Verbal communication of emotion in foreign language and intercultural learning

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In 2022, face-to-face focus-group discussions were finally held at two different universities, and data was collected as scheduled. The preliminary results were discussed at two international conferences in the hope to shed some light on the way English language learners verbally communicate their emotions when using English as a lingua franca in an intercultural setting.For the focus group discussions, three viral videos were carefully chosen as emotion-eliciting stimuli in order to assess how English language learners use verbal language to express their emotions while and after watching the videos. The results showed that none of the participants chose to verbally express their emotions while watching the videos. However, the group discussions revealed that participants experienced a range of emotions while watching the videos, but they refrained from reactive responses. Some of the reasons for the lack of verbal expression of emotion could be: lack of knowledge regarding the linguistic forms commonly used; lack of formal instruction regarding expressive linguistic forms; lack of exposure to English; lack of everyday socialization in English; individual differences and dominant L1 emotional behavior. Teaching expressive language that could be used in a variety of settings, or teaching the appropriate approach to expressing certain emotions in order to avoid appearing insensitive could help students become more aware about the use of the appropriate expressive linguistic forms and such.