The aim is to explore the affective-emotional basis of second language learning by reflecting on the place of emotion as regards cognition, and on the neural mechanism for stimulus appraisal based on positive and negative evaluations of the second language learning situation. Then, a qualitative synthesis of some works published during the last 20 years helps to draw the big picture. The 21st century affective language research defines the socio-emotional basis of human interaction and communication as the way we construct our social world and therefore, needs to be considered in language education.
Emotions and affective factors are two complementary concepts present in the applied linguistics literature without a consensus on the definitions of both terms. However, both, emotions and affective factors, have a strong role in language learners' appraisal dimensions. In order to offer some answers, this presentation analyzes studies on how affective factors and emotions influence language acquisition and learning and proposes some methodological principles that can be applied to language education and that may ensure the learning of values, attitudes, skills and knowledge needed in a plurilingual and pluricultural society. Based on the fact, that cognition and emotion are entwined factors, I describe the main research findings of the different trends in emotion and language research. Emotions, as an integral part of cognitive processes, are essential for the development of learners' curiosity, attention and memory, and affective factors, as non-linguistic individual factors, provide useful information on how learners may respond to different situations by activating their inner resources. The review of contributions will present socio-emotional variables that influence the second language acquisition process and will provide directions for further studies related to language education.
