Cluster 3: Feeling

In contrast to Cluster 1, which highlights action, and Cluster 2, which highlights cognition, two of Cluster 3’s three positively loaded features are affective (Positive Emotion, Anxiety, ), with Positive Emotion by far the most strongly loaded (see Figure 4 for significant features). The other significant positive feature, Insight, contains cognitive words related to learning, knowing, and understanding. Negatively loaded categories in this cluster are

Discrepancy, Tentativeness, Inclusivity, Exclusivity, Motion, Space, and Time. In other words, apart from the single cognitive category Insight, the action and thinking words that characterized the first two clusters occur infrequently in Cluster 3, while emotion takes center stage in these interviews. A sample interview text from a Cluster 3 student is included in Appendix C. In the positive emotion category, the most common words are good (136), like* (135), and improve* (133; see Table 17 for frequent words in the positively loaded categories). Good is

sometimes used to refer to English proficiency or specific English skills (“I think I’m quite good

at it,” “actually I was pretty good at grammar because of my background,” “I do actually get good at reading because I build very large vocabulary”) or is used to describe feelings about

good feeling,” “I’m feeling good to use English”). Students also describe a variety of

circumstances and beliefs about English learning with good: “I think if you want to be good at a

language you have to keep practicing it,” “music was a good way to help us learn,” “this is good

for you to find a job.” Like* is used both to discuss aspects of English learning that students like

(“I like languages so I think I like English,” “I like learning English because I could watch

Hollywood movie or drama without subtitles,” “I like to learning English because I like to talk

with people,” “I do like writing, I’m writing a blog as well”) as well as things they would like to

do (“I would like to speak in English on campus,” “I would like to be able to talk in a more

correct way”). Improv* can refer to past, present, or future improvements: “I think I really really improved the first weeks,” “you see you are improving and that’s nice to see,” “I try to improve

my writing skill also,” “reading novels good idea to improve my reading skills,” “I’d like to improve my intonation.”

Figure 4. Significant Features of Cluster 3

posemo, 0.413332432 anx, 0.24572 insight, 0.201516486 discrep, -0.218722703 tentat, -0.415655405 incl, -0.204828378 excl, -0.384614865 motion, -0.153397027 space, -0.367872432 time, -0.211124324 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0 5 10 15 20 25

While Positive Emotion has many frequently occurring words, the Anxiety category has just a few words in total; where these words occur, therefore, they must be considered

significant. Words such as confus* (9), nervous (9), shy (6), and afraid (5) mainly describe

occasional or temporary negative feelings about English learning: “I get confused sometimes,”

“many times I feel confused about what they are talking about,” “I feel a little nervous from time

to time especially when I give presentations in English,” “I’m quite a shy person so I don’t speak

a lot unless I’m forced to,” “in the beginning I’m a little afraid of speaking with others.”

Interestingly, of asham*’s five occurrences, four were produced by one student, meaning that it

was quite infrequent among most of the students of Cluster 3. Table 17 Positive Psychosocial Features of Cluster 3

Positive Emotion Anxiety Insight

good (136) confus* (9) learn* (493)

like* (135) nervous (9) think* (481)

improv* (133) shy (6) know* (230)

friend* (82) afraid (5) feel* (91)

well (63) ashamed (5) understand* (91)

better (60) uncomfortable (4) remember* (40)

ok (60) awkward (3) find* (38)

important (55) crazy (3) memor* (28)

interest* (33) scar* (3) mean* (20)

love* (24) pressur* (2) explain* (19)

comfort* (23) stress* (2) reason* (18)

easy (23) worried (2) question* (17)

confiden* (22) avoid (1) sense* (13)

helpful (19) embarrassed (1) prefer* (12)

sure (19) fear* (1) become* (11)

useful (19) miserable (1) relat* (11)

best (14) choose* (9)

helps (13) idea* (9)

hope* (12) figur* (7)

The Insight words of Cluster 3 are quite similar (though proportionally less frequent) to those used by students in Cluster 2: learn* (493), think* (481), and know* (230) are the most

common, followed by feel* (91) and understand* (91). These words are used to describe the

general process or experience of language learning, as well as students’ opinions about language learning through I think: “I think we only learn about this very very superficial English in middle

school,” “I didn’t do anything specific to learn grammar,” “before I came here I think learning

English is like agh, it’s horrible,” “I love English so much so I can learn it by myself,” “I think I

didn’t waste much time in learning English.”

Although Cluster 3 students attend to the learning and knowing cognitive processes, they score low in the Cognitive Mechanisms categories that signal hedging, demurring, or dissonance (Discrepancy, Tentativeness, Inclusivity, Exclusivity). This relative lack of Insight features, which were used frequently among Cluster 2 students to elaborate their thoughts or provide alternative explanations, suggests that these students feel less need to explain circumstances or expand on hypothetical situations. Their L2 learning experience is presented as more

straightforward, with fewer appearances of but, just, not, or, if, maybe, need, and kind of to

clarify or expound (or perhaps excuse). Cluster 3 students also score low in the motion, space, and time categories so important in Cluster 1; they dwell instead on their positive feelings toward English and their beliefs about the learning process.

Overall, Cluster 3 is differentiated from the other clusters by its emphasis on affect and insight. It seems quite significant that Positive Emotion occurs together with Anxiety (but not

Negative Emotion), since these features do not appear at first to be complementary or cooperative. These students may simply focus more on emotion in general than the other students, since neither Cluster 1 nor Cluster 2 students scored strongly on any kind of emotion

(and both scored low on Positive Emotion). Also, the appearance of Sadness and Anxiety words does not necessarily imply negativity, since we saw above that in many cases such words

describe specific situations or do not refer to the learner herself. This co-occurrence suggests that Cluster 3 students attend to both positive and negative emotions in the language learning process, but the much greater prevalence of Positive Emotion words points to a generally positive

relationship with English learning.

The prominence of affective categories in Cluster 3, paired with an attention to thinking and learning, suggests that these students’ L2 learning experience is based on an ability to notice and regulate their emotions related to L2 learning. While other students did not refer much to their emotions at all, Cluster 3 students acknowledged both positive and potentially negative feelings, but on balance were able to maintain an overall positive outlook. They may have the emotional maturity to understand that language learning anxiety can be overcome if it is

acknowledged and dealt with, and they seem to be more willing to admit such feelings during the L2 experience interview. This self-awareness and self-regulatory capacity forms a very

interesting strand of the L2 learning experience, one that may be quite facilitative in the arduous and emotionally-intensive process of L2 acquisition.