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1
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The self as a complex dynamic system

100%
Mercer S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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2011
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vol. 1
|
issue 1
57-82
EN
This article explores the potential offered by complexity theories for understanding language learners’ sense of self and attempts to show how the self might usefully be conceived of as a complex dynamic system. Rather than presenting empirical findings, the article discusses existent research on the self and aims at outlining a conceptual perspective that may inform future studies into the self and possibly other individual learner differences. The article concludes by critically considering the merits of a complexity perspective but also reflecting on the challenges it poses for research.
2
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Working with language learner histories from three perspectives: Teachers, learners and researchers

100%
Mercer S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
|
2013
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vol. 3
|
issue 2
161-185
EN
In the present investigation, 15 first term university students were faced with 80 context-based idioms in English (L2) and Swedish (L1) respectively, 30 of which were in the source domain of animals, commonly used in both languages, and asked to explain their meaning. The idioms were of varying frequency and transparency. Three main research questions were thus addressed:1. How well do students master idioms in their L2 as compared to their L1?2. How do (a) degrees of transparency, (b) idiom frequency and (c) the choice of source domain affect students’ L1 and L2 comprehension?3. To what extent is context used when interpreting L1 and L2 idioms?Results show that while the frequency of an idiom does not appear to play a part in whether it is comprehended or not in either language, the degree of transparency is of great importance in students’ L2. Also, students make extensive use of context in their L2.
3
Publication available in full text mode
Content available

The self as a complex dynamic system

100%
Mercer S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
|
2011
|
vol. 1
|
issue 1
57-82
EN
This article explores the potential offered by complexity theories for understanding language learners’ sense of self and attempts to show how the self might usefully be conceived of as a complex dynamic system. Rather than presenting empirical findings, the article discusses existent research on the self and aims at outlining a conceptual perspective that may inform future studies into the self and possibly other individual learner differences. The article concludes by critically considering the merits of a complexity perspective but also reflecting on the challenges it poses for research.
4
Publication available in full text mode
Content available

Working with language learner histories from three perspectives: Teachers, learners and researchers

100%
Mercer S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
|
2013
|
vol. 3
|
issue 2
161-185
EN
Recent developments in SLA, such as learner-centredness, social constructivism, the postmethod era, and complexity perspectives, have highlighted the need for more localized, situated understandings of teaching and learning and greater recognition of learner individuality and diversity. In this article, I suggest an effective way of meeting these needs is to employ learner histories. This powerful form of writing allows learners to use their L2 to engage in authentic, personally meaningful communication with others about their identities, experiences, perceptions and emotions related to their language learning histories. As a text type, they are able to facilitate a more holistic perspective of the learner’s life and reveal the unique interconnections that an individual makes across various domains. They also enable the situated, contextualised and dynamic nature of their learning experiences to become apparent and provide learners with a genuine, motivating purpose for writing. Exploring data generated in Austria with tertiary-level EFL learners, I seek to illustrate some of the rich potential of these text types from three perspectives, namely, those of the teacher, learner and researcher.
5
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Editorial

63%
Lämmerer A., Mercer S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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2019
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vol. 9
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issue 3
447-449
EN
This collection of papers has emerged from the Language Education across Borders conference held at the University of Graz, Austria in 2017 (see also Kostoulas, 2019). In the age of translanguaging, multilingualism, multiculturalism, globalization, international migration, transnationalism, and the blending of content and language education, there is an ever greater need in language education to reflect on the interconnections and overlap between languages, disciplines, constructs, and contexts that have traditionally been conceptualized in bounded ways. Instead, professional and personal domains have got increasingly permeable boundaries leading to emergent qualities that require new ways of theorizing, researching and teaching. The idea behind the conference was to promote interdisciplinary exchange and encourage people to challenge the notions of borders of all kinds. The aim was to promote discourse and exchange and re-think the fragmentation and separation imposed by borders – real or imagined. It was hoped that by prompting people to reflect on the kinds of borders that bound their research and practice, we would be challenged to think outside of these borders and find the rich, creative space that can lead to innovation and fresh perspectives on the familiar.
6
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Editorial

63%
Mercer S., Ryan S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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2015
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vol. 5
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issue 3
367-369
EN
Editorial
7
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Editorial

63%
Mercer S., Ryan S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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2015
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vol. 5
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issue 2
199-203
EN
The various papers that make up this special issue of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching have emerged from the first Psychology in Language Learning (PLL) conference, which took place in May 2014 at the University of Graz, Austria. We would like to open this special issue-the first of a series of two-by discussing that conference’s background, its focus, and its possible future in the hope that such a discussion will clarify our current aims and scope in this special issue. The original impetus for organising the conference came from a book that we, the editors of this special issue, were privileged to edit (Mercer, Ryan, & Williams, 2012). The rationale behind that book was to bring together different areas of language learning psychology within a single volume. The experience of working on the book in conjunction with so many distinguished scholars from around the world convinced us of the potential of an approach that emphasises the commonality between various strands of research that had previously been developing in isolation from each other. Many subareas of our field, such as motivation, autonomy, self, identity, strategy use, and beliefs, have existed as separate communities, with little exploration of the interplay and connections between these closely related areas. Our aim in organising the 2014 conference was to build on the momentum of the book by creating a shared space that would facilitate exchange, and providing opportunities to explore and expand upon how these different areas are interlinked. A secondary aim was to reinterpret the word psychology within the context of foreign language education. For so long, psychology has been closely associated with cognitive processes in second language acquisition and with psycholinguistics, but in our book, the conference, and in this special issue, we are seeking to specifically foreground social and educational psychology themes. Language learning is primarily a social and educational activity and we feel that these dimensions also need to be reflected in how we frame discussions of the psychology of learning a second or foreign language.
8
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Introducing positive psychology to SLA

63%
MacIntyre P. D., Mercer S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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2014
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vol. 4
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issue 2
153-172
EN
This paper introducespositive psychology to the study of language by describing its key tenets.
9
Content available remote

Editorial

63%
Ryan S., Mercer S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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2013
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vol. 3
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issue 3
337-341
EN
Much of the foreign language learning experience appears to involve the imagination: imagining other ways of life, other ways of viewing the world and talking about it, imagining unfamiliar places, meeting new people there and making new friends. However, as teachers and researchers, we know very little about how learners employ their imaginations to do any of these things nor do we know how to best utilize learners’ imaginations to facilitate their language learning. In this special issue of Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, we hope to highlight the growing scholarly interest in the role of imagination in foreign language learning and bring together diverse strands of research with a view to stimulating a future research agenda. Our own experiences as researchers and teachers have convinced us of the power of imagination in learning processes and it is our hope that this collection of papers will offer a forum for the sharing of ideas and promoting interest in what we believe to be a central aspect of the language learning experience.
10
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Introducing positive psychology to SLA

63%
Mercer S., MacIntyre P. D.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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2014
|
vol. 4
|
issue 2
153-172
EN
Positive psychology is a rapidly expanding subfield in psychology that has important implications for the field of second language acquisition (SLA). This paper introduces positive psychology to the study of language by describing its key tenets. The potential contributions of positive psychology are contextualized with reference to prior work, including the humanistic movement in language teaching, models of motivation, the concept of an affective filter, studies of the good language learner, and the concepts related to the self. There are reasons for both encouragement and caution as studies inspired by positive psychology are undertaken. Papers in this special issue of SSLLT cover a range of quantitative and qualitative methods with implications for theory, research, and teaching practice. The special issue serves as a springboard for future research in SLA under the umbrella of positive psychology.
11
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Reflections on complexity: TESOL researchers reflect on their experiences

63%
Kostoulas A. I., Mercer S.
Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition
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2018
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vol. 4
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issue 2
EN
Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), or complexity, is increasingly being used as a theoretical framework in Applied Linguistics. In this article, we present the reflections of researchers in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) about how they have made use of complexity in their work. The aim of this article is to take stock of how it is being used in the field, the challenges and benefits it provides, as well as inspiration for future work from this theoretical perspective. In the first part of the article, we present a concise overview of CDST, focusing specifically on three salient features: its holistic lens, its non-linear perspective on causality, and its focus on emergence and self-organisation. We also take stock of how complexity perspectives have been used to inform research in a variety of applied linguistics topics. We then move on to present narratives provided by nine academics who have employed CDST in their work, which we synthesise with a view to showing how the theory has gradually developed in TESOL. Early encounters of the field with CDST were usually serendipitous, but the theory has so far proved to be useful, both on account of its descriptive power and because of its phenomenological validity. A common theme in the narratives of these experiences of complexity researchers is that complexity is associated with a steep learning curve, compounded by terminological opacity, and conceptual challenges. However, their responses also indicate optimism regarding the potential of the theory to inform research in TESOL and applied linguistics more generally.
12
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Using Q methodology to investigate pre-service EFL teachers’ mindsets about teaching competences

51%
Irie K., Ryan S., Mercer S.
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
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2018
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vol. 8
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issue 3
575-598
EN
This paper reports on a study investigating the mindsets of 51 pre-service teachers at an Austrian university using Q methodology. Despite the recent growth in interest in the concept of mindsets, little research has addressed the mindsets of teachers – most of it focusing on the mindsets of learners – and the research that does investigate teachers tends to focus on beliefs about learning or intelligence. This study offers a new perspective by focusing on teachers’ beliefs about their own teaching competences. A further aim of the study is to expand the methodological repertoire in language education researchers. This study considers the potential of Q methodology, a research approach used widely in social sciences and education, but, as yet, rare in this field. The data indicate that the most common mindset among the pre-service teachers is one based around a strong belief in the learnability of the more technical aspects of teaching, while interpersonal skills tend to be regarded as more of a natural talent fixed within the individual. One practical implication of this finding is that teacher education programmes may need to pay more attention to explicitly developing the interpersonal side of teaching. A further finding was that teacher mindsets are constructed through individuals’ management of various sets of implicit theories and tend not to conform to the established dichotomous model of mindsets.  
13
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Positive Language Education: Combining Positive Education and Language Education

51%
Mercer S., MacIntyre P., Gregersen T., Talbot K.
Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition
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2018
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vol. 4
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issue 2
EN
In this paper, we discuss the notion of Positive Language Education (PLE), which stems from a combination of Positive Education and Language Education. We suggest that there are good reasons for language educators to engage in enhancing 21st century skills alongside the promotion of linguistic skills. One key set of 21st century competences that would have academic and non-academic benefits are those which promote wellbeing. Wellbeing is indeed the foundation for effective learning and a good life more generally. Drawing on ideas from Content and Integrated Language Learning and Positive Education, PLE involves integrating non-linguistic and linguistic aims in sustainable ways which do not compromise the development of either skill set, or overburden educators. We believe that there are strong foundations on which to build a framework of PLE. Firstly, many language teachers already promote many wellbeing competences, in order to facilitate language learning. There is also a growing body of research on Positive Psychology in Second Language Acquisition on which further empirical work with PLE interventions can be developed. Building on the theoretical arguments put forward in this paper, we call for an empirically validated framework of PLE, which can be implemented in diverse cultural and linguistic settings.
14
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The Role of Compassion during the Shift to Online Teaching for Language Teacher Wellbeing

45%
Mairitsch A., Babic S., Mercer S., Sulis G., Shin S.
Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition
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2023
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vol. 9
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issue 1
1-22
EN
Research on compassion has received increasing attention over the past decades (Seppälä et al., 2017). However, empirical studies focusing on the role of compassion for teachers still remain sparse to date. This paper reports on a study designed to investigate the wellbeing of 21 language teachers across the globe during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In particular, the study sought out to examine the ways in which compassion and self-compassion contributed to the wellbeing of language teachers during this time. Data were generated through in-depth, semi-structured individual online interviews and were analyzed from a Grounded Theory perspective (Charmaz, 2006). Findings revealed that acts of compassion in the workplace and in the private lives of the teachers played a crucial role in shaping our participants’ wellbeing during this time of crisis. Furthermore, self-compassion emerged as an important factor influencing the wellbeing of teachers during the pandemic crisis. Indeed, compassion and self-compassion served as core elements in their teaching and appeared to affect their relationships with their students, colleagues, and headteachers. In the absence of compassion, the stressful and challenging situation they were already experiencing was exacerbated. These findings imply the potential benefits of compassion and self-compassion training for teachers, administrators, and policymakers to support and promote wellbeing in the educational workplace.
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