The Predictive Power of Multicultural Personality Traits, Learner and Teacher Variables on Foreign Language Enjoyment and Anxiety

By Jean–Marc Dewaele, P. Macintyre. Evidence-Based Second Language Pedagogy, 2019

190 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background and purpose: Previous research showed that Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) were negatively correlated but essentially independent dimensions. The current study confirms this finding with new additional empirical evidence. Methods: This mixed-methods study is based on feedback from 750 FL learners around the world obtained via an online questionnaire. Quantitative data were Likert scale responses. Qualitative data (descriptions of classroom episodes in which participants experienced intense FLE and FLCA) was coded according to the source(s) of the emotion. Findings: Correlation analyses confirmed that FLE and FLCA are separate dimensions. Multiple regression analyses revealed that FLE was mostly predicted by teacher-centred variables while FLCA was mostly predicted by the personality trait Emotional Stability. This finding was confirmed in the analysis of participants’ words. The most frequent cause of the FLE experience was the teacher while FLCA experiences were mostly frequently linked to the self. Conclusion: FLCA is less context-dependent than FLE. Pedagogical suggestions: Teachers may rather focus on boosting FLE in a positive classroom environment rather than worry over FLCA.

Subfields: Education, Language and Linguistics, Literature and Literary Theory

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a40acd4f823dd3a7a687206300af1790a7b401ad

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Citations in the corpus

ROLE OF THE EMOTIONS AND CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT IN WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE (2017, background): “Gender differences did not emerge with respect to enjoyment, which is inconsistent with prior research (Dewaele et al., 2016; Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014), although a nonsignificant difference is difficult to interpret given the many differences between the studies.”
Teacher enthusiasm and students’ social-behavioral learning engagement: The mediating role of student enjoyment and boredom in Chinese EFL classes (2021, background): “These patterns were further confirmed in Dewaele and MacIntyre (2019) who analysed quantitative and qualitative feedback from 750 FL learners around the world and found that FLE was mainly predicted by teacher behavior such as friendliness and joking.”
Are foreign language learners’ enjoyment and anxiety specific to the teacher? An investigation into the dynamics of learners’ classroom emotions (2020, unknown): “This confirms previous research showing that variation in FLE is strongly related to the teacher (Dewaele et al., 2018, 2019; Jiang & Dewaele, 2020; Li et al., 2018, 2019), whereas FLCA is more strongly predicted by learner-internal variables (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2019).”
A longitudinal study of foreign language anxiety and enjoyment (2021, background): “One exception is Dewaele and MacIntyre (2019), who found that Cultural Empathy was the strongest predictor of FLE.”
The Effect of Classroom Emotions, Attitudes Toward English, and Teacher Behavior on Willingness to Communicate Among English Foreign Language Learners (2019, background): “Moreover, students who score high on Neuroticism are more likely to suffer from FLCA, over which teachers have relatively little control, but teacher actions can boost FLE (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2019).”