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Does the effect of enjoyment outweigh that of anxiety in foreign language performance?
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Interest in the effect of positive and negative emotions in foreign language acquisition has soared recently because of the positive psychology movement (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014, 2016; MacIntyre, Gregersen & Mercer, 2016). No work so far has been carried out on the differential effect of positive and negative emotions on foreign language performance. The current study investigates the effect of foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) on foreign language performance in a group of 189 foreign language pupils in two London secondary schools and a group of 152 Saudi English as a foreign language learners and users of English in Saudi Arabia. Correlation analyses showed that the positive effect of FLE on performance was stronger than the negative effect of FLCA. In other words, FLE seems to matter slightly more than FLCA in foreign language (FL) performance. Qualitative material collected from the Saudi participants shed light on the causes of FLCA and FLE and how these shaped participants’ decisions to pursue or abandon the study of the FL.
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“The results seem to suggest that the patterns between emotions and achievement may vary across different contexts.”
From Anxiety, enjoyment, and boredom in language learning amongst junior secondary students in rural China: How do they contribute to L2 achievement? (2023) · cites this paper as Dewaele and Alfawzan (2018)
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dewaele, J.-M., & Alfawzan, M.
- Affiliations
- University of London (GB)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- ORCID
- Dewaele, Jean-Marc
- Venue
- Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
- Publisher
- Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan
- Published
- 2018-03-27
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 21-45
- ISSN
- 2083-5205 (ISSN-L)
- 2084-1965
- OpenAlex
- W2795088672
- Cited by
- 418
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 48 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 62 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 72 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 8
- FWCI
- 137.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Keywords
- foreign language enjoyment, foreign language classroom anxiety, positive emotions, negative emotions, positive psychology, EFL learners, high school students, Saudi students, causes of anxiety
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