The dynamic interactions in foreign language classroom anxiety and foreign language enjoyment of pupils aged 12 to 18. A pseudo-longitudinal investigation

Abstract

The combined effect of positive and negative emotions in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has attracted the attention of researchers influenced by the Positive Psychology movement (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; 2016a). The current study is based on a pseudo-longitudinal design to investigate how the positive and negative emotions of 189 foreign language pupils in two London schools evolved over time. A comparison of the mean values of Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) among 12–13 year olds (age group 1), 14–15 year olds (age group 2) and 16–18 year olds (age group 3) showed little variation in FLCA and a slight increase in FLE. Multiple regression analyses revealed that fewer independent variables (learner-internal and teacher-centred variables) predicted FLE and FLCA at the start and at the end of the secondary education compared to the middle phase. These findings suggest that the causes of positive and negative emotions are dynamic and change over time. Moreover, the nature of the relationships changes.