"An L2 Education without Love is not Education at All": a phenomenographic study of undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of pedagogical love

Abstract The role of pedagogical love in second language (L2) education has long remained under-explored due to dogmatic religious and cultural beliefs. There is insufficient scholarship on this construct at undergraduate levels. To bridge this gap, the present study employed a phenomenographic desi...

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Main Authors: Farhad Ghiasvand, Pardis Sharifpour
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2024-03-01
Series:Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-023-00233-1
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author Farhad Ghiasvand
Pardis Sharifpour
author_facet Farhad Ghiasvand
Pardis Sharifpour
author_sort Farhad Ghiasvand
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The role of pedagogical love in second language (L2) education has long remained under-explored due to dogmatic religious and cultural beliefs. There is insufficient scholarship on this construct at undergraduate levels. To bridge this gap, the present study employed a phenomenographic design to uncover Iranian undergraduate students’ perceptions of pedagogical love and its features, realizations, and determinant factors. It invited 22 undergraduate L2 learners to attend a semi-structured interview and complete a narrative frame. The results of content and thematic analysis attained through MAXQDA software (v. 20) revealed that the participants had different perceptions of pedagogical love. They considered it as a non-romantic intimacy and respect, deep care for students and their emotions, and pure love based on mutual trust. Furthermore, it was found that pedagogical love is essential for L2 education as characterized by a mutual trust and respect, kindness, care, bonding, intimacy, and forgiveness. Regarding its realizations, the results demonstrated that pedagogical love shows itself through intimacy, classroom engagement/participation, confidence, academic performance, and mutual care, respect, and responsibility. Moreover, it was identified that teachers’ emotional literacy, teachers’ pedagogical expertise, and positive classroom rapport facilitated the implementation of loving pedagogy at undergraduate level. Finally, the findings indicated that loving pedagogy practice was mostly precluded by strict religious beliefs, stigmatizing socio-cultural norms, emotion expression, fear, and traditional educational systems. Implications for L2 teachers and educators are discussed to augment their understanding of pedagogical love, as an opportunity to grasp the emotional side of language education.
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spelling doaj.art-5c245831d3244f4c8b4b5a596f8493112024-03-17T12:17:22ZengSpringerOpenAsian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education2363-51692024-03-019112410.1186/s40862-023-00233-1"An L2 Education without Love is not Education at All": a phenomenographic study of undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of pedagogical loveFarhad Ghiasvand0Pardis Sharifpour1Allameh Tabataba’i UniversityAllameh Tabataba’i UniversityAbstract The role of pedagogical love in second language (L2) education has long remained under-explored due to dogmatic religious and cultural beliefs. There is insufficient scholarship on this construct at undergraduate levels. To bridge this gap, the present study employed a phenomenographic design to uncover Iranian undergraduate students’ perceptions of pedagogical love and its features, realizations, and determinant factors. It invited 22 undergraduate L2 learners to attend a semi-structured interview and complete a narrative frame. The results of content and thematic analysis attained through MAXQDA software (v. 20) revealed that the participants had different perceptions of pedagogical love. They considered it as a non-romantic intimacy and respect, deep care for students and their emotions, and pure love based on mutual trust. Furthermore, it was found that pedagogical love is essential for L2 education as characterized by a mutual trust and respect, kindness, care, bonding, intimacy, and forgiveness. Regarding its realizations, the results demonstrated that pedagogical love shows itself through intimacy, classroom engagement/participation, confidence, academic performance, and mutual care, respect, and responsibility. Moreover, it was identified that teachers’ emotional literacy, teachers’ pedagogical expertise, and positive classroom rapport facilitated the implementation of loving pedagogy at undergraduate level. Finally, the findings indicated that loving pedagogy practice was mostly precluded by strict religious beliefs, stigmatizing socio-cultural norms, emotion expression, fear, and traditional educational systems. Implications for L2 teachers and educators are discussed to augment their understanding of pedagogical love, as an opportunity to grasp the emotional side of language education.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-023-00233-1EFL studentL2 educationPositive psychologyPedagogical lovePhenomenographic researchUndergraduate student
spellingShingle Farhad Ghiasvand
Pardis Sharifpour
"An L2 Education without Love is not Education at All": a phenomenographic study of undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of pedagogical love
Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education
EFL student
L2 education
Positive psychology
Pedagogical love
Phenomenographic research
Undergraduate student
title "An L2 Education without Love is not Education at All": a phenomenographic study of undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of pedagogical love
title_full "An L2 Education without Love is not Education at All": a phenomenographic study of undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of pedagogical love
title_fullStr "An L2 Education without Love is not Education at All": a phenomenographic study of undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of pedagogical love
title_full_unstemmed "An L2 Education without Love is not Education at All": a phenomenographic study of undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of pedagogical love
title_short "An L2 Education without Love is not Education at All": a phenomenographic study of undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of pedagogical love
title_sort an l2 education without love is not education at all a phenomenographic study of undergraduate efl students perceptions of pedagogical love
topic EFL student
L2 education
Positive psychology
Pedagogical love
Phenomenographic research
Undergraduate student
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-023-00233-1
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