Emotion regulation in English use: Adapting the Managing Your Emotions Questionnaire into a study-abroad context

Despite a growing interest in emotion regulation research in language learning, the Managing Your Emotions Questionnaire, focusing on language learners' emotions and emotion regulation strategies (ERS) through vignette methodology, remains underutilised. Given the significant impact of study abroad (SA) experiences on students' well-being and linguistic progress, there is a need to adapt MYE for SA contexts. This study aimed to explore the emotions of Turkish university students in Hungary regarding English use in academic and social contexts and their emotion regulation, either independently or with others' help. Fifteen in-class and fifteen out-of-class scenarios were adapted, translated into Turkish and piloted with 38 participants. Descriptive statistics showed that nine in-class and five out-of-class scenarios were experienced in real life by more than half of the participants. A wide range of emotions, unpleasant, pleasant or both, with situational explanations, was revealed by thematic analysis, while ERS varied depending on the scenario. In most cases, the majority attempted to regulate emotions independently, while some received others' help in some instances. Besides methodological and pedagogical implications, it is highlighted that further studies in different SA settings are needed to enhance the tool's validity.