2018 Annual Conference of China English Language Education Association (CELEA2018)

239 / 2018-06-28 16:10:45

Foreign language classroom enjoyment and anxiety of Chinese undergraduate EFL learners: A classroom-based study

foreign language anxiety,foreign language enjoyment,Chinese EFL learners,positive psychology,classroom-based study

Plenary track > 中国特色英语教学研究

Influenced by the positive psychology movement, there was a shift from an exclusive focus on negative emotions in SLA to a more holistic analysis of both negative and positive emotions in the past few years. The present study examined foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) of Chinese undergraduate EFL learners and the links between these two classroom emotions and a range of learner-internal and teacher-specific variables. Participants were 564 students from 26 English Listening and Speaking classes at a Beijing university. Results showed that participants reported significantly higher levels of FLE than FLCA. More proficient participants reported higher FLE and lower FLCA. There was no gender difference on either FLE or FLCA. Attitudes towards teachers, teacher’s friendliness, frequency of joke making, and unpredictability were significantly linked to both FLE and FLCA. Teacher’s strictness were linked to FLE but no links with FLCA. Quantitative analysis of the qualitative material collected from the participants revealed that teacher/teacher practices and classroom activities were more related to participants’ FLE. FLCA were more related to tests and social apprehension of speaking in front of the class especially speaking without preparation. Pedagogical implications of the findings are provided for EFL teachers in China.