Predicting EFL Learners’ Achievement from Their Two Faces—FLE and FLCA

Abstract

Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) are a Janus-faced concept (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). This study adopted a mixed-method approach to investigate how FLE interacts with FLCA to predict and be predicted by Foreign Language (FL) achievement among 589 undergraduate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a key and a non-key university in Northwest China. Participants reported more FLE than FLCA. Significant school differences were found regarding the investigated variables. FLE regulated the debilitating aspect and positively predicted the facilitating aspect of FLCA, whereas facilitating anxiety, in turn, increased FLE via motivation and sense of success. FLE and FLCA significantly predicted FL achievement and vice versa. Qualitative analysis revealed that learner-internal variables were major sources of FLE and FLCA. Facilitating anxiety was reported to significantly and positively connect with FL achievement in both quantitative and qualitative data, although debilitating anxiety exerted a more influential role.