The Effect of Emotional Affect in L2 Lexical Learning

Abstract

Previous studies have found a facilitative memory effect for emotional content words in both L1 and L2 speakers (Rubin & Friendly, 1986; Anooshian & Hertel, 1994; Altarriba & Bauer, 2004; Ayiçiçegi-Dinn & Caldwell-Harris, 2009). The present study investigates how emotional affect, activated through visual and auditory cues, effects L2 Spanish speakers’ acquisition of novel lexical items. Data from Picture Matching and Naming tasks suggest that positive emotional context has a facilitative effect on learners’ recognition and recall of target items when compared to the emotionally neutral or negative contexts. The implication of these results in L2 pedagogy suggests that lexical acquisition and retention can be enhanced by the incorporation of course materials with a positive emotional drive.