felt proud of yourself about the
way you used English in a social situation?

3.3 Data management and analysis

The data analysis began with the verbatim transcription of the interviews. The in-
terviewer alone transcribed due to the fact that he had been present and was able
to recall other physical aspects of the interview beyond the audio such as facial
expressions and gestures.
The primary analytical approach was Kvale’s (1996) ‘meaning condensation’
approach. While only one researcher carried out the transcription, the coding
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process involved both researchers in the form of a peer-check of themes extract-

ed from the transcript. The peer-check was not conducted in a direct attempt to
achieve higher reliability between the researchers, but rather due to a common
belief between the authors that such an approach affords an opportunity to com-
pare “respective interpretations of a set of qualitative responses” (Borg & Burns,
2008, p. 461). Once the coding process had been completed, the meaning conden-
sation approach was adopted to abridge “meanings expressed by the interviewees
into shorter formulations” (Kvale, 1996, p. 192), which was necessary to be able to
consolidate meaning from them. The meaning interpretation stage was the next
stage of the analysis. This stage was the most critical to the study as it allowed us to
go “beyond what is directly said to work out structures and relations of meaning
not immediately apparent in a text” (Kvale, 1996, p. 201) with a more subjective
interpretation. Dominant themes were grouped according to their explicit focus.
The emotion of pride was one of the key themes of the larger project, which also
encompassed themes such as the emotions of excitement, enjoyment, happiness,
hope, fear, embarrassment, frustration and boredom. These themes were related
to specific emotions; however, other major themes also emerged including com-
munication, interest, language attitudes, and aspects of motivation such as cultural
interest, instrumentality, and Dörnyei’s (2005; 2009) Ideal L2 self. In the following
section we present how these ESL learners perceived and experienced pride in
situations that relate to both inside and outside the classroom environment.

4. Results

Recognition of achievement in the classroom, successful communication outside

the classroom environment, the importance of making significant others proud,
and feelings of ‘non-pride’ were the main sub-themes that emerged from the inter-
views in relation to pride. Of the many comments made by the participants during
 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 281

the interviews, those presented in the following discussion are the most salient in
relation to these themes.

4.1 Class or learning-based achievement

The most common trigger of feelings of pride in the English language learning
context is generally classroom-based and related to personal achievement. When
speaking in relation to this, Alice stated:
I was so proud of myself the day before yesterday. I got the full mark for reading
and the teacher said who got full marks. Only me!

We might expect a student to feel proud in such a situation, having achieved a

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good score or result in a test or assignment. This particular comment should

be tempered, however, with an awareness of the fact that an emphasis on so-
cial comparison has been shown in the educational psychology research to have
potential negative effects on long-term learning and motivation (see Jagacinski
& Nicholls, 1987).
Other reference was made to feelings of pride inspired by grades received in
class activities or in exams by both Kanako and Cathryn. Kanako recalled the time
she received a high score for the Test of English for International Communication
(TOEIC). The feeling that accompanies scoring well on a form of assessment or
in an examination is typically a pleasant one. In Japan, it is possible that pride was
felt even more strongly as the TOEIC is quite widely used for those looking to gain
employment in companies within Japan. The Japanese context seemed to amplify
Cathryn’s feelings that were more related to experiences she had had with activi-
ties and the marks and praise she received as the result of her efforts:
The first time when I prepared my presentation and I did the presentation I didn’t
get a high mark because I didn’t prepare really, you know, perfectly, and I don’t
know how to present in English but the second time we did the North Korean
nuclear programs and we did very well and after that I got a high mark and our
Saudi Arabian classmate said it was really good and I was very proud.

The participants’ description of their experiences and the effect on them demon-
strated the strong presence of pride in relation to accomplishment in class.

4.2 Communication

Effective use of English in communication outside the classroom was a strong in-
fluence on the participants’ experience of pride. Antonio highlighted this and es-
 282 Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

tablished that, along with other emotions, he felt authentic pride when his attempts
to communicate ended in success, and then went on to tell of a specific example:
I feel proud every time I can, you know, when my communication works. I feel
proud about myself but a specific one maybe is when I was trying to, when I
bought a console and it was supposed to have to CDs inside but there was only
one and then I had to come back and argue with the salesperson until they give
me back my CD and then I feel proud like “Oh I got my CD! I could talk with
them in English!”

The situation Antonio described was not an ordinary situation of buying a ticket
or asking for directions, but was in fact one of arguing, or making a case. An en-
counter such as this would have required significant confidence, so the pride he
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felt after negotiating the encounter effectively is understandable.

Ellen also drew attention to clear communication being a catalyst for pride.
She spoke of practicing or preparing for an English exam with a friend who is,
in her estimation, a very fluent user of English. Normally one would expect her
attention to be firmly on the exam study she mentioned, especially in light of
her Chinese culture where the emphasis placed on exam performance is strong.
Nonetheless, this was not the case with Ellen. In fact, it seemed as if she was not
focused on the test preparations at all, but was trying to work out how to improve
enough to feel proficient in the company of her friend, and once she earned her
friend’s praise, pride was evoked and her confidence grew:
He always speaks very fluently and I just pick up the words and can’t make the
sentence but when I practice and practice and he said “Oh today you speak well!”
I think at that time I feel proud.

Finally, Sepan described the pride he feels in terms of his language use in Australia.
He is aware of how he has grown since his arrival in Australia and in this particular
case he seems to feel pride in his own ability to communicate and achieve what he
set out to do with the language:
One thing I want to tell you is I’m proud every day. When I came here I didn’t
have any information about things. When I asked some people they helped me a
lot. Someday I questioned someone who is Australian about accommodation and
they helped me a lot … I’m very proud about this.

A strong sense of pride in his own communicative ability can be detected in his
description – an ability that he seemingly did not think he possessed.
 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 283

4.3 External pride

When considering the feelings of pride that might be experienced by language

learners, it is perhaps most often a form of self-pride, be it authentic or hubris-
tic, that is encountered. However, this is not always the case and the interviews
confirmed that in fact the feelings of pride they were able to evoke in others from
their activities and achievements were also important to the participants. In one
exchange, when she was only encouraged to speak about her experiences of pride,
Cathryn chose to talk about the following example:
… when I was in China we didn’t speak English and we just heard it from others
that yeah English was useful, but we are in China and we don’t use it, but when I
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travelled with my Mum to Hong Kong you know they speak Cantonese and our
language is Mandarin and we didn’t communicate very well so I had to speak to
them in English and then I found out “Oh, English is very useful”, then my Mum
was very proud of me.

Her voice and facial expressions supported this important and rewarding experi-
ence that Cathryn recalls.
Similarly, when asked if he had ever encountered the feeling of pride in his
English language learning experience, Mitchell recounted the following, which
serves to reinforce what Cathryn said about the pride of parents:
Interviewer: Can you think of any examples in your English language learning
past or present when you have felt this?
Mitchell: Well actually, my parents, they didn’t go to university so they just,
after their study of high school they didn’t know English and when I
told them I studied a lot about English they felt proud of me because
they can tell their friends their son can speak English very well and
their son passed the college English test band 6 and their son just
studied abroad in Australia.

We can understand Mitchell’s belief that his parents would be proud of him and
speak of what their son was doing, which involved having to mention his achieve-
ments. Hence, pride also came from external sources and could be just as powerful.
Alice provides a final example in relation to external pride; however, in this
instance the pride was directed from her towards her daughter. She spoke of her
daughter’s rapid English development and, with great excitement and smiling, re-
called her daughter’s use of English at the dinner table one night which surprised
Alice greatly, and evoked a very proud response when she said, “I was very proud
of her and gave her a big hug and kiss”. This reaction on its own might not surprise,
but Alice had trouble reconciling her daughter’s rapid progress in the same skill
she was also trying to master and that she was finding so challenging.
 284 Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

4.4 ‘Non-pride’

Generally, the emotion of pride is perceived to be a positive one, but some par-
ticipant responses indicated a different, negative perception. In doing so, the par-
ticipants shed light on a dimensionality that can be said to exist within individual
emotions wherein the experience of the emotion itself does not occur exactly as
one might normally assume. In other words, there is more than one dimension
to the emotion. In the case of pride, the different dimensions can be recognised
when considering instances where pride is felt, and then other instances where it
is absent (but where it would normally be present).
Claudia conveyed this feeling when she compared a ‘good’ feeling to a feel-
ing of ‘pride’ and had trouble reconciling them. Whereas most students would
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consider using English in an English-speaking environment a great achievement,

and one that might engender pride, Claudia explained that she did not feel pride,
mainly as a result of having to use English:
Yeah I feel good but I don’t know proud. I don’t feel pride … I don’t feel because
I think that I have to speak English so I feel well but I don’t know I feel proud.

Claudia does not feel proud of herself here because she is in a place where she
must use English. Her perception helps to highlight the different circumstances in
which the emotion is felt by different people as a result of a different appraisal of
the situation, as other participants felt it quite strongly for this exact reason – being
able to survive in a foreign environment. In a sense, she felt that she was merely
‘surviving’, but not exhibiting any great proficiency in her use. This perception
contributed to the absence of pride she described.
Other feelings of ‘non-pride’ were related to the situated classroom learning
environment. Interestingly, some participants did not consider the classroom as
being a setting worthy of triggering pride as it is a very safe environment in that
they did not find themselves in encounters with others of L1-standard proficiency.
As a result, students did not feel as challenged as they felt they should in order to
warrant the feeling of pride. Mitchell gave one example when he spoke of not feel-
ing proud when successfully participating in a lesson:
I: What about specifically related to your learning?
M: Well actually, it doesn’t make me proud.
I: Oh ok. Why not?
M: Because everyone knows it very well, not only me, but also the other people
[he refers to students].

Mitchell’s comments here imply that for him to feel pride he needs to be doing
something better than others, or at least doing something that might be a bit more
 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 285

challenging. It could be supposed that Mitchell had misinterpreted the meaning

here as the discussion at this point was of a feeling of pride towards oneself, which
need not necessarily be governed by the abilities and achievements of others.
Another possible explanation is that Mitchell sought to experience a more hubris-
tic pride resulting from being able to evaluate his global self more highly, which
he indicates he might experience if he were able to not only achieve something,
but to achieve something that others could not. Such statements bring to mind the
notion of social comparison once again.
Finally, on the same issue, Antonio talked about the class environment as be-
ing an ‘un-real’ environment. As a result he found it one in which he rarely en-
countered the feeling of pride:
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I feel like in class it’s not really real and then I don’t feel really proud. Even if I am
really good at something I don’t feel really proud because I know that it’s not real
and street people [he refers to ‘ordinary people’] say slangs …

The people he was referring to were just ordinary people that he may see and po-
tentially encounter and interact with in his everyday activities. This is a powerful
perspective to consider as it specifically draws attention to the fact that successful
language experiences in the reality of life outside of the classroom are often what
students want to experience.

5. Discussion

One of the most important findings from the study concerns the dual contexts
within which language learners experience the emotion of pride. These contexts
are the situated learning environment of the language classroom, and situations of
authentic social interaction outside the classroom. Batstone (2002) refers to these
settings as the learning and communicative contexts respectively. The learning
context refers to the general classroom setting and places an emphasis on improv-
ing overall linguistic competence, whereas communicative contexts require using
the L2 to participate in social interactions outside the classroom. This distinction
is of vital importance as it is difficult to argue that language learners confront the
affective factors that are inherent in L2 social interaction and communication in
the classroom environment as often as they do outside of the classroom. However,
having made the distinction, it is equally important to acknowledge that these
contexts can, and do, also work together. Communication does occur within the
classroom, and often with a large degree of authenticity when the tasks and mate-
rials create the conditions that allow it to occur (Willis, 1996).
 286 Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

The results of the study showed that pride was felt in the learning environment
by the participants, but not always in relation to issues that would normally be
expected. Primarily, the emotion was evoked in response to grades or praise from
others in the class, which establishes a link between the instrumental orientation
dimension of Dörnyei’s (2005; 2009) Ideal L2 Self. Here praise represents a form of
motivation from an external source, which is then internalised in the learners. The
comments and experiences of Alice and Cathryn demonstrated this link the stron-
gest when they spoke of receiving full marks in a reading test or receiving praise
from classmates for a well-done presentation. On the other hand, there was a lack
of pride shown when performing tasks successfully for no tangible reward, which
in turn could be perceived as a lack of intrinsic motivation in the learning context.
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On the other hand, when the comments of the students are considered in rela-
tion to the communicative environment, the outcome was quite different. Firstly,
when the participants used the language successfully outside of the classroom,
the participants spoke of their pride, but of most interest is that for some stu-
dents, the experience of pride in language use is context dependent. Antonio’s
comments best illustrated the influence of context when he spoke of the absence
of pride in the ‘un-real’ classroom environment, but with great excitement about
his experiences of using language and experiencing pride in the ‘real’ communica-
tive context. Such learner comments suggest that the learning and communicative
contexts put forward by Batstone (2002) provide a useful framework when inves-
tigating the emotional experiences of second language learners.
There are similarities to be drawn with the reported experiences of pride of the
participants and the categories that emerged from Dewaele and MacIntyre’s (2014)
study. Comments from Dewaele and MacIntyre’s study about learners’ realisations
of personal progression in their mastery of the L2 can be compared with percep-
tions of pride in the learning environment in this study. Further, learner comments
about the authentic use of the L2 outside of the class in Dewaele and MacIntyre’s
study can be compared with feelings of pride in the communicative environment.
Another point of interest, investigated by Bown and White (2010) in their
social and cognitive approach to affect in language learning, relates to cognitive
appraisals of social environments and situations. Scherer, Schorr, and Johnstone
(2001) also drew attention to cognitive appraisals in positing that the processes in-
volved with cognitive appraisals play a critical role in determining emotions. One
of the main types of cognitive appraisals is situation-appraisal, which refers to the
idea that people will appraise different situations differently, thus producing dif-
ferent emotional reactions. That was certainly the case in the present study where
learners appraise the learning context in a different manner to the communicative
context. The different appraisal led to different reactions, specifically the absence
or presence of the feeling of pride. We posit that the role of cognitive appraisals
 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 287

deserves greater attention in the future in order for teachers to develop strategies
for mediation of these appraisals in the interest of more frequent encounters with
the feeling of pride and other emotions.
The setting of the project, which was in the ESL setting of Australia, is likely
to have had an effect on the experiences of the learners, and can produce vastly
different outcomes on the emotional experiences of language learners within lo-
calised EFL contexts. In ESL settings, the learning and communicative contexts
are both very present and real for students, with the learning context representing
the smaller part of their lives and lived experiences. On the other hand, in EFL
settings the communicative context beyond the classroom does not always exist,
so it is mainly within the learning environment that the opportunity to experi-
jbid177713 IP: 101.184.148.117 On: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 10:23:46

ence pride as the result of linguistic achievement is possible. Therefore, it could

be expected that pride might be felt more in the learning context in EFL settings
than ESL. This observation represents a possible future direction for the study of
emotions in second language learning in examining the differences in emotional
experiences of learners in these two different settings.
The experiences of pride the students recounted in relation to how it was felt
by those around them – namely family members – was interesting and added an-
other dimension to when the emotion of pride is felt or not felt. The participants
exuded a real sense of satisfaction when they spoke of the pride their own use of
English evoked in their families. Such feelings of satisfaction can be understood as
recognition of external rewards for these students. They have strong motivational
potential even if the participants themselves do not feel the same pride their par-
ents feel. It can be argued that this aspect of pride represents part of the partici-
pants’ Ought-to self, the second primary component of Dörnyei’s (2005; 2009) L2
Motivational Self System.
It is also worth mentioning here the possible role that the nationality of the
participants played in determining their responses. While most participants gen-
erally spoke quite openly about their experiences of pride, the comments of the
Japanese participants on the emotion of pride were fewer than those of other par-
ticipants of different nationalities. This is possibly due to pride carrying a different
connotation in Japan where pride can often be seen to separate individuals from
others and promotes independence rather than interdependence or community
(Kitayama, Markus, & Kurokawa, 2000).

6. Implications for language teaching and learning

The key implications emerging from the study revolve primarily around the learn-
ing context (i.e. in the classroom), as it is in the learning context that pride was
 288 Andrew S. Ross and Elke Stracke

often missing when it would normally be felt. Pride is a powerful self-conscious

emotion, and as far possible should be nurtured in both the learning and commu-
nicative contexts, in both EFL and ESL settings.
The findings point to the need for pedagogical applications that establish the
conditions for language learners to experience more pride (in particular authen-
tic pride) in the classroom. Such pedagogical applications would necessarily be
based on achievement and accomplishment and could include strategies such as
shorter, more achievable tasks where learners recognise the successful completion
of tasks more clearly. They could also extend to materials, which could perhaps be
presented in a more explicit way, with objectives clearly stated and with self and
peer-assessment incorporated. Ultimately, such pedagogical applications may help
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to provide more avenues for learners to experience authentic pride due to clearer
benchmarks of achievement.
Conditions for experiencing pride could also be extended to the environment
outside the classroom environment. For example, in EFL settings students could
be encouraged to connect with L2 speakers in the community, such as tourists as
part of a class project or tandem partners in an online project. Following the inter-
actions that take place, the outcomes could be the focus of discussions or reports
in the classroom, providing a link between the in and out-of-class contexts and a
chance for learners to experience pride as a result of how they had communicated
as part of the project or task. These types of tasks would help to stimulate pride in
students who do not see the environment in the classroom as ‘real’.
The suggestions above would be equally applicable to the ESL context, where
learners have plentiful opportunities to engage with L2 speakers in the commu-
nity. Teachers need to be made aware of their students’ feelings of pride and when
and how they experience it with the greatest positive intensity so that those posi-
tive experiences can be built upon in the learning context. Connecting student
experiences of pride in the class environment and the environment outside of it
through well-designed tasks and materials could do this, as in the EFL context.
Regardless of the context, teachers can also encourage greater reflection by
students on their in and out-of-class experiences. The use of tools such as writing
journals could be of help here, and might allow students to see the antecedents
of their emotional experiences which could in turn help them to self-regulate the
emotions they encounter. Within the classroom context as well, teachers could
incorporate a broader range of approaches and strategies that include simulations
and in-class project work, for example. Activities such as these could be organised
to focus on aspects of positive psychology such as savouring (extending the expe-
rience of positive feelings and emotions) and gratitude. With tasks based around
such notions, opportunities could potentially be created for students to praise each
 Learner perceptions and experiences of pride in second language education 289

other, and for the teacher to deliver praise, which could in turn act as a trigger for
the emotion of pride and other positive emotions.
To conclude, emotions are critical to the everyday experiences of language
learners – and people in general – and an understanding of student emotions such
as pride as in the present study provides valuable insights not only into the lived
experiences of these students but also clear implications for how we can improve
our practice and thus the learning experiences of our students.

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Authors’ addresses
Andrew S. Ross Elke Stracke
Centre for Teaching and Learning Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Southern Cross University Faculty of Education, Science, Technology
Gold Coast, 4225, Queensland and Mathematics
Australia University of Canberra
ACT 2601
Australia

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