Emotions from a Bilingual Point of View

This highly original work sheds new light on the effects of immersion and L2 socialization on perception and expression of emotions in the L1 and L2. It also highlights the relationship between personality traits and self-perceived L2 proficiency, and perception and expression of emotions in both languages.

This research represents a relatively new topic overall in Second Language Acquisition. The issues of emotions in relation to L2 constitute an original element which will certainly be of growing interest in the field. It joins the developing literature on L2 acquisition and emotion which has already demonstrated that knowledge of another language/s and socialisation into L2 culture brings cognitive changes in expression of emotions and impacts on thought and perception. Ożańska-Ponikwia uses an interdisciplinary approach from psychology and SLA to respond to the research questions posed. This research also adds to our knowledge about immersion in a foreign language and culture, ad personality and L2 knowledge which it is shown to have an effect on how emotions are perceived and expressed. It deals with the mutual relationship between L2 proficiency and personality and overall gives a more nuanced picture of acquisition through the lens of the role of emotions, dealing with multiple factors such as gender, time abroad, and their effect on the perception of L1 emotions. All of this is supported by interesting quantitative results.