A feel-good digital practice - Improving social emotional wellbeing through dialogue in Turkish tertiary context

Oct 15, 2026

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Positive psychology treats happiness as a core educational goal, motivating this study to test whether a dialogic second language (L2) intervention in an interactive digital setting can enhance young adult learners’ social emotional wellbeing. Conducted in Türkiye’s highly competitive public university foundation year, the embedded experimental design integrates qualitative evidence with an experiment. Eighty-seven learners completed the Psychological Wellbeing Scale at the start and end of a 14-week program. The experimental group used L2 dialogic discussion of critical and taboo issues via Google Classroom plus regular instruction, with specially designed dialogues.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Theoretical Background

Building Blocks of Social-emotional Wellbeing in L2 Education

Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics ISSN 2209-0959 [https://www.castledown.com/journals/ajal/](https://www.castledown.com/journals/ajal/) Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8 (2), 102502 (2025) [https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v8n2.102502](https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v8n2.102502) A feel-good digital practice: Improving social emotional wellbeing through dialogue in Turkish tertiary context1 NALAN ŞANa DERIN ATAYb aTESOL Instructor and Researcher, Istanbul Technical University, Türkiye Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics, Bahçeşehir University, Türkiye b Professor of Applied Linguistics, Bahçeşehir University, Türkiye Abstract The fundamental principle of positive psychology relies on the fact that becoming a happier person should be among the primary objectives of any educational activity. Adopting this basic tenet, this study aims to investigate whether a dialogic second language (L2) intervention on an interactive digital landscape can boost the social emotional wellbeing of young adult learners while helping them cope with the academic difficulties of acquiring a second language in the foundation year of an extremely competitive public university in Türkiye. An embedded experimental design was used to incorporate qualitative data within experimental research. Eighty-seven learners participated in this research and completed the Psychological Wellbeing Scale (Ryff & Keyes, 1995) both atthe beginning and end of the 14-week study. The experimental group received a dialogic intervention involving the dialogic use ofL2 in discussing critical and taboo social issues, conventionally avoided in mainstream English language teaching textbooks, conducted in internet-mediated dialogic space, namely, Google Classroom, in addition to regular L2 instruction. The dialogues were specially designed and revised according to the curricular requirements of the institution. To investigate learners’ emotional regulation and wellbeing, 10 digital classroom dialogues with emotional reactions of the participants were collected and analyzed using inductive content analysis. Analysis of wellbeing scale data indicates statistically meaningful differences between the groups in favor of 1 This study has been adapted from Nalan Şan’s Ph.D. dissertation, submitted to Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Tü[rkiye in partial fulfillment of the requirements of her Applied Linguistics Ph.D. degree](rkiye in partial fulfillment of the requirements of her Applied Linguistics Ph.D. degree). the experimental group with a medium effect size. Qualitative findings show personal growth through discussing socially relevant and critical issues, building self-efficacy through increased practice in the target language, and building a more positive outlook through increased foreign language enjoyment (FLE), among other aspects relevant in positive psychology. Pedagogical implications are also discussed in the study. Keywords: dialogic education; second/foreign language acquisition; interactive digital landscape; dialogic intervention; positive psychology; emotional regulation; social emotional wellbeing Introduction The fundamental principle of positive psychology relies on the fact that becoming a happier person should be among the primary objectives of any educational activity. According to Barry et al. (2017) and Oxford (2020) becoming a happier person is not a coincidental phenomenon, on the contrary it necessitates an intentional focus on emotions not only as independent but also as dependent variables, which in turn implies the use of social-emotional strategies to regulate negative emotions and to alter one’s mind about these kinds of demoralizing emotional states. However, the intentional concentration on one’s emotional wellbeing may lead to challenging episodes in the classroom, both for teachers and students (Cowie et al., 2004; Oxford, 2020) . Engaging in group discussions about critical, even taboo issues in learners’ society c

FAQs

What is the main goal of the study?

To examine whether a dialogic L2 intervention in an interactive digital landscape can improve young adult learners’ social emotional wellbeing in a Turkish tertiary context.

How was the intervention implemented?

The experimental group engaged in specially designed dialogic L2 discussions of critical and taboo social issues in an internet-mediated space (Google Classroom), alongside regular L2 instruction.

What outcomes were measured to evaluate wellbeing?

Participants completed the Psychological Wellbeing Scale (Ryff & Keyes, 1995) before and after the 14-week study, and qualitative data from digital classroom dialogues were analyzed for emotional reactions and regulation.

Oct 15, 2026

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