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COMMUNICATION

Cognitive and affective factors in the teaching and

learning of English as a foreign language
Cognitive and affective factors in teaching and learning of English
as a foreign language

Naliet Angel Rodriguez1 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1784-7112 Georgete García

Hernández2 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5672-9253 Tatiana García Fernández1 https://

orcid.org/0000-0002-1066-4359 José Mata Loy3 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2702-5852

1 Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas. Construction Faculty. Center

Research on Computational Mechanics and Numerical Methods in Engineering. holy

Clear. Villa Clara. Cuba.
2
Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas. House of Culture of Camajuaní. Villa Clara.
Cuba.
3
Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas. Language Center. Santa Clara. town
Clear. Cuba.
4 University of Medical Sciences of Villa Clara. Academic Vice President. Santa Clara.

Villa Clara. Cuba.

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

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_____________________________________________________
SUMMARY

Proficiency in English demands the acquisition of the student's communicative competence through the teaching-

learning process in his attempt to satisfy the demands of a competent professional. Using it for communication

purposes is an increasingly required capacity in the competitive world of work; but this purpose, like that of any

foreign language, includes a long process of appropriation of the language, a road full of obstacles for the

student who is acquiring grammatical, lexical, functional and cultural tools, and in turn is developing the learning

strategies and skills that allow them to increase their linguistic and communicative competence. It is the aim

of the authors

socialize some cognitive and affective factors that favor this process, based on their teaching experiences.

DeSC: learning; psychology; emotions; medical education.

___________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT

Proficiency in English demands the acquisition of the student's communicative competence through the teaching-

learning process in their attempt to meet the demands of a competent

professional. Using it for communicative purposes is an increasingly demanded capacity in

the competitive working world; but this purpose, like that of any foreign language, includes a long process of

appropriation of the language, a path full of obstacles for the student who is acquiring grammatical, lexical,

functional and cultural tools, and in turn they are

developing the learning strategies and skills that allow them to increase their linguistic and

communicative competence. The authors aim to socialize some cognitive and affective factors that favor this

process, based on their teaching experiences.

MESH: learning; psychology; emotions; education, medical.

_________________________________________________________________

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Received: 07/08/2019
Approved: 02/03/2020

From the moment that man felt the need to learn a second language, and/or a foreign language, whether
for cultural, economic or scientific reasons, studies have emerged on what processes or methods should
be implemented for learning. Thus, two of the most common methods that explain how an individual
learns a second or foreign language have been identified: acquisition and learning, according to the study
by Paricio Tato. (1)

It is necessary to make a distinction between the terms second language and foreign language.
Several authors(1,2) coincide in calling the non-native language of a person or territory a second
language, that is, learned by a speaker after the period of acquisition of their mother tongue; while the
foreign language is the language that does not belong to the native community of the individual who
wants to learn that other language, and that is acquired if the person learns it consciously in a school,
language courses or
self-taught.

In the teaching-learning process of a foreign language there are several factors that can determine its
quality, including those related to the teacher's activity, for example: the conception of teaching and its
approaches, its methodology and evaluation, and
other cognitive and affective related to the constructive mental activity of the student in the school
environment and that directly affect their learning.

Among the cognitive are the conception that students have of said learning, their attention and
concentration in the process and the set of previous knowledge that will allow them to interpret, transform
and update the new content. When talking about previous knowledge, many times one thinks only of
those that the student

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it has a matter, but here are also included the procedural and attitudinal; is
It is necessary to point out that the development of cognitive aspects in the student is not the
priority in the teaching-learning process, but rather a complementary aspect in this since previous
research works, referenced by Pérez Morales(3) in his thesis, confirm the individuality of each student to
learn a foreign language, and the incidence of psychological aspects in this process .

Affective or emotional factors are those psychological elements that can affect the teaching-learning
process of a foreign language and be decisive in its quality. Méndez López(4) mentions self-esteem,
motivation, anxiety and attitude.

Self-esteem is the evaluation, generally positive of oneself, that is, how the person feels about themselves.
Hence, the low self-esteem in the student who
learn a foreign language, directly affects their learning, causes them to feel
inhibited, participate little in class and feel fear of making mistakes. In the practical experience of these
authors, help is offered to them by stimulating their successes and abilities so that they feel proud of
themselves, and although their mistakes are not minimized, they are encouraged to face them without
trauma or complexes. They are shown that you can also learn from mistakes. Others(4,5) are of the
opinion that it does not help them to feel constantly evaluated, because they will create their own defense
strategies: they will constantly use the dictionary, they will be obsessed with grammar exercises or they
will use evasive strategies to hide their problems.

Motivation is vital to achieve learning English as a foreign language; is he

motor that leads to achieving and exceeding goals, that is, the force that activates and directs behavior
towards a specific objective in order to achieve it.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are two fundamental concepts to differentiate when learning a foreign
language. According to Mena Benet: (5) “Extrinsic motivation arises from the desire to get a reward or
avoid punishment; the focus is on something external to the learning activity itself (...) the intrinsic
supposes that the experience of

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Learning is its own reward: intrinsic motivation is evident whenever learners' natural curiosity and interest fuel learning.

Internal stimuli influence learning more, since in the long term external stimuli tend to reduce motivation. Coinciding with

Mena Benet(5) intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are not two opposite poles, but one influences the other and the rest of

the

factors, and their influence is direct on performance and learning results; emphasizes that they are key factors in the

teaching-learning process for both the student and the teacher, who is conceived together with the student who is the

protagonist of the didactic act, since his

influence goes beyond class.

In the experience of these authors, teachers are called to be facilitators of the process in order to promote student

autonomy by encouraging them to take responsibility for their own learning. Bring to the classroom didactic proposals

and significant tasks that connect with the

students' personal reality, fosters in them feelings of mastery, responsibility, and competence by taking charge of their

own learning. A good example of these experiences is the use of the language laboratory to practice different skills.

There, oral activities can be developed where the teacher simply acts as a facilitator and the student is not only a

participant, but also the one who directs them.

Another relevant affective factor is anxiety; This conditions any achievement that the student can achieve in the

classroom, has a direct impact on their academic performance and determines their success or failure in the process,

involves the functioning of memory, acts and limits learning by reducing their potential, affects The cognitive capacity in

the acquisition of new knowledge and the processing of new information is negative, which leads them to develop an

unmotivated attitude, which makes them give up on the path to obtaining their goals, criteria that the author already

maintains in his thesis.

mentioned. (5)

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Another of the emotional factors of importance is the attitude: psychological disposition that all human beings
have towards something or someone; can be positive or negative depending on
determine the behavior. In this process both students and teachers develop certain attitudes and in the case of
teachers it influences the way in which they do their teaching. The opinion is shared that attitudes mediate the
perception of
student about the language, the speakers, the culture surrounding the target language, and even
about the language teacher.(3,5) For this reason, teachers must promote positive attitudes in their students and
in themselves, since this will influence motivation and performance
academic.

The positive attitudes assumed by the language teacher influence the way they plan their classes, their
performance in the classroom and the interaction with their students, criteria set forth by Mena Benet(5) and
shared by these authors . In the same way, it must influence the promotion of a positive attitude in its students
offering them strategies
communicative skills, for example, you can advise them to imagine conversing fluently with speakers of the
foreign language in question, so that they can train that ability and feel capable of conversing in these new
contexts. The important thing is to make them notice that they have sufficient aptitudes and intelligence to carry
out any task oriented in the class, and if they assume a positive attitude, they will determine a better performance

in their command of the language.

Obviously, it is easy to make a mistake when communicating through a foreign language, but
This does not mean lack of aptitude, nor of attitude to learn it, the error is part of the
learning process. In correspondence with the previous ideas, the authors express that, on the way to the
knowledge and improvement of English as a foreign language, there are always many obstacles, but none will
overcome the personal motivation, interest and desire to learn on the part of the students. students, if the

teacher is able to encourage them. It is important to educate the student, enrich their learning in all aspects in
a global and unifying way; according to Mena Benet: (5)

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"... uniting mind and heart in the classroom", to ensure that the teaching-learning process
of English as a foreign language has the necessary quality.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
1. Paricio Tato MS. Intercultural competence in the teaching of foreign languages. Holder
Linguarum [Internet]. 2014 [cited 05/28/2019];(21):[approx. 12 p.]. Available in:
https://www.ugr.es/~portalin/articulos/PL_numero21/14%20%20Silvina.pdf 2. O'Shanahan
I, Siegel LS, Jiménez JE, Mazabel S. Analyzing cognitive and writing processes in Spanish-speaking
children learning English as a second language and children
English-speaking Canadians. Eur J Educ Psychol [Internet]. 2015 [cited
05/28/2019];3(1):[approx. 15 p.]. Available at: https://
formacionasunivep.com/ejep/index.php/journal/article/view/37/52 3. Perez Morales JI.
Evaluation as an instrument for improving the quality of learning. Proposal for a
psychopedagogical intervention for learning the English language [thesis]. Girona: University of Girona;
2008. Available at: https://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/8004 4. Mendez
Lopez MG. Emotions in learning a foreign language: its
impact on motivation. Rev Intern Foreign Language [Internet]. 2016 [cited 05/28/2019];(5):[approx.

20 p.]. Available at: https://www.raco.cat/index.php/RILE/article/view/316761

5. Mena Benet T. Affective factors that influence the learning of a foreign language: motivation [thesis].
Oviedo: University of Oviedo; 2013. Available at: http://digibuo.uniovi.es/dspace/bitstream/
10651/18314/6/TFM_%20MenaBenet.pdf

Declaration of interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Contribution of the authors

Naliet Angel Rodriguez: analyzed the information and wrote the article.
Georgete García Hernández, Tatiana García Fernández, José Mata Loy: searched for the information
and analyzed it.

This article is published under the Creative Commons license

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