The present study investigates Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) in the classroom. Participants were 1746 current FL learners from around the world. We used a measure of FLE, based on Likert scale ratings of 21 items (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014), and a measure of FLCA based on 8 items extracted from the FLCAS (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). Statistical analyses revealed that levels of FLE were significantly higher than those of FLCA. FLE and FLCA were linked to a number of independent variables: participants’ perception of their relative level of proficiency within the FL classroom, number of languages known, education level, number of FLs under study, age group and general level of the FL (ranging from lower-intermediate to advanced). Female participants reported both more FLE and more FLCA. Cultural background of participants also had a significant effect on their scores. Participants’ views on episodes of enjoyment in the FL class revealed the importance of teachers’ professional and emotional skills and of a supportive peer group. Many participants mentioned the moment at which they realised that their long effort in mastering an aspect of the FL paid off.

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The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom

1. Introduction 2. Background knowledge 3. Generating and enhancing vision in language learners 4. Revitalising language teacher motivation 5. Conclusion: visionary teaching, visionary learning.

Motivating Learners, Motivating Teachers: Building Vision in the Language Classroom

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations between emotions, classroom environment, and willingness to communicate (WTC) using the advanced quantitative methodological procedure of doubly latent multilevel analysis. To this end, 1528 secondary school students from 65 different classrooms in Iran participated in the study. Results of the doubly latent multilevel analysis showed that a positive classroom environment is related to fostering WTC and enjoyment, while it reduces anxiety among students. Moreover, enjoyment was found as an important factor in increasing WTC at both student and classroom level, while anxiety reduced WTC only at the student level. Finally, the results of the study are discussed and pedagogical implications are provided for language teachers.

Role of the emotions and classroom environment in willingness to communicate: applying doubly latent multilevel analysis in second language acquisition research

Emotions are a fleeting experience, sometimes lasting only moments before dissipating. Prior research in SLA has either ignored emotions, underestimated their relevance, or has studied them as a relatively stable individual difference variable. In contrast, the present study takes an idiodynamic approach to examine the rapidly changing relationship between enjoyment and anxiety in second language communication, on a moment-to-moment timescale. University students who speak French as a second language were recruited to complete oral tasks in their second language. Participants then rated their per-second fluctuations in each emotion while watching a video recording of their tasks. Immediately after this, they were interviewed about their attributions for fluctuations in their ratings. We found that the relationship between enjoyment and anxiety is highly dynamic, resulting in varying patterns of correlation ranging from negative to positive. Triangulation of ratings of anxiety and enjoyment with interview data produces a richer understanding of the role of emotions in second language communication.

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Enjoyment and anxiety in second language communication: an idiodynamic approach

This study presents a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of how 108 high school students in English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) classrooms enhanced the comprehensibility of their second language (L2) speech according to different motivation, emotion and experience profiles Overall, the students’ learning patterns were primarily associated with their emotional states (anxiety vs enjoyment), and secondarily with their motivational dispositions (clear vision of ideal future selves) The students’ anxiety (together with weaker Ideal L2 Self) negatively related to their performance at the beginning of the project which they had achieved after several years of EFL instruction Their enjoyment (together with greater Ideal L2 Self) predicted the extent to which they practiced and developed their L2 speech within the time framework of the project—three months The results suggest that more regular/frequent L2 use with positive emotions directly impacts acquisition, which may in turn lead to the lessening of negative emotions and better L2 proficiency in the long run

/pdf/motivation-emotion-learning-experience-and-second-language-3w2boihv7q.pdf

Motivation, emotion, learning experience and second language comprehensibility development in classroom settings: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study

Language learning is an emotionally and psychologically dynamic process that is influenced by a myriad of ever-changing variables and emotional “vibes” that produce moment-by-moment fluctuations in learners' adaptation. This individual-level study triangulates physiological, idiodynamic, interview, and self-report survey data of three high and three low anxiety language learners to examine their language anxiety, its triggers, and the interpretations of rapidly changing affective reactions over a short period of time. Participants were videorecorded giving a presentation, while wearing heart monitors, in their Spanish as a Foreign Language class. Using the idiodynamic method, participants self-rated their moment-by-moment anxiety 42 times over three and a half minutes and later explained their reactions in an interview. The strong relationship observed among the various converging data sources demonstrates the strength of considering language learners on an individual level using triangulated quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study generated pedagogical implications for dealing with both positive and negative emotions, facilitating the reinterpretation of physiological cues, planning “escape routes” that allow participants to remain active in communication exchanges, and invoking the positive power of preparation, planning, and rehearsal.

Mario D. Meza

Papers

The Motion of Emotion: Idiodynamic Case Studies of Learners' Foreign Language Anxiety

The Motion of Emotion: Idiodynamic Case Studies of Learners' Foreign Language Anxiety: The Modern Language Journal