Foreign Language Enjoyment and Anxiety: Associations With General and Domain-Specific English Achievement

Abstract Recent research has confirmed the predictive effect of general foreign language (FL) achievement on Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA). However, few studies have examined the effect of domain-specific language achievement in shaping FL learning emotions. The present study thus aims to examine how FLE and FLCA are linked to overall FL achievement and self-perceived achievement in six different domains across listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar. A total of 1, 415 Chinese senior secondary students participated in the questionnaire survey. Regression analyses showed that 1) both FLE and FLCA were predicted more by self-perceived general English proficiency, while less by actual English achievement; 2) perceptions of speaking and grammar competence were significant predictors of both emotions; 3) perceived reading competence predicted FLE significantly but not FLCA; and that 4) perceptions of listening, writing, and vocabulary competence predicted neither FLE nor FLCA. The implication is that domain-specificity should be taken into consideration in future explorations of FL emotions.