Examining the Effects of Emotioncy-based Teaching on the Emotions of Non-Iranian Female Persian Language Learners in Iran

Granted that senses and emotions are key components in facilitating the process of language learning and teaching, it is essential for different models of instruction to take language learners’ emotions into account. It is in fact believed that emotions could be generated from the involvement of senses. A pertinent concept which juxtaposes senses and their resultant emotions is emotioncy. The concept of emotioncy (emotion), pioneered by Pishghadam, Tabatabaeyan, and Navari (2013), is based on the psychological findings of the Developmental Individual-Differences Relationship-based (DIR) model, suggesting that sensory emotions are the cornerstones of evolution and learning. Following the assumptions of this model, when a language learner has never heard of a concept/item, s/he has no emotions for it (Null emotioncy). When s/he hears about the concept/item, the degree of emotioncy for that word increases to the auditory level, and if s/he sees or touches that item, the emotioncy may surpasses the auditory level to the Visual and Kinesthetic levels, respectively. Direct involvement with the concept/item engenders Inner emotioncy which can be maximized by doing research (Arch emotioncy). At this stage, an accurate understanding of the subject will be formed which may lead to profound learning. Drawing upon the emotioncy model, in this study, the researchers made an attempt to teach a number of Persian language issues and, thereafter investigate the effect of this model on the emotions of the Persian language learners and their learning outcomes. To do so, 60 non-Iranian female students with the same Persian level (7th grade) from 16 different countries (including India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Madagascar, Burundi, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Libya, Tajikistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Guinea-Bissau, Syria, and Indonesia) who were studying at Al-Mostafa International University were categorized into 4 groups of 15 and participated in classes for a period of 6 weeks. Different concepts were taught during each session according to each level of emotioncy. At the end of each session, the learners’ emotions were evaluated via the academic emotions questionnaire Pekrun, 2002) and emotioncy scale (Pishghadam, 2015). The results related to the auditory session revealed that the learners did not show very positive emotions for the relevant subject. Yet, their emotions improved in the Visual session. The change in the emotions of the learners from negative to positive was also evident in the kinesthetic session. At this stage, learners were more actively involved with the subject and gave convincing reasons for their emotional experiences. In the fifth session (Inner), having brought the necessary and relevant instruments to the class, the instructor asked the learners to simulate the instructed subject. In the final session (Arch), the learners were asked to explore the resources available (cyberspace, library, etc.) about the topics taught during the fifth session. Overall, the results indicated significant differences in the emotions of non-Iranian female students, concluding that by involving senses in the process of teaching, the learners’ emotioncy level increases and positive emotions are thus produced. As a result, there was a positive correlation between emotioncy-based instruction and the amount of positive emotions on the part of non-Iranian Persian language learners. Taken together, the emotioncy model seems to help enhance the positive emotions of Persian language learners, providing a more successful learning environment for them.