Emotion in adult learing

Abstract

Aim: Of particular interest to this research are migrant students’ emotional states in the courses Swedish for foreigners (in Swedish “Svenska för invandrare” or SFI Swedish for immigrants) and their learning process, including types of emotions, reasons for the occurrence of these emotions, and the influence these emotions may have on learning. The study has an overarching research aim that incorporates identifying the main types of emotional states of SFI migrant students in Sweden, analysis of the dependency of emotional states of students on their studies, socialization, and integration. Theory: The theoretical perspective of the study is a cognitive group of theories in Psychology. The specific theoretical framework selected for the study is based on the theory of emotions as put forward by several researchers. Five theories of emotion were commun for the study including the Lange (1900) Wundt (1920) Plutchik(2006) Izard(2017), and Ekman (still alive). The selected theory will guide the study for both formulating the research problem and research questions, as well as for analysing the results. These theories provide various types of emotions that the stud, will utilize throughout the thesis. Method: The study is qualitative by nature with the type being Grounded Theory (GT). Semi-structured ethnographic interview design, among other things, was adopted to gain deeper insight into the cultural aspects of the problem. The duration of each interview was 45-60 minutes each. The sampling technique used for the study is 3 purposeful sampling method using several selection criteria such as migrant status, official engagement in SFI studies, age (only Iranian adult migrant student participate in the research). Results: Emotions do play a significant role in the educational processes of adults, and in SFI specifically. While the SFI system appears to focus on teaching, it seems little attention is paid to the adult learners’ biographies. Such inattention impacts adult students’ learning process at SFI. Also, the results indicate that the results indicate that due to a lack of consideration by SFI of the students’ emotion, prevents achieving the sustainability goals socialization and integration.