Authors: Carmen Toscano-Fuentes, Analí Fernández-Corbacho & M.Carmen Fonseca-Mora
University of Huelva, Spain

Edition: Volume 64, Number 3, Special Edition, November 2024

Introduction: Adult migrants need to attain proficiency in the language of their host society to fully integrate into those communities and lead meaningful lives. The concept of literacy, centred on reading and writing, has evolved to encompass multiliteracies, integrating linguistic, social, and digital aspects. This broader approach acknowledges that learners construct meaning through various modes such as oral, written, visual, digital, and multimodal, while reflecting their diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. However, literacy education often overlooks crucial affective aspects, such as learners’ feelings and motivation, which are particularly relevant for adults who want to become literate. Affective literacy, understood as the impact that the act of reading has on the lives of adults, could fill this gap, as it includes emotional responses from readers evoked through interactions with the text, their teachers and their peers. This systematic literature review study defines affective literacy, analyses its implementation in language classrooms, and explores its implications for adult literacy research by following the PRISMA protocol. Results evidence that the definition of affective literacy remains ambiguous, sometimes conflated with emotional literacy. More research, particularly focusing on adult migrants, is still needed because affective literacy is emerging as a valuable framework with vital implications for the well-being and integration of adult migrants into their host societies.

Keywords: affective literacy, adult learners, migrants, systematic review, multiliteracies, integration, adult language education

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 64:3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.