A Positive Psychology perspective on Chinese EFL students’ trait emotional intelligence, foreign language enjoyment and EFL learning achievement

By Chengchen Li. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2019

367 citations recorded by the source corpus.

ABSTRACT The influence of (trait) emotional intelligence (TEI) on academic achievement has been documented in literature, while its influence in the specific domain of L2 learning remains underexplored. The link between EI and negative emotions especially anxiety has been studied in different contexts including applied linguistics. However, it remains unknown how EI is related to positive emotions in L2 learning. Underpinned by theories and assumptions of Positive Psychology, the present study examined the complex relationships between 1307 Chinese high school students’ TEI, Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE), and English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learning achievement. The following findings were obtained: (1) Most Chinese high school EFL students reported moderate to high levels of TEI, while low to moderate levels of FLE; (2) Small to medium correlations were found among students’ TEI, FLE, self-perceived English achievement and actual English achievement; (3) TEI was partially mediated by FLE to influence perceived achievement and actual achievement indirectly. The results were discussed in accordance with previous relevant findings as well as their theoretical and practical implications for L2 teaching and learning.

Subfields: Education, Language and Linguistics, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bb6ccd9510cf22e56a81c6a095ef6ca1b45d4536

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Citations in the corpus

Informal digital learning of English and L2 willingness to communicate: roles of emotions, gender, and educational stage (2021, background): “…perspective of L2 emotions that embraces both positive (e.g. enjoyment) and negative emotions (e.g. anxiety) is gaining momentum (Bou-dreau, MacIntyre, and Dewaele 2018; Dewaele and Li 2020; Dewaele and MacIntyre 2014; Dewaele et al. 2018; Dewaele et al. 2019; Jiang and Dewaele 2019; Li2019 ).”
Teacher enthusiasm and students’ social-behavioral learning engagement: The mediating role of student enjoyment and boredom in Chinese EFL classes (2021, background): “It has been linked to heightened motivation and engagement, as well as better actual and self-perceived L2 performance and also a higher Willingness to Communicate (Botes et al., 2021; Li, 2020).”
Researching and Practicing Positive Psychology in Second/Foreign Language Learning and Teaching: The Past, Current Status and Future Directions (2021, background): “This review is also different from the work of Dewaele and Li (2020), entitled “Emotions in Second Language Acquisition: A Critical Review and Research Agenda” as they have mainly focused on emotions, their different phases, underlying theories, methodological issues, and an agenda for emotions in…”
The role of grit and classroom enjoyment in EFL learners’ willingness to communicate (2020, positive): “Li, Jiang, and Dewaele (2018) and Li (2019) developed and implemented the original Chinese version of the FLE scale, which also has three dimensions: FLE-Private, FLE-Teacher , and FLE-Atmosphere .”