Dorota Zaborska
Waseda University
I am an assistant professor at Heian Jogakuin (St. Agnes') University in Kyoto, Japan, and currently a PhD candidate at Waseda University. I have been teaching English at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels since 2002. My main research theme is the psychology of language learning, motivation, and learning foreign languages in the third age. Through the lens of positive psychology, I explore the concept of savouring, the capacities to consciously attend to positive experiences in one’s life. I investigate how such capacities of thirdagers in their language studies result in positive effects on their overall wellbeing.
Sessions
Waseda University Graduate Student Showcase
Thirdagers savouring foreign language learning Dorota ZABORSKA I investigate thirdage learners’ experiences of learning foreign languages through the lens of positive psychology. Drawing on interview data I explore connections between the savouring of language learning, overall wellbeing, and how these contribute to so-called successful ageing. Perspective shifts through a high-school social issues research project Aya HAYASAKI This study explores how participation in an English-medium social issues project changes the values and career choices high-school students in a rural region of Japan, and what socio-cultural factors and emotions are involved in the process. The resilience process of Japanese university students over EMI Akiko KIYOTA This study explores resilience and emotions emerging during an EMI course. Tracking university students taking EMI courses, using participants’ weekly reflective journals, interview data, and class observation field notes, the presenter will discuss preliminary results from her pilot study.