Psychological factors and production behaviors of Chinese undergraduate EFL learners

Abstract

Psychological factor have received much attention in education research. The present mixed-methods study focuses on the effect of foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) on production behaviors among 182 Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in FL teaching classes. The major findings are as follows: (1) Chinese university students prefer written production behaviors to oral ones, and personal or pair-work oral practice to onstage oral demonstrations due to foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA); (2) gender does not affect foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), or production behaviors; (3) language competence or test scores did not directly affect students’ decisions to speak English or not; (4) Team cooperation, classroom atmosphere, attitude towards English, and interesting materials mediated FLE and FLCA, thus affecting the students’ readiness for language output or production behaviors. Of these above-mentioned variables, team cooperation and classroom atmosphere are two most important factors in enhancing positive emotion and production behaviors. The implications of the study are to help teachers optimize their classroom activities o harness the emotions of learners, boost their FLE and lower their FLCA, and improve their willingness to speak a foreign language.