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Emotions regulate social interactions from early in ontogeny, but are difficult to assess in young children. Previous studies used body posture to measure emotion expressions, employing depth-sensor imaging cameras. Advances in artificial intelligence allow researchers to track posture from existing videos. The reported studies explored the feasibility of OpenPose to capture children's emotional expressions. In Study 1, we analysed posture data from previous studies and found that children's expressed valence was positively related to changes in upper-body expansion whereas expressed arousal was related to overall movement. In Study 2, children (n = 64, 5-10 years) recalled emotional episodes of ‘happiness', ‘sadness', ‘pride', and ‘shame'. There were no effects of specific emotion categories on posture changes, but exploratory analyses revealed that recalling positive emotions yielded greater changes in upper-body expansion compared to negative emotions. Together, these results suggest that the valence and arousal of expressed emotions can be captured using OpenPose.

Research over the past decades has demonstrated the explanatory power of emotions, feelings, motivations, moods, and other affective processes when trying to understand and predict how we think and behave. In this consensus article, we ask: has the increasingly recognized impact of affective phenomena ushered in a new era, the era of affectivism?

Based on theories of emotion contagion and social appraisal in interpersonal affect transfer and the control-value theory of achievement emotions, the present study examined associations between students' perceptions of peer emotions and their own self-perceived emotions in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms. Data were collected from 103 seventh to ninth grade classrooms (n = 3,643) using self-report questionnaires. Doubly latent multilevel structural equation modeling showed that perceived peer enjoyment, anxiety and boredom, and students' corresponding emotions for language learning, were positively related and that the effects of perceived peer enjoyment, anxiety and boredom on corresponding student emotions were mediated by control and value appraisals at the individual level. At the class level, however, the mediation effects were only significant for control appraisal as a mediator of effects on anxiety and value appraisal as a mediator of effects on boredom. Effects were robust across grade level, gender and previous language achievement. The discussion centers on the practical implications of peer emotion interactions for promoting foreign language development in classroom instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a research project in which volunteers, self-selected from IALS students preparing for one or more of the Cambridge English Examinations, kept journals. Following guidelines, they reflected on their in-class and outside-of-class experiences in the 8 weeks leading up to the exams. They also attended four biweekly meetings with researchers. Study data included the journals, audiotapes of the meetings, and coding sheets that coded information from the meetings. Results highlighted the inadequacy of the notions of "anxiety" and "strategy," which are commonly used by journal researchers. Overall, the students had thought quite a bit about at least some of the issues relating to their learning. They were actively reviewing their behavior; analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, and preferences; and making principled choices. They were all articulate and self-aware, and they were not in need of life-changing advice. (Contains 23 references.) (SM)

This article considers arguments for and against the use of coding systems in classroom-based language research and touches on some relevant considerations from ethnographic and conversational analysis approaches. The four authors each explain and elaborate on their practical decision to code or not to code events or utterances at a specific point in a specific research project. Three of the researchers have chosen mixed research designs, of which two involve some coding at the data collection stage, the third only as part of later analysis. The fourth researcher concentrates on the data collection stage and offers a five-part rationale for not coding at this stage. (Contains 51 references.) (Author/MSE)

A system for classifying (coding) translations of sentence-length or similar material is presented and illustrated with codings of entries in the "Dictionary of Foreign Phrases and Classical Quotations." Problems in coding are discussed, relating especially to intertextuality, intention, and ownership. The system is intended for pedagogic use, and the place of such classifying activities within advanced second language courses involving translation is considered. Using this approach, students are encouraged to adopt a relatively non-judgmental, descriptive attitude toward particular translations, but also to question the general ideology of a book such as the one analyzed here and to explore implications for their own learning. (Contains 26 references.) (Author/MSE)

The use of text classification as a strategy in the training of translators is discussed. Frequently, translator trainees are required to complete a text profile classifying the text on dimensions such as purpose, formality, difficulty, and emotional tone. It is argued that the empirical basis for such classification is very shaky, but could be made more secure by three types of experiments: (1) verification of validity and interrater reliability on the categories used; (2) tests of statistical and logical (or psychological) interdependence of the various dimensions; and (3) examination of the extent to which translators at various levels actually use text analysis when making decisions about translation. (Contains 13 references.) (Author/MSE)

This paper describes a collaborative project that sought to combine teacher development and illuminative research. Eight teachers on a general English course, working in pairs, observed each other's lessons and then held discussions, which were recorded and analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Published coding systems were used by the teachers during the observation of their colleague's lesson, while a two-dimensional coding system (covering topics and speech acts) was developed for the quantitative analysis of the post-lesson discussions. Teachers reported that the opportunity to observe their colleagues was very valuable, and that the published coding systems were useful, though at times constraining. The coding system designed to analyze the discussions, though found to be unreliable on the speech act dimension, proved helpful in illuminating patterns of interaction. (Contains 20 references.) (MDM)

Eight subjects who had used "study packs" in their learning of French and Italian were interviewed by colleagues of the teachers who wrote them. This article presents an analysis of attempts at an ethnographic interviewing strategy, entailing an open-ended approach and adoption of an 'outsider' role. A coding system designed to measure 'ethnographicity,' with sample codings and descriptive statistics, is presented, together with subjective analyses of sample interviews. The surprising and highly provisional conclusion is that insider interviews can sometimes achieve similar results to ethnographers, but by rather different means. Contains 4 references. (Author)

This paper describes learner response, as indicated by questionnaires, to a package of tape-based listening materials in French, Spanish and Italian. The learners were in "community classes" (2 hours per week) at a wide variety of levels. Their response was, in general, cautiously favorable, and indicates the general acceptability of such materials, but also the need for supplementation with study packs for home use. The concept of listening strategies was widely understood by the learners, although the strategies consciously used were of limited range. (Author)