Sources and effects of foreign language enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom: A structural equation modeling approach

May combine two claims.

Dewaele et al. (2018) found that pupils liked teachers who used the foreign language frequently, were unpredictable, and allowed students to speak.

“More specifically, pupils liked teachers who used the FL frequently in class, who were unpredictable, and who gave students the opportunity to speak up.”

• cites Dewaele et al. (2018) sourcePartly supported

  The results (pp. 9–10) link more frequent teacher use of the foreign language, lower teacher predictability, and more student speaking time with higher foreign-language enjoyment. But they do not establish that pupils *liked the teachers* with those characteristics: liking the teacher and enjoyment of the class were measured separately. The speaking-time relationship also reversed beyond about 50–60% of class time. (LLM, conf=0.86)

  Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

May combine two claims.

Foreign language classroom anxiety has been negatively associated with attitude towards the foreign language and general motivation to learn the target language.

“In contrast, FLCA has been negatively associated with the attitude towards the FL (Dewaele & Proietti Ergün, 2020) and a general motivation to learn the target language (Liu & Huang, 2011;Liu & Cheng, 2014;Neisi & Yamini, 2009).”

• cites Dewaele & Proietti Ergün, 2020 sourceSupported
• cites Liu & Huang, 2011 sourceSupported
• cites Liu & Cheng, 2014Not checked — no full text of the source

May combine two claims.

Dewaele and Li (2021) found that teacher enthusiasm strongly affected Chinese EFL learners' learning engagement, with direct and indirect effects on foreign language enjoyment and boredom, and that enjoyment and boredom mediated the effect of perceived teacher enthusiasm on engagement.

“The importance of the teacher was further highlighted in Dewaele and Li (2021) where mediation analysis showed that teacher enthusiasm strongly affected the learning engagement of Chinese EFL learners.”

• Also stated in: § FL Emotions and Teacher-Related Variables · plain

  “Moreover, FLE and FLB were found to mediate the effect of participants' perceived teacher enthusiasm on their own engagement (positive for FLE and negative for FLB).”

• cites Dewaele and Li (2021) sourceSupported

May combine two claims.

Dewaele, Franco Magdalena et al. (2019) found that teachers' characteristics predicted twice the variance in foreign language enjoyment than in foreign language classroom anxiety among Spanish EFL learners, with teacher friendliness and skill as the strongest predictors of enjoyment.

“The pattern was confirmed in Dewaele, Franco Magdalena et al. (2019) who found that teachers' characteristics predicted twice the amount of variance in FLE than in FLCA among Spanish EFL learners.The teacher's friendliness and skill emerged as the strongest predictors of FLE.”

• cites Dewaele, Franco Magdalena et al. (2019) sourcePartly supported

  Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

  Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

Previous research has found positive relationships between foreign language enjoyment and attitude towards the foreign language and motivation to learn.

“Previous research has found positive relationships between FLE and attitude towards the FL (Dewaele and Dewaele, 2017;Dewaele, Özdemir et al., 2019;De Smet et al., 2018;Jiang and Dewaele, 2019) as well as motivation to learn (Lee & Lee, 2021;Zhang et al., 2020).”

• cites Dewaele and Dewaele, 2017 sourceSupported
• cites Dewaele, Özdemir et al., 2019Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• cites De Smet et al., 2018 sourcePartly supported

  In §4.2 and §5.2 (page unavailable), the paper reports greater classroom enjoyment when pupils learn English rather than Dutch and notes that perceptions of English are more favorable. This is consistent with the cited part of the sentence, but the paper does not report a measured relationship between individual pupils’ enjoyment and their attitudes toward the foreign language. The motivation-to-learn clause is attributed to different citations. (LLM, conf=0.79)

  Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

In general educational and mathematics settings, teacher behaviours such as enthusiasm, understandability, support, comprehensibility, and pace are positively linked to positive academic emotions and negatively linked to anxiety and boredom.

“with teacher behaviour such as enthusiasm, understandability, support, comprehensibility, and pace linked to positively to positive academic emotions such as joy and negatively to negative emotions such as anxiety and boredom (Becker et al., 2014;Goetz et al., 2013;Lei et al., 2018).”

• cites Becker et al., 2014 sourceNot checked — no full text of the source
• cites Goetz et al., 2013 sourcePartly supported

  Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

  Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
• cites Lei et al., 2018 sourcePartly supported

  The Introduction’s discussion of teacher support and academic emotions says that greater teacher support is associated with more enjoyment and less anxiety or boredom. The Methods > Coding table also includes a study of teacher support and enjoyment in mathematics lessons. These passages do not establish the claimed links for enthusiasm, understandability, comprehensibility, or pace as distinct teacher behaviours. Page numbers are not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)

  Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Recent findings have reported a negative relationship between foreign language classroom boredom and motivation to learn the foreign language.

“some initial recent findings have reported a negative relationship between FLCB and motivation to learn the FL (Kruk, 2016;Kruk, 2022;Pawlak et al., 2021).”

• cites Kruk, 2016 sourcePartly supported

  The Results and Discussion (sections 3.4 and 4; page numbers unavailable) report that motivation and boredom followed broadly inverse patterns during English-learning sessions in Second Life. The paper says this *might* indicate a relationship; it does not establish a negative relationship for foreign-language classroom boredom generally. (LLM, conf=0.84)

  Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
• cites Kruk, 2022Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• cites Pawlak et al., 2021Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

A meta-analysis found moderate positive correlations between foreign language enjoyment and academic achievement (r = .30, k = 28, N = 8,883) and between foreign language enjoyment and self-perceived achievement (r = .27, k = 9, N = 4,810).

“A meta-analysis of studies that linked FLE and academic achievement in the FL revealed moderate positive correlations between FLE and academic achievement (r = .30,k = 28, N = 8,883), and between FLE and self-perceived achievement (r = .27,k = 9, N = 4,810; Botes et al., 2022).”

• cites Botes et al., 2022 sourcePartly supported

  The Discussion and Results §4.4 report a moderate positive correlation between FLE and academic achievement (r = .30, k = 28), but give N = 8,899, not the claimed 8,883. The Discussion gives the claimed self-perceived achievement figures (r = .27, k = 9, N = 4,810), although Results §4.5 instead gives N = 4,556. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.90)

  Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) found a statistically significant negative correlation between foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety.

“They found a statistically significant negative correlation between the two emotion variables, which has since been confirmed in a recent metaanalysis of k = 47 studies (r = -.32;Botes et al., 2022).”

• cites Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014) sourceSupported

May combine two claims.

Teacher behaviours had a positive effect on foreign language enjoyment, but no clear effect on foreign language boredom or foreign language classroom anxiety.

“Teacher behaviours positively affected FLE, with no discernible effect on FLB or FLCA.”

May combine two claims.

CFI and TLI values exceeded .90, indicating close fit.

“In addition, the CFI (.933) and TLI (.921) were both above the minimum limit of .90(Kenny, 2020), further indicating close fit.”

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The chi-square test was significant and the chi-square/df ratio exceeded 2.0, suggesting poor fit.

“In contrast, the chi-square was significant (χ 2 (217) = 549.99;p < .001),with a χ 2 /df ratio (2.52) of >2.0, implying poor fit (Byrne, 1998).”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The research design and questionnaire were approved by the ethics committee at the first author's institution.

“The research design and questionnaire obtained approval from the ethics committee in the first author's research institution.”

May combine two claims.

The short-form Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale had reliability omega of .895 and alpha of .875.

“Short-Form Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale (ω = .895;α = .875).”

May combine two claims.

The Foreign Language Classroom Boredom Scale had reliability omega of .944 and alpha of .943.

“Foreign Language Classroom Boredom Scale (ω = .944;α = .943).”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Participants gave consent at the beginning of the online survey.

“Participants' consent was obtained at the start of the survey that was posted online using Googledocs.”

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The short-form Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale had reliability omega of .884 and alpha of .893.

“Short-form Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (ω = .884;α = .893).”

May combine two claims.

Li (2021) found a curvilinear relationship between control appraisal and foreign language boredom, with extremely high and low control both acting as antecedents of boredom.

“Analysis of the qualitative data revealed a curvilinear relationship between control appraisal and FLB:”

• cites Li (2021)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Foreign language classroom boredom has been linked to lower academic achievement and lower perceived achievement.

“Similarly to FLCA, FLCB has been linked to lower levels of academic achievement, as well as lower levels of perceived achievement (Li et al., 2021;Shao et al., 2020).”

• cites Li et al., 2021Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• cites Shao et al., 2020 sourceNot checked — no full text of the source

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Li and Han (2022) found that foreign language classroom anxiety was the only significant predictor for test scores, whereas foreign language enjoyment and boredom predicted perceived achievement.

“However, a regression analysis revealed that FLCA was the only significant predictor for test scores, whereas FLE and FLB predicted perceived achievement.”

• cites Li and Han (2022)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Li (2021) found that different control-value appraisals predicted foreign language boredom uniquely or interactively, and that intrinsic value appraisal was a much stronger predictor of boredom than control and extrinsic value appraisals.

“Li (2021) found that different control-value appraisals predicted FLB uniquely or interactively and that different types of appraisals occurred simultaneously and interacted in predicting FLB.Intrinsic value appraisal turned out to be a much stronger predictor of FLB than control and extrinsic value appraisals.”

• cites Li (2021)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

Li and Han (2022) found significant negative correlations between foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety, between foreign language enjoyment and foreign language boredom, and a significant positive correlation between foreign language classroom anxiety and foreign language boredom.

“The authors found significant negative correlations between students' FLE and FLCA, between FLE and FLB, and a significant positive correlation between FLCA and FLB.”

• cites Li and Han (2022)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Li and Wei (2022) found that the three emotions at Time 1 predicted English achievement at Time 2, with foreign language enjoyment the strongest and most enduring predictor, foreign language classroom anxiety a negative predictor at Time 2 and Time 3, and the negative effect of foreign language boredom fading completely over time.

“Structural equation modeling results showed that the three emotions that learners experienced at Time 1 predicted their English achievement at Time 2 but that FLE was the strongest and most enduring predictor (in contrast to the result of Li and Han (2022)), with FLCA being a negative predictor at Time 2 and Time 3, while the negative effect of FLB faded completely over time.”

• cites Li and Wei (2022)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Dewaele et al. (to appear) found significant main effects of teachers' frequency of foreign language use, predictability, and frequency of joking on foreign language enjoyment, with R2 = 26.2%.

“Mixed-effects regression analyses on FLE revealed significant main effects of all three teacher behaviours (R 2 = 26.2%).”

• cites Dewaele et al. (to appear)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Jiang and Dewaele (2019) found that attitudes towards the teacher, teacher's joking, and friendliness, but not teacher unpredictability, were strong predictors of foreign language enjoyment among Chinese undergraduate EFL learners.

“A broadly similar pattern emerged among Chinese undergraduate EFL learners in Jiang and Dewaele (2019).Attitudes towards the teacher, teacher's joking and friendliness -but not teachers' un/predictability were strong predictors of FLE.”

• cites Jiang and Dewaele (2019)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Structural equation modelling allows latent modelling of variables while accounting for measurement error.

“SEM was chosen as the method to examine the data above the use of multiple regression or simple correlations, as the method allowed for the latent modelling of variables with measurement error taken into account (Ullman & Bentler, 2012).”

• cites Ullman & Bentler, 2012Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Dewaele and Dewaele (2020) found that foreign language enjoyment was significantly higher with the main teacher than with the second teacher, and that attitude toward the teacher, teacher's frequency of foreign language use, and unpredictability were significantly higher for the main teacher.

“A follow-up study by Dewaele and Dewaele (2020) on a subsample of pupils in the same database who had two different teachers for the same FL revealed that FLE was significantly higher with the main teacher than with the second teacher and that scores for attitude toward the teacher, teacher's frequency of use of the FL in class, and unpredictability were significantly higher for the former.”

• cites Dewaele and Dewaele (2020)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Li and Han (2022) found that foreign language enjoyment had independent positive predictive effects on actual English test scores and perceived learning achievement, while foreign language boredom and anxiety had negative predictive effects.

“FLE was found to have independent positive predictive effects on actual English test scores and perceived learning achievement, while FLB and FLCA had negative predictive effects.”

• cites Li and Han (2022)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Stimulating interest in the language and culture and shaping learners' attitudes may benefit achievement both directly and indirectly.

“Awakening students' interest in the FL and culture and thus shaping their attitude toward the FL can have both direct and indirect beneficial effects on their achievement.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The associations observed in the cross-sectional model reflect causal effects in the directions specified by the model.

May combine two claims.

In the FL classroom, teacher use of the target language appears to influence only enjoyment, not anxiety or boredom.

“The use of the target FL in the FL classroom therefore only seems to impact the positive emotion of enjoyment and has no effect on either anxiety or boredom in the FL learning context.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The associations observed in the cross-sectional model reflect causal effects in the directions specified by the model.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Attempts to alleviate FLCA in testing and examinations may improve results.

“Attempts to alleviate FLCA in testing and examinations may have a positive effect on results.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The associations observed in the cross-sectional model reflect causal effects in the directions specified by the model.

May combine two claims.

The chi-square statistic can be affected by sample size and strong correlations among factors, potentially leading to Type 1 errors.

“However, the chi-square has been found to be particularly sensitive to sample size and large correlations between factors, which may result in Type 1 errors (Kenny, 2020).”

• cites Kenny, 2020Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

May combine two claims.

Moderate unpredictability together with frequent target-language use seems to increase enjoyment and reduce boredom, while leaving anxiety unchanged.

“A degree of unpredictability in the FL class, combined with abundant use of the FL seem to boost FLE and lower FLB without actually affecting FLCA.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The associations observed in the cross-sectional model reflect causal effects in the directions specified by the model.

May combine two claims.

The results indicate that the three emotions are linked and are shaped differently by learner attitude and by teacher behaviours, which then affect achievement.

“The findings suggest that FLE, FLCA and FLB are interconnected and are differentially shaped by a learner-internal variable (attitude towards the FL) and by teacher behaviours such as frequency of use of the FL in class and unpredictability, which in turn determines learners' achievement.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The associations observed in the cross-sectional model reflect causal effects in the directions specified by the model.

May combine two claims.

The proposed model closely fit the data and supported most hypothesised relationships.

“Overall, the proposed model was found to closely fit the data and support was found for the majority of hypothesised relationships.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The associations observed in the cross-sectional model reflect causal effects in the directions specified by the model.

May combine two claims.

Given that most fit indices suggested close fit, the model was deemed an adequate representation of the data.

“As such, the bulk of fit indices indicated close fit and the model is therefore accepted as an adequate representation of the data.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Several variables were measured using a single item.

“Secondly, several variables were measured utilising a single item.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

It is possible that causality runs from attitudes to emotions, such that a more favourable attitude leads learners to feel happier and more excited.

“As Botes et al. (2020a) emphasised, we cannot exclude the possibility that the causal relationship between emotions and attitudes could also go the other way: learners with a more positive attitude toward the FL are more likely to feel happy and excited in the FL class, which may, in turn, strengthen their positive attitude towards the language and the culture.”

• cites Botes et al. (2020a)Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The associations observed in the cross-sectional model reflect causal effects in the directions specified by the model.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Other independent variables not included in the study may also contribute to the observed relationships.

“Lastly, we acknowledge that other independent variables that were not included in the current study for reasons of economy may also contribute to the relationships we observed.”