Abstract

In this research article, I shall attempt to prove that the literary concept first coined by the English romantic poet, John Keats is a successful indicator of second learner aptitude. In recent years this concept, 'negative capability' has become increasingly popular in such areas as psychoanalysis and leadership training for corporate executives. In order to simplify this concept as much as possible, I have broken it down into three main characteristics or qualities: ambiguity tolerance, perseverance, and empathy. This literary concept matches up extremely well with the outstanding characteristics of the so-called 'good learners' of a second language as explained in the book, The Good Language Learner. In order to further simplify and sharpen the focus of my comparison, I make the third characteristic of empathy point to a feeling toward the culture of the second language. This positive feeling or positive association toward the target language culture is one area that serves as an essential aid to the intrinsic motivation of the second language learner. With the help of some classroom-based research conducted with my university students, I believe I have revealed the possible validity of this theory. I have included the survey that I used with an answer key in the hope that this article will be beneficial to other teachers and students of the applied linguistic research being conducted in the EFL field at this time. I hope the data provided will stimulate others to test this theory with their EFL students in the hope that this knowledge could be used in the most beneficial way.

Introduction

In this article, I will present a tightly wrapped package of applied linguistic inquiry, which I hope will be a significant gift to the EFL community in Asia. This 'diamond in the rough,' was a serendipitous discovery that I made as a result of reading a pivotal treatise. It is my theory that 'negative capability', the literary concept first coined by the English romantic poet, John Keats, is a tool to point out the three main personality characteristics of a successful language learner. I hope to show by some classroom-based research conducted with my grade two Oral English students, that this literary concept, distilled to its essence (with a slight adjustment in focus), is indeed, a successful indicator of second language aptitude.

The story of how this discovery came about is somewhat intriguing. I had long been an admirer of the poetry of John Keats, and I was familiar with the concept 'negative capability'. Since I enjoy a challenge, I decided to teach this concept to my grade three literature class here at Hunan University of Science and Technology. In order to help them prepare for the numerous exams they take requiring writing skills, I composed a short essay about the concept entitled, "Negative Capability; A Practical and Far-Reaching Concept". While writing this essay, mainly for the purpose of simplification, I broke this dynamic, multifaceted concept into three main parts. Six months later, while reading the pivotal treatise entitled, Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching by H. H. Stern, I made the discovery that is the source of this article.

I will begin this article with an overview of the background of the literary term, "negative capability". I shall try to simplify it into three main characteristics which I will compare with the past research on characteristics of 'good learners' of a second language. From here I explain my own particular research using this concept with my own students in a survey. Finally, I will share some advice and hope to create further investigations. I am optimistic that the theory I propose in this article is a fresh approach that could prove valuable to the EFL community.

Background Information

Before bringing the entire picture into focus, I will now give some background information to help explain this somewhat complicated term. Keats first coined this paradoxical phrase in a letter to his brothers, wherein he proposed a tentative definition as, "that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact or reason." (Keats, 1970: 43). In other explanations, 'negative capability' has been compared to keeping a fresh perspective on life to the extent that one takes on a challenging situation with a 'beginner's mind'…not allowing oneself to hold preconceived ideas or judgments that would cause a stale or stagnant attitude (Ferguson, 1990: 119). This particular aspect of negative capability gives a person the determination needed to overcome any obstacle that might stand in the way of success. A good example is the famous American inventor, Thomas A. Edison, who after trying 899 filaments, finally found one that would work, and, thus we have the discovery of the light bulb (Josephson, 1996).

Also, 'negative capability' was a term which described a person with a fairly sensitive nature. This sensitivity would enable a person (like Keats himself) to observe any object with such passive awareness and focused concentration as to be able to "become one with that object (Bennis, 1998: 151-154). A good example of this ability is revealed when reading Keats' poem entitled " Ode on a Grecian Urn". It does, indeed seem that Keats had 'become one' with this ancient object. It is amazing that Keats actually coined this term when he was only twenty-two years old. He was trying to describe the prime essentials of a great poet. By 'negative capability' Keats meant the lack of personal identity, of preconceived certainty, which he believed to mark all great poets (Shakespeare was his main inspiration when conceiving this concept). It was necessary, Keats believed, for the poet to be, above all, open to impressions, sensations, or whatever (Scott,1969: 15).

Now let us bring this concept into sharp focus in regard to the discovery I made while reading H. H. Stern's work, the aforementioned Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. From this book, I learned that a mature and mentally healthy individual who is detached, self-critical, and has a sense of humour, can cope with the demand of language learning better than a rigid or status-conscious individual who lacks self-awareness or humour (Stern, 1983: 382). I also learned that 'tolerance of ambiguity' has been considered a useful characteristic of a good language learner. To quote directly from the book:

Some of the uncertainties and discomforts that second language learners experience are clearly understood by anyone who has attempted to learn another language. In investigations of second language learning that we (Stern was on the team) undertook in the seventies, tolerance of ambiguity was found to be a good predictor of success (Naiman, N., Frohlich, M., Stern, H. H. and Todesco, A. 1978: 100 and Stern: 383). Negative capability indicates the capacity to live with ambiguity and paradox, to hold or contain rather than just react (Symons, 1901: 1627). The concept seems to match up well with what I feel we will discover are the outstanding characteristics of good learners described in the very reliable research conducted by Stern's team which produced the book entitled, The Good Language Learner. I feel certain that the research conducted by the Ontario center in the late seventies has withstood the test of time, and therefore I feel confident to use it as a springboard to launch my own study.

At this point, I wish to quote from a pertinent work by Christopher M. Ely of Ball State University where he states, "As much uncertainty as ESL learners face in the 'receptive' areas of listening or reading, this lack of determinacy is dwarfed by that inherent in the 'productive' skills of speaking and writing. What makes this enormous linguistic uncertainty particularly problematic is that there is no real escape from it in the L2 environment." (Ely, C. 1989). I believe these statements and the studies from which they originated help to amplify the importance of ambiguity tolerance for the ESL learner.

Characteristics

In recent years, this concept, 'negative capability' has becoming increasingly more popular in such diverse endeavors as psychoanalysis and leadership training for corporate executives. There has been a growing awareness of the importance of 'ambiguity tolerance' in our daily lives, especially for leaders faced with many difficult 'on the spot' decisions everyday. Although it may come naturally to some people, negative capability can also be learned (Ryan, 1976: 157). In the competitive environment of our modern world, many businesses have felt the need to have to provide their employees and executives with training in the effective use of 'negative capability.

In order to simplify this fairly complex concept, I have broken it into three main characteristics or qualities namely: ambiguity tolerance (maintaining your poise while not reaching after facts and reason), perseverance (maintaining a fresh perspective so you can keep trying though you might fail again and again), and ,finally, empathy toward the target language culture(since this is reasonable for this language learning focus). I would like to point out that empathy should be shown in all areas of the language learning process.

In this research I focused my study on the empathy of the students toward the second language culture, but through this process I have gained much needed empathy toward the complex task faced by my students. The concept of empathy can be easily extended. So, to repeat in simple form and try to distill 'negative capability' to its essence the three main characteristics are: ambiguity tolerance, perseverance, and empathy. It is my theory that these three main qualities of 'negative capability' will successfully indicate the traits needed and exemplified by the best second language learners.

Now I will continue to point out the distinct parallels between negative capability and the traits of good language learners as discovered by Stern's research team.
I will now take another direct quote from what has been called the 'red bible' of applied linguistics:

Advice to Teachers

Although the first two main characteristics of negative capability match up well with those of the good language learners, I'm sure much discussion and research is needed to confirm their places in the hearts and minds of EFL teachers and curriculum directors. Be that as it may, however, it is my hope and strong desire that the third main characteristic (empathy specifically toward the target language culture) will have immediate resonance all over the EFL community in Asia! While visiting a wonderful school, Yaley Middle School in Changsha (Capital of Hunan Province), a friend and I admired the calligraphy in the halls and noticed in particular the famous quote, "Time waits for no one." To the teachers and academic leaders who read this article, I want to express that it is now time to give the 'cultural imperative' the place it deserves in the curriculum. I think the validity of this concept in regard to its importance, especially on the affective domain of students deserves further investigation.

Now I echo the thoughts of many former scholars and applied linguistic experts that have documented in countless articles and essays that culture has an immediate effect. So let me delve deeper into my discoveries. The concept of 'empathy'- the willingness and capacity to identify with others-which has been used in clinical and personality psychology has been applied to the ability of the language learner to identify with the communicative behavior of users of the target language (Stern, 1983: 381). In one series of studies (Guora 1972 et al. 1972) an attempt was made to relate empathy to the capacity to pronounce the language in a native-like manner. But the empathic capacity, it has been pointed out is best regarded as 'an essential factor in the overall ability to acquire a second language rather than simply in the ability to acquire an authentic pronunciation' (Schumann, 1975: 226). Empathy as a personality variable is allied to the integrative orientation and , negatively, to the concept of ethnocentrism and authoritarianism (not to mention the negative aspects of prejudicial or stereotypical thinking).

It would be difficult to imagine an empathic individual who is strongly ethnocentric (Naiman et al. 1978). In our modern era, the world has become more of a global village than at any time in history. Modern technology, in particular, the internet, has helped to break down racial and cultural barriers. I feel this modern trend is a positive force that has allowed countries to cooperate and, thus, make the world a better place to live and learn.

Proposed Methodology

I hope it is now clear that 'negative capability' is a relevant and useful tool for teachers and academic leaders. The research I conducted was an classroom-based study using a survey. I built the three main concepts of negative capability into the survey in a random and effective way. Eight statements dealt with ambiguity tolerance, four dealt with the issue of perseverance, and I also had eight statements that addressed the issue of empathy toward the target language culture. I gave this survey to 308 grade two Oral English students at Hunan University of Science and Technology located in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, P.R. China. The 308 students represented nine different classes with an average class size of approximately 35 students each. In the first graph, I am comparing the total Oral English grade received in the prior term to the score calculated on the Second Language Learner Survey. I propose that this methodology could be adopted by other EFL teachers for verification of my findings which I shall now give.

Findings

The results were fairly accurate with a less than 3% differential. In the next graph, I took a small sample of only ten students and this time averaged three English classes (Basic English, Grammar, and Oral English) together before comparing this average to the group Survey Average. The results were impressive with a less than 1% differential! Since collecting this data, I have made a slight adjustment on the second page of the survey which I believe will make it even more effective. I would like to invite all EFL teachers to try this survey with your students. It is my sincere hope that you will be pleasantly surprised by the discoveries you find. Also, you might want to compare three English classes to the Survey average, as I did in the sample to get more conclusive data. (Please see Appendix 1-3)

Conclusions and Implications

I think the fact that negative capability matches up with the characteristics of the best learners is more than a coincidence. In this paper, I have pointed out the interesting relationship between the literary concept first coined by John Keats called 'negative capability' and the use of its three main characteristics as an indicator of second language acquisition ability. I hope to spark further research on ambiguity tolerance and its importance in the language learning process. I hope to build bridges to break down any existing stereotypes that prevent cultural sharing and a free flow of communication among educational peers. What will be the impact of these findings on the EFL community? Of course, this is difficult to predict.

As I have previously stated, I hope the awareness of the importance of the students' feelings toward the target culture will improve the way leaders of English departments go about instructing their teachers to conduct culture classes. These classes should be made as easy to understand as possible. Perhaps a foreign teacher will be given the responsibility of teaching the culture class. I hope they realize the importance and long range effects of the impressions they make on their second language students. Of course, the concept of empathy can be applied to many areas of second language learning besides just the cultural imperative which I focused on in this study. I can see a similar survey being given to freshman students coming into a university, so that their language learning aptitude could be predicted. I can see this as a needed supplement to many counseling situations.

This particular survey is aimed at grade one and two university students, but a similar (somewhat simplified version) could be easily made for middle school students. I would like to challenge my fellow teachers to test these results with your students. For further investigations of the concepts touched on in this article, please see Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching by H. H. Stern and also, Context and Culture in Language Teaching by Claire Kramsch. I hope that one day in the future I will be able to say that the discovery I made and the research I conducted was viable and useful and it stood strong against the test of time. As a teacher, one's life is continually enriched by sharing our daily discoveries with others, by reaching out to our students in so many unique ways, and by taking time to reflect on the entire process of education. As Lao Tzu put it, "Just remain in the center watching and then, forget that you are there."

References

Bennis, Warren, (1998). On Becoming a Leader , Arrow: 151-154.

Ely, C., (1989). Tolerance of ambiguity and use of second language strategies. Foreign Language Annals 22, 437-445.

Ferguson, M. (1990). PragMagic, New York: Pocket Books: 119.

Guiora, A.Z., Beit-Hallahani, Brannon, R.C. L., Dull, C. Y. and Scovel, T. (1972). 'The effects of experimentally induced changes in ego states on pronunciation ability in a second language: an ex- ploratory study.' Comprehensive Psychiatry 13:421-8. (Stern,
1983: 381).

Josephson, Matthew, (1996). http:edison.rutgers.edu/biography/

Keats, J. (1970). The Letters of John Keats: A Selection, Ed. R. Gittings.
Oxford: Oxford University Press: 43.

Ryan, R.M. (1976). Keats. New Jersey; Princeton University Press: 157.

Schumann, J.H. (1975). Language Learning 25:209-35 (Stern, 381).

Scott, N. A., Jr. (1969). Negative Capability: Studies in the New Literature. New Haven: Yale University Press:15.

Stern, H. H. (1983). Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching . Oxford: Oxford University Press: 380-383.

Symons, A. (1901). 'John Keats', Monthly Review, 5, reprinted in C. Franklin (ed.) (1998). British Romantic Poets-The Wellesley Series, Vol. 4. London. Routledge/Thoemmes Press: 1621-1631.

Appendix 1

Second Language Learner Survey

I am trying to determine some of the qualities of a person who is learning a second language. Please answer the questions as honestly as possible. This survey will help me with my research and could possible help many second language learners in the future. (Be sure your name and class number is on your answer sheet.)

Please read the statement and then decide whether you

(1)completely agree,
(2) somewhat agree,
(3) neither agree nor disagree,
(4)somewhat disagree, or
(5)completely disagree.

Please number 1-20 and put the correct answer in number form…(eg. if you completely agree just put 1)…thanks for your cooperation.

I would like to live in a foreign(English speaking) country for awhile.
1.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I enjoy taking on a challenging situation and will stay with it until I succeed.
2.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I don't like having too many choices.
3.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

It makes me happy when things stay the same.
4.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

When I start a new project, I sometimes get tired of it and give up.
5.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I think failure really is the mother of success in many situations.
6.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I like to follow the same routine almost every day.
7.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I really enjoy trying new adventures.
8.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I enjoy watching movies from foreign cultures.
9.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I would live in another country if the job was good enough, and it was necessary. 10.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

Learning about other countries and their culture is very interesting to me.
11.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I think time is precious, so I like to plan each minute of the day.
12.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

If I give a wrong answer in class, it really bothers me for a long time.
13.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

It is sometimes okay to guess on a test.
14.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

In sports, it does not really matter who wins, rather it is how you play the game that is most important!
15.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I sometimes do not mind losing face, if it helps me grow as a person.
16.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

I never enjoy solving problems.
16.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

If I have prepared myself thoroughly, I sometimes enjoy taking a test!
18.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

If I first experience failure, I will keep trying until I succeed!
19.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

All things are possible, if you work hard and believe in yourself!
20.1ca 2sa 3nad 4sd 5cd

Thanks for your cooperation!

Answer Key for the Second Language Learner Survey

1. 1= 5 (2=4,etc.)
2. 1=5
3. 5=5 (4=2,etc.)
4. 5=5
5. 5=5
6. 1=5
7. 5=5
8. 1=5
9. 1=5
10. 1=5
11. 1=5
12. 5=5
13. 5=5
14. 1=5
15. 1=5
16. 1=5
17. 5=5
18. 1=5
19. 1=5
20. 1=5

Ask students to avoid using too many 3's…this does not really help much. After you get a total, I believe you will be surprised at what a good indicator of second language learning talent this survey is!

Appendix 2

First Excel graph

Appendix 3

Second Excel graph goes here.

To be uploaded.