Over six months, English vocabulary, relative monitoring accuracy and metacognitive control improved, and boredom increased, while enjoyment and anxiety showed no significant change¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? English vocabulary scores and metacognitive monitoring and control improved significantly from T0 to T1. → Palladino 2025 q3 i? Only boredom changed among achievement emotions, increasing from T0 to T1; enjoyment and anxiety did not change significantly. → Palladino 2025 (2)

Evidence¶

Palladino 2025¶

Palladino, P., Trotta, E., Bonvino, A., Carlucci, L., & Cottini, M. (2025). How do you feel during English class? Emotions and metacognition in primary school children learning English as a second language. Metacognition and Learning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-025-09414-4

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Paired-samples t tests on 305 children assessed in November 2021 and May 2022. Table 2 reports vocabulary rising from M = 7.76 to M = 9.97, t(268) = ‒9.87, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = ‒0.60, alongside gains in relative monitoring accuracy (d = ‒0.44) and metacognitive control (composite d = ‒0.36).

"As assumed, children's English vocabulary scores were significantly greater at T1 compared to T0."

Palladino 2025 (2)¶

Palladino, P., Trotta, E., Bonvino, A., Carlucci, L., & Cottini, M. (2025). How do you feel during English class? Emotions and metacognition in primary school children learning English as a second language. Metacognition and Learning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-025-09414-4

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Paired t tests on the AEQ-ES emotion scales showed boredom rising from M = 1.51 to M = 2.14 (d = ‒0.41), while enjoyment (M = 3.81 to 3.70, p =.167) and anxiety (M = 2.12 to 2.11, p =.952) showed no significant change. This did not confirm the hypothesis that all achievement emotions would change.

"Finally, with respect to achievement emotions, only boredom significantly changed between the two administration points, increasing from T0 to T1, whereas enjoyment and anxiety did not reach the significance threshold."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Academic Anxiety — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Boredom is the only achievement emotion predicting English vocabulary growth in primary school L2 learners; enjoyment and anxiety show no significant effect — related
• English vocabulary correlates with confidence and metacognitive control at both time points but with monitoring accuracy only at T0, and with only the negative emotions boredom and anxiety at T1 — related
• Better metacognitive monitoring and control at the start of the year are correlated with lower boredom and anxiety about English at year's end — related
• Metacognitive confidence judgments and control predict English vocabulary performance from the beginning to the end of the school year in primary school children — related
• During the course, curiosity, enjoyment, confusion and anxiety decreased over time, boredom increased, and surprise and frustration remained stationary. — related
• Metacognitive efficiency at Grade 1 predicts children's performance improvement 10 months later in both a linguistic and a non-linguistic task — related
• Musical play intervention significantly increased children's metacognitive knowledge of strategies at interview — related
• Anxiety, enjoyment and boredom are three critical emotions in language learning that affect outcomes and engagement — related
• Mathematics anxiety remains low and does not change significantly during the first three school years — related
• Students' enjoyment of mathematics classes decreased significantly but very slightly from Grade 7 to Grade 8 — related