Original title: Does the effect of enjoyment outweigh that of anxiety in foreign language performance?
The researchers looked at two feelings in language classes: enjoyment and anxiety. They compared these feelings with language performance among learners in London and Saudi Arabia. Enjoyment had a stronger link to performance than anxiety did. Saudi learners also described what caused these feelings and how they affected whether they kept studying or stopped.
Imagine learning to cook while someone watches. You might feel nervous about making a mistake, but you might also enjoy trying new recipes. It can be hard to tell which feeling matters more for how well you cook. In this paper, learners’ enjoyment and nervousness in language classes are compared with their language performance.
Language teachers and learners often focus on reducing anxiety, but this study suggests that enjoyment may also deserve attention. It compares how each emotion relates to foreign-language performance, while also examining how learners’ feelings shape decisions to continue or quit studying.
The abstract reports correlations, so it does not establish that enjoyment causes better performance or that anxiety causes worse performance. The participants came from two London secondary schools and a group of Saudi learners and users of English; the abstract does not establish whether the findings apply to other learners or settings. The qualitative material came from the Saudi participants.
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Does the effect of enjoyment outweigh that of anxiety in foreign language performance? — Jean‐Marc Dewaele, Mateb Alfawzan — Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching — doi:10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.1.2
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.