Performance-based differences in the associations among ideal self, enjoyment, and anxiety: A longitudinal study on L2 integrated writing

Abstract

Recently, second language (L2) researchers gradually shift their focus on learners’ motivational and emotional responses to specific language skills, such as L2 writing. However, there is a paucity of empirical research on the relationships between learners’ L2 writing performance, motivation, and emotions from a longitudinal perspective. With a sample of 235 English-major students from a Chinese university, the present study explored the changes in the ideal L2 writing self and its relationships with L2 writing enjoyment and L2 writing anxiety among students with different integrated writing (IW) performance over an academic year. The ANOVA results reported that the ideal L2 writing self remained stable over time and showed no significant difference among three groups of students (high-level, middle-level, and low-level). The multi-group path analysis results revealed that, for all three groups, the ideal L2 writing self at time 1 positively predicted the ideal L2 writing self at time 2, which, nonetheless, displayed varied influence on L2 writing enjoyment and anxiety among the three groups. The study contributes to the literature by exploring the relationships between L2 writers’ motivational and emotional responses from longitudinal and performance-based perspectives. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are proposed based on the findings.