Enjoyment and anxiety in second language communication: An idiodynamic approach

Journal Title: Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue 1

Abstract

Emotions are a fleeting experience, sometimes lasting only moments before dissipating. Prior research in SLA has either ignored emotions, underestimated their relevance, or has studied them as a relatively stable individual difference variable. In contrast, the present study takes an idiodynamic approach to examine the rapidly changing relationship between enjoyment and anxiety in second language communication, on a moment-to-moment timescale. University students who speak French as a second language were recruited to complete oral tasks in their second language. Participants then rated their per-second fluctuations in each emotion while watching a video recording of their tasks. Immediately after this, they were interviewed about their attributions for fluctuations in their ratings. We found that the relationship between enjoyment and anxiety is highly dynamic, resulting in varying patterns of correlation ranging from negative to positive. Triangulation of ratings of anxiety and enjoyment with interview data produces a richer understanding of the role of emotions in second language communication.

Authors and Affiliations

Carmen Boudreau, Peter D. MacIntyre, Jean-Marc Dewaele

Keywords

Related Articles

Crossovers: Digitalization and literature in foreign language education

Digitalization produces increasingly multimodal and interactive literary forms. A major challenge for foreign language education in adopting such forms lies in deconstructing discursive borders between literary education...

A higher-education teaching module for integrating industry content and language through online recruitment advertisements

Empirical evaluations of practical teaching units integrating content and language in higher education are rare and deserve more attention. The current article aims to narrow this gap by providing an empirical study of a...

A study of Taiwanese university students’ English use, learning goals and attitudes toward English as a lingua franca

This study investigates Taiwanese university students’ experience of English use, aims of learning English and attitudes toward English as a lingua franca (ELF). The notion of ELF has been researched in the field of Engl...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP274243
  • DOI 10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.1.7
  • Views 92
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Carmen Boudreau, Peter D. MacIntyre, Jean-Marc Dewaele (2018). Enjoyment and anxiety in second language communication: An idiodynamic approach. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 149-170. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-274243