Anxiety, enjoyment and boredom are three critical emotions in language learning that affect outcomes and engagement¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2024 · checked against its sources 2026-10-21 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The review reports that anxiety, enjoyment, and boredom are three critical emotions in language learning, with enjoyment often bringing a positive influence while boredom and anxiety often have negative effects on learners' language outcomes and engagement. → Peng Wang 2024

Evidence¶

Peng Wang 2024¶

Peng Wang, Lesya Ganushchak, Camille Welie, Roel van Steensel. (2024). The Dynamic Nature of Emotions in Language Learning Context: Theory, Method, and Analysis. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09946-2

q2 · i? · review · r2

Narrative review synthesis attributing this identification to Dewaele and colleagues (2023a). The review reports these emotions "significantly affect learners' language outcomes and their level of engagement", with enjoyment positive and boredom and anxiety negative; no effect sizes are printed.

"Dewaele and colleagues (2023a) identified anxiety, enjoyment, and boredom as three critical emotions in language learning. These emotions, which have been increasingly studied since Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014), significantly affect learners' language outcomes and their level of engagement"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Academic Anxiety — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Achievement Emotions — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• During the course, curiosity, enjoyment, confusion and anxiety decreased over time, boredom increased, and surprise and frustration remained stationary. — related
• Boredom is the only achievement emotion predicting English vocabulary growth in primary school L2 learners; enjoyment and anxiety show no significant effect — related
• Over six months, English vocabulary, relative monitoring accuracy and metacognitive control improved, and boredom increased, while enjoyment and anxiety showed no significant change — related
• Academic emotions—enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom—mediate the association between perceived AI-adaptive environments and SRL, accounting for 54.8% of the total effect — related
• Individual differences such as trait emotional intelligence and learner autonomy shape emotional experiences during language development — related