Affordances of the Microsystem of the Classroom for Foreign Language Enjoyment

Foreign language enjoyment (FLE) has been a recently investigated variable in the field of applied linguistics. The recent studies on FLE have provided us with insights into potential affordances for this construct. However, given the ecological nature of the environment of classrooms and the substantial contribution of teachers to the emergence of FLE, the actualization process of these potential affordances has not been addressed yet. To bridge this gap, in this case study, we aimed to explore the actualization of potential affordances for FLE in a university course of listening and speaking via a modern social hermeneutics approach, from an ecological perspective. Following this approach, via first and second round interviews with the teacher of the course, we tried to come up with accurate interpretations regarding the contextual process of the actualization of the affordances for FLE within the microsystem of the classroom. The findings indicated that not all the potential affordances for FLE are actualized as utilized affordances in the context of the classroom and only some few can be actualized as shaped affordances. The findings suggest that the limitation of the actual affordances for FLE to perceived affordances or their extension to utilized affordances in a foreign language class depends on the misalignment/alignment between the chemistry of class in the microsystem and the regulations and policies of the institute in the exosystem. Furthermore, the actualization of shaped affordances for FLE relies on a teacher’s agency capacity in terms of her or his educational level and teaching experiences.