Issues in Educational Research, 26(3), 2016
508
Examining emotions in English language learning
classes: A case of EFL emotions
Reza Pishghadam, Mohammad Zabetipour and Afrooz Aminzadeh
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
Emotions play a significant role in learning in general, and foreign language learning in
particular. Although with the rise of humanistic approaches, enough attention has been
given to the affective domain in language learning, the emotions English as a foreign
language (EFL) learners experience regarding English language skills in listening,
speaking, reading, and writing have not gained adequate attention. Accordingly, this
study investigates whether language skills play any role in engendering emotions in EFL
learners, or in other words, how language skills affect EFL learners' emotions. To this
end, 20 students were interviewed to elicit their views about the emotions they
experienced in EFL classes, as a basis for constructing the EFL Skills Emotions
Questionnaire containing 20 items. Then, 308 students were asked to take the newlydesigned scale. Afterwards, confirmatory factor analysis was utilised to validate the scale,
and then EFL learners' emotions generated by language skills were measured and
compared using ANOVA. Findings indicated that EFL learners experience anger mostly
over listening skills, enjoyment and pride over speaking, shame over listening and
speaking, hope, boredom, and hopelessness over writing and listening, and finally,
anxiety over all of language skills. Finally the results were discussed and some suggestions
were made for future research.
Introduction
Scientifically, there is no single agreed-upon definition of emotion. However, Freud (1911,
as cited in Pishghadam, Adamson & Shayesteh, 2013) takes the stance that emotion is like
a wayward horse which is taken over by the rational ego. In other words, emotion is the
representation of internal states and is tied to physical and sensory feelings (Lazarus,
1999). Obviously, emotions can significantly affect learning in general (Pekrun, Goetz,
Titz & Perry, 2002), and foreign language learning in particular (MacIntyre & Gregersen,
2012; Mendez Lopez & Pea Aguilar, 2013). Moods and emotions can affect cognitive
processes like memory and perception (Parkinson, Totterdell, Briner & Reynolds, 1996).
Assuming this, a number of studies in different fields have been done to show the
significance of emotions experienced in educational settings, such as research on students’
test anxiety, which has continuously been under investigation since the 1930s (Schutz &
Pekrun, 2007), and achievement motivation (Heckhausen, 1991, as cited in Pekrun,
Frenzel, Goetz & Perry, 2007). Considering the fact that "the classroom is an emotional
place" (Pekrun, 2014, p. 6), and bearing in mind that one’s emotions affect his/her
learning process, motivation, performance, identity development, and even health (Schutz
& Pekrun, 2007), it is worthwhile to give more detailed and meticulous attention to
academic emotions. According to Pekrun et al. (2002a), academic emotions, which include
enjoyment, pride, boredom, and hopelessness, to name a few, are the emotions
experienced in an academic setting and are related to students’ learning, classroom
instruction, and achievement. Moreover, a number of other studies have been done
Pishghadam, Zabetipour & Aminzadeh
509
focusing on the role of affective aspects and emotions in different domains of education
(e.g., Goleman, 1995; Linnenbrink, 2006; Schutz & Lanehart, 2002).
Having been defined as "the emotional side of human behavior" (Brown, 1994, p. 135),
the affective domain plays a significant role in foreign language learning too. Although
there is no doubt about the significance of affective factors in language learning process,
no attention has been given to them until the rise of humanistic approach and its
particular attention to the affective domain and emotional states (Mendez Lopez & Pea
Aguilar, 2013). When it comes to language learning, it should be noted that investigating
the role of emotion is not a novel phenomenon in the domain of second/foreign language
teaching and learning (Pishghadam, Adamson & Shayesteh, 2013); however, there is only
scanty research done on emotions experienced by English language learners (Imai, 2010;
Pishghadam, 2009). Despite this, previous literature has indicated that language learners
experience a variety of both negative and positive emotions such as enjoyment and pride
(Goetz, Frenzel, Hall & Pekrun, 2008), fear (Ellis, 1994), and anxiety (Horwitz, Horwitz &
Cope, 1986). Assuming this, existing literature has focused more on the destructive
impacts of negative emotions like anxiety and has not paid adequate attention to the
beneficial impacts of positive emotions (Pekrun, Goetz, Titz & Perry, 2002b). Keeping
this in mind, although several studies have been done on emotions in the English as a
foreign language (EFL) domain, there has been no comprehensive study focusing on how
language skills (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing) can evoke emotions such as
boredom, hopelessness, shame, and enjoyment, to name a few.
Consequently, this body of research can be distinguished from prior literature in terms of
its focus on examining the role of language skills in engendering a variety of positive and
negative emotions, which surely function differently, but should be studied
simultaneously. To this end, the present study aims to, at first, develop and validate a scale
called EFL Skills Emotions Scale, which assesses EFL learners’ emotional states engendered
by language skills. The second aim of this study is to measure the emotions EFL learners
experience with regard to language skills. Thus, our research questions are:
Q1. What factors underlie the EFL Skills Emotions Scale?
Q2. Do language skills play any significant role in engendering emotions?
Theoretical framework
Unlike other concepts in science, there is no single agreed definition of emotion.
Nevertheless, there is a considerable consensus that emotion is an affective reaction that
changes the way of thinking, behaving and expressing (Scherer, Schorr & Johnstone,
2001). These reactions can be ascribed to an incident (Otto, Euler & Mandl, 2000) or
situations in which a person’s goals and concerns are significantly affected (Parrott, 2001)
such as educational settings that have the potentiality of manipulating one’s emotions.
Similarly, Al-Nafjan, Al-Wabil and Al-Ohaili (2015, p. 595) stated that "emotion is an
affective state induced by a specific stimulus".
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Examining emotions in English language learning classes
Emotion in academic settings
Emotional states can have significant impacts on education and learning, and when it
comes to education, investigating the entire diverse range of emotions experienced in
academic settings seems to be of high importance because learning and achievement are
"major sources of human emotions today" (Pekrun et al., 2002a, p. 92). Assuming this,
Pekrun et al.’s (2002a) study on academic emotions is a shining example of educational
research aimed at investigating the emotions experienced in educational settings. These
emotions, which are related to achievement activities or outcomes, are also defined as
achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006), and are critically crucial for learners’ motivation,
learning strategies, identity development, and health (Schutz & Pekrun, 2007). Pekrun,
Frenzel, Goetz and Perry’s (2007) study on academic emotions provides a multidimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions (see Table 1) which includes three
dimensions, namely object focus (activity or outcome), valence (positive or negative), and
activation (activating or deactivating). For instance, enjoyment is considered to be a
positive emotion which can activate students while they are doing tasks, and thus, enhance
academic motivation. In contrast, hopelessness is a negative deactivating emotion which
can be detrimental (Pekrun et al., 2002a) and is related to outcomes.
Table 1: A three-dimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions
(Pekrun et al., 2007, p. 16)
Focus
Activity focus
Outcome focus
Positive
Activating
Deactivating
Enjoyment
Relaxation
Joy
Hope
Pride
Gratitude
Contentment
Relief
Activating
Anger
Frustration
Anxiety
Shame
Anger
Negative
Deactivating
Boredom
Sadness
Disappointment
Hopelessness
Keeping this in mind, although several questionnaires and instruments have been
developed for assessing emotions, there had not been a comprehensive instrument before
2005, which could specifically investigate academic emotions and their impacts on
achievement. The Academic Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) developed by Pekrun, Goetz and
Perry (2005) is a self-report instrument which has been designed to assess the relationship
between achievement emotions and students' learning and academic performance.
Feelings of anger, enjoyment, hope, boredom, and hopelessness are among such series of
emotions, which can be regarded as the most prevalent emotions in academic settings,
particularly in the language learning domain.
Emotions and language learning
Emotions are so important that they can influence a person in deciding whether to study a
foreign language and whether to continue doing a task in a language classroom or not
(Mendez Lopez & Pea Aguilar, 2013). In this regard, having utilised Pekrun et al.'s (2005)
Pishghadam, Zabetipour & Aminzadeh
511
AEQ, Ismail (2015) found that both negative and positive emotions students experience
in English classes have an impact on their English achievement. In addition, he takes the
stance that if English language teachers want to reduce negative emotions and provide
peace in their classrooms, they need to take into account their students’ academic
emotions and consider them as part of education. In addition, Mendez Lopez and Pea
Aguilar (2013) pointed out that both positive and negative emotions can have significant
impacts on foreign language learners' motivation. They found that negative emotions like
fear and sadness can enhance learning and can also be regarded as positive and
motivational in foreign language learning process.
Generally, negative emotions affect students' motivation, attention, and use of learning
strategies (Zeidner, 1998). Similarly, Goleman (1995) took the stance that "students who
are anxious, angry, or depressed do not learn; people who are caught in these states do not
take in information efficiently or deal with it well" (p. 78). For instance, anxiety, which is
the most frequently studied emotion in academic domains (Pekrun et al., 2002a), is also
associated with foreign language learning and affects EFL learners' achievement (Horwitz
et al., 1986) and performance in tasks related to language skills. Many scholars believe that
foreign language anxiety has negative impacts on the learners' productive language skills
(e.g., Cheng, 2002; Daly & Wilson, 1983; Spielmann & Radnofsky, 2001). However, there
are some assertions made by other scholars who take the stance that anxiety has negative
effects on reading and listening comprehension as perceptive skills (Bacon, 1989; Lund,
1991; Sellers, 2000). Prior research has indicated that students who have higher levels of
writing anxiety write shorter compositions even when they are writing in their native
language (Horwitz et al., 1986). Similarly, Peyman and Sedighi (2011) found that the more
EFL leaners have stress, the worse they perform in reading comprehension tests. In the
same vein, Mahmoudzade (2012) indicated that, in comparison with less proficient EFL
learners, those who have higher levels of speaking proficiency experience less speaking
anxiety.
On the contrary, emotions like anger, relief, enjoyment, hope, shame, pride, boredom, and
hopelessness, which have profound effects on achievement and learning (Pekrun, 2006)
and are critically crucial for learners’ motivation, learning strategies, identity development,
and health (Schutz & Pekrun, 2007), have been extensively neglected. Regarding
enjoyment, Yükselir (2014) found that language learners have high levels of enjoyment
before learning as compared to enjoyment during learning and enjoyment after learning.
This is somehow in harmony with the assertion Horwitz et al. (1986) made arguing that
anxiety is inherent in foreign language learning processes. In brief, a positive activating
emotion like enjoyment can increase interest and motivation (Pekrun et al., 2007). Prior
studies investigating the relation between emotional states and cognitive performance
have also found out that pleasant emotions like enjoyment and hope bring about flexible
thought, the ability of elaborating ideas, and engagement in self-regulative and
metacognitive strategies. It has also been revealed that positive moods and emotional
states have impacts on students’ performances in processing information (Febrilia,
Warokka & Abdullah, 2011), and that they have a facilitating role in memory processes
and retrieval of long-term memory (Isen & Patrick, 1983), and executive tasks (Phillips,
Bull, Adams & Fraser, 2002).
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Examining emotions in English language learning classes
On the other hand, for instance, concerning boredom, Pekrun et al. (2007) took the
stance that boredom is induced when students do not find any negative or positive value
in the activity they are doing. According to Brookes (2010), boredom is mostly more
associated with writing than might be expected. This may be due to the fact that students
find little mutual engagement in writing, while the intensity of mutual engagement in
speaking and conversations is more, which leads to a more enjoyable atmosphere in
speaking classes. In this regard, Brookes (2010) stated that if students understand that
there is mutual engagement in writing skills too, they become more enthusiastic and will
be less likely to experience boredom. In addition, it has also been found that unpleasant
emotions like boredom and hopelessness are associated with external guidance and
regulation (Pekrun et al., 2002a). These findings imply that language teachers should adjust
their teaching methodology and approach to one that can decrease the detrimental
impacts of negative emotions like boredom, and increase the beneficial effects of positive
emotions because as Fried (2011) stated, positive emotions lead to the production of more
ideas and strategies by both teachers and students. Considering the fact that teachers play
the most influential role in promoting students’ achievement (Darling-Hammond, 1997),
and bearing in mind that emotionally intelligent teachers are more able to interact with
their students and to make positive teacher-student relationships (Rust, 2014), it can be
concluded that teachers can also play an active role in understanding and regulating their
students’ emotions. Thus, due to its significance, the issue needs to be included in teacher
education programs.
However, one of the key points which is worth knowing about assessing academic
emotions is that such emotions are domain specific, meaning that not all subjects and
fields are favoured by students in school and university contexts (Goetz et al., 2008).
Having examined the interrelations of students’ academic enjoyment, achievement, and
self-concepts in two domains of mathematics and German language, Goetz et al. (2008)
found that a student’s level of enjoyment in a mathematics class is not necessarily similar
and equal to that of a language class like German. Similarly, Goetz, Frenzel, Pekrun, Hall
and Ludtke (2007) investigated the between-domain relations of emotions like enjoyment,
pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom in four different domains, namely, mathematics,
physics, German, and English classrooms. Based on their findings, the between-domain
relations observed for these academic emotions were generally weak. They also found out
that, in comparison with more different domains (e.g., mathematics and English), the
relations between emotions experienced in similar subject domains (e.g., mathematics and
physics) are stronger.
As stated earlier, not enough attention was given to emotions and affective factors in
language learning until the rise of humanistic approach and teaching methodologies, such
as Community Language Learning, Silent Way, and Suggestopedia (Mendez Lopez & Pea Aguilar,
2013). Pishghadam, Tabatabaeyan, and Navari (2013) held the view that emotion is one of
the main factors in language teaching and learning. As Pishghadam and Zabihi (2012)
stated, emotional ability is one of the indicators of improving the quality of life; thus,
teaching should not focus merely on a specific subject or domain but should also include
emotions. In this regard, Pishghadam (2011) claimed that English language classrooms
Pishghadam, Zabetipour & Aminzadeh
513
can be a place for improving human abilities along with teaching and learning English.
Keeping this in mind, Pishghadam, Adamson et al. (2013), who were inspired by
Greenspan’s (1992) Developmental Individual-Difference Relationship-Based model (DIR), came up
with a novel approach to second language acquisition named Emotion-Based Language
Instruction (EBLI), which is based on the fact that having stronger emotions toward
second/foreign language vocabularies leads to a better understanding of them and
facilitates learning. In other words, each individual may experience a different emotion
when he/she is encountered with a word or concept in a language (Pishghadam &
Shayesteh, in press). Hence, some words may be learned faster and easier because they
have a higher level of emotioncy for learners (Pishghadam, Jajarmi & Shayesteh, in press;
Pishghadam, Shayesteh & Rahmani, 2016). In this regard, emotioncy refers to the degree
of emotions one has toward language entities (Pishghadam, Adamson et al., 2013).
According to Pishghadam (2015), "emotioncy ranges on a hierarchical order of null,
auditory, visual, kinaesthetic, inner, and arch emotioncies" (p. 1). Based on this
classification, higher levels of emotioncy (inner and arch) bring about higher levels of
comprehension, learning, and retention because of involvement, i.e., they engage learners
from inside, while lower levels of emotioncy (auditory, visual, kinaesthetic) lead to
exvolvement because they engage learners from outside (Pishghadam, 2015). Recent
studies have also found that even students' open and closed postures can bring about both
positive and negative moods and emotions (Zabetipour, Pishghadam & Ghonsooly, 2015)
leading to possible changes in EFL learners' perceptions of class activity (Zabetipour &
Pishghadam, 2016), which may indicate that even students' postures need to be taken into
account by language teachers.
Given that students' emotional states and learning are inextricably and deeply related to
each other (Goleman, 1995), and bearing in mind that students' learning and motivation as
well as teachers' performance can be affected by emotions (Meyer & Turner, 2007; Pekrun
et al., 2002a), and also being mindful of the fact that affective states are regarded to have
significant impact on language learning process (Gardner, 1985), it is worth looking for a
way to assess and examine emotional states in English language classrooms. Thus,
employing Pekrun et al.'s (2005) AEQ, this study aims to develop and validate a scale
called EFL Skills Emotions Scale, and to measure the emotions EFL learners experience
with regard to language skills.
Method
Participants and setting
Three hundred and eight (150 female, 48.7%, and 158 male, 51.3%) intermediate English
language learners from eight private language institutes in Mashhad, Iran, where they were
learning English for conversation purposes participated in the present study voluntarily.
The participants' ages ranged between 12 and 37 (mean = 17.7, SD = 4.76). In addition,
their previous term’s overall score ranged between 57 and 100 (mean = 87.7, SD = 8.25).
They all spoke Persian as their mother language.
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Examining emotions in English language learning classes
Instrument
The authors designed a scale in English (see Appendix), which includes 20 items, each
having 9 alternatives, based on Pekrun et al.'s (2005) AEQ and interviews with EFL
learners. AEQ is a self-report instrument which manifests the relationships between
achievement emotions, students' learning, and academic performance. In order to assure
the content validity of the scale, the items were written after passing through two steps.
Firstly, a number of English language classes were attended and interviews were held with
about 20 male and female EFL learners who described their perspectives on the main
emotions experienced in the EFL classes. Then, their answers were collected, revised, and
presented as the items examining the participants' emotions regarding English language
skills. Secondly, after doing a comprehensive review of the literature, nine emotions
including anger, anxiety, shame, relief, enjoyment, hope, pride, boredom, and
hopelessness were used as the alternatives of the scale, which were adapted from Pekrun
et al.'s (2005) AEQ. Afterwards, values of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were assigned to these
alternatives, respectively, to run statistical analysis. One of the questions, for instance,
read, "What emotion/s do you have when your English language teacher is teaching
listening skill?". The participants were asked to specify what emotion(s) they have
regarding this situation by selecting none, one, two or any number of nine choices
presented below each item. Finally, it is important to note that since none of the
participants chose relief, this emotion was removed from the statistical analysis process.
Procedure
The printed scale was copied and administered to the participants of eight language
institutes of Mashhad, Iran, after securing their verbal and voluntary approval in
coordination with the language institutes and their instructors. As the scale was in English,
the researchers were present during the data collection and provided the participants with
some explanations whenever they had questions. The participants completed the scale in
about 15 minutes. First, in order to confirm the number of factors found in EFA, having
used AMOS (version 8), the researchers conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
Generally, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used to indicate what the sub-components
of the major trait are, while CFA is used to confirm the findings of EFA. Finally, in order
to investigate the relationship between emotions and test the equality of means, nine
repeated measures of ANOVA were utilised.
Results
Validation
In order to examine the construct validity of the scale, EFA was run, and as expected,
four five-item factors were extracted. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient (RC) of all
the items of the scale is .91. Moreover, the reliability estimates of all four factors range
from .81 to .92. And finally, after examining the outcome of the factor rotation, no item
was removed. Needless to say that the factors, which underlie the scale, were named as,
reading (items: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), speaking (items: 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10), writing (items: 11, 12,
13, 14, and 15), and listening (items: 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20).
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Pishghadam, Zabetipour & Aminzadeh
Figure 1: The results of the CFA
In order to confirm the factor structure of the EFL Skills Emotions Scale found in EFA,
CFA was used. As can be seen in Figure 1, a four-factor model of EFL Skills Emotions
Scale with 20 items was specified. To examine the viability of the hypothesised model for
the EFL Skills Emotions Scale, the goodness of fit measures in AMOS were checked.
Table 2: Goodness of fit indices
χ2 /df AGFI
Acceptable range
Observed
<3
2.11
0.91
Fit index
IFI TLI CFI RMSEA
> 90
< 0.08
0.92 0.91 0.91
0.05
The goodness of fit indices used in this study were goodness of fit index (GFI), chisquare/degree of freedom (χ2/df), and root mean-square error of approximation
(RMSEA). As MacCallum, Browne and Sugawara (1996) stated, there are some criteria by
which a fit model is considered to be acceptable. In this regard, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI),
comparative fit index (CFI), incremental fit index (IFI), and adjusted goodness of fit index
(AGFI), should be above .90, RMSEA should be less than .08, and χ2/df should be less
than 3. Hence, based on the results presented in Table 2, all the goodness of fit indices
were above the cut-off points indicating that the factor structure of the scale has been
confirmed by the CFA.
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Examining emotions in English language learning classes
Repeated measures of ANOVA
Descriptive statistics for each emotion are presented in Table 3. As mentioned earlier, the
second aim of this study was to measure the emotions engendered by language skills. As
shown in Table 3, regarding anger, in comparison with other skills, the mean of listening
was higher (M = .4968) with a standard deviation of .81715. Writing (M = .3604, SD =
.81715), reading (M = .2532, SD = .59926), and speaking (M = .1883, SD = .52020) skills
are in the second, third, and fourth place, respectively.
Table 3: Descriptive statistics
Std.
Std.
deviation error
Anger. L
.4968 .81715
.047
Anxiety. L
Anger. R
.2532 .59926
.034
Anxiety. R
Anger. S
.1883 .52020
.030
Anxiety. S
Anger. W
.3604 .81715
.054
Anxiety. W
Shame. L
.3994 .92006
.052
Enjoyment. L
Shame. R
.2338 .58529
.033
Enjoyment. R
Shame. S
.3442 .78155
.045
Enjoyment. S
Shame. W
.1883 .55062
.031
Enjoyment. W
Hope. L
.8344 1.16484
.834
Pride. L
Hope. R
.1851 .47904
.185
Pride. R
Hope. S
.1266 .49117
.127
Pride. S
Hope. W
.9870 1.26330
.987
Pride. W
Boredom. L
1.3312 1.56532
.089
Hopeless. L
Boredom. R
.8279 1.28113
.073
Hopeless. R
Boredom. S
.3279 .76970
.044
Hopeless. S
Boredom. W 1.5455 1.69917
.097
Hopeless. W
* L: listening; R: reading; S: speaking; W: writing
Mean
Mean
.9416
.9675
.8864
.8279
1.7045
2.3312
3.1071
1.6883
.4026
.5487
1.1591
.6494
.4091
.1851
.1266
.4935
Std.
deviation
.94980
1.08540
1.06012
1.07060
2.28585
1.80681
1.58932
1.69890
.79509
1.03721
1.33019
1.04325
.86264
.47904
.49117
1.01292
Std.
error
.054
.062
.060
.061
1.705
2.331
3.107
1.688
.045
.059
.076
.059
.049
.027
.028
.058
Anxiety was the only emotion that had been experienced extensively on all occasions.
Table 3 shows that students' degree of anxiety does not vary across language skills. The
results obtained regarding listening (M = .9416, SD = .94980), reading (M = .9675, SD =
1.08540), speaking (M = .8864, SD = 1.06012), and writing (M = .8279, SD = 1.07060)
skills indicate how stress-provoking English language skills are for EFL learners. In
addition, listening (M = .3994, SD = .92006) and speaking skills (M = .3442, SD =
.78155) are better associated with shame, and as it was expected, the feeling of enjoyment
was experienced more while students were working on the speaking skill (M = 3.1071, SD
= 1.58932), though it was also high in relation to other skills. Lying at the other end of the
continuum, reading (M = 2.3312, SD = 1.80681), writing (M = 1.6883, SD = 1.6883) and
listening (M = 1.7045, SD = 2.28585) were less enjoyable for EFL learners in comparison
with speaking.
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Pishghadam, Zabetipour & Aminzadeh
Table 4: Tests of within-subjects effects
Anger
Sphericity assumed
Greenhouse-Geisser
F: 15.375
Huynh-Feldt
Lower-bound
Anxiety
Sphericity assumed
Greenhouse-Geisser
F: 1.387
Huynh-Feldt
Lower-bound
Shame
Sphericity assumed
Greenhouse-Geisser
F: 7.373
Huynh-Feldt
Lower-bound
Enjoyment Sphericity assumed
Greenhouse-Geisser
F: 50.708
Huynh-Feldt
Lower-bound
Hope
Sphericity assumed
Greenhouse-Geisser
F: 77.325
Huynh-Feldt
Lower-bound
Pride
Sphericity assumed
Greenhouse-Geisser
F: 38.855
Huynh-Feldt
Lower-bound
Boredom
Sphericity assumed
Greenhouse-Geisser
F: 60.296
Huynh-Feldt
Lower-bound
Hopelessness Sphericity assumed
Greenhouse-Geisser
F: 22.187
Huynh-Feldt
Lower-bound
Type III sum
of squares
16.812
16.812
16.812
16.812
3.552
3.552
3.552
3.552
8.743
8.743
8.743
8.743
414.929
414.929
414.929
414.929
179.619
179.619
179.619
179.619
99.873
99.873
99.873
99.873
273.575
273.575
273.575
273.575
28.510
28.510
28.510
28.510
df
Mean square
Sig.
3
2.647
2.672
1.000
3
2.914
2.945
1.000
3
2.618
2.642
1.000
3
2.698
2.724
1.000
3
2.269
2.286
1.000
3
2.830
2.860
1.000
3
2.757
2.784
1.000
3
2.383
2.403
1.000
5.604
6.352
6.292
16.812
1.184
1.219
1.206
3.552
2.914
3.340
3.309
8.743
138.310
153.820
152.340
414.929
59.873
79.176
78.561
179.619
33.291
35.285
34.926
99.873
91.192
99.236
98.257
273.575
9.503
11.963
11.864
28.510
.000
.000
.000
.000
.245
.246
.246
.240
.000
.000
.000
.007
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
As Table 4 presents, for instance, while there is a significant difference between the means
of language skills regarding anxiety, no significant difference has been found between
means of language skills with regard to enjoyment (F = 50.708, p < .05). Table 4 shows us
that there is a significant difference somewhere between the means, except for anxiety (p
= .246 > .05), but we do not know which means differ from the others; therefore, posthoc tests needed to be carried out to determine which pairs of means differ from each
other. The following sets of pairwise comparisons (see Table 5) indicate what the exact
difference is between the means.
The pairwise comparisons for emotions in terms of language skills are presented in Table
5. This table indicates that in almost all cases, or in other words, in all pairs, except for
anxiety, there is a significant difference (p < .05) between the effects each language skill
518
Examining emotions in English language learning classes
Table 5: Pairwise comparisons of language skills
Skill
Anger
L vs. R
L vs. S
L vs. W
R vs. S
W vs. R
W vs. S
Shame L vs. R
L vs. S
L vs. W
R vs. W
S vs. R
S vs. W
Hope
L vs. R
L vs. S
R vs. S
W vs. L
W vs. R
W vs. S
Boredom L vs. R
L vs. S
R vs. S
W vs. L
W vs. R
W vs. S
Mean
diff.
.244*
.308*
.136*
.065
.107*
.172*
.166*
.055
.211*
.045
.110*
.156*
.649*
.708*
.058
.153
.802*
.860*
.503*
1.003*
.500*
.214
.718*
1.218*
Std.
error
.049
.043
.057
.038
.050
.052
.045
.059
.056
.038
.051
.053
.069
.071
.034
.087
.078
.076
.103
.096
.076
.110
.103
.103
Sig.(b)
.000
.000
.018
.089
.034
.001
.000
.347
.000
.234
.032
.003
.000
.000
.086
.080
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.053
.000
.000
Skill
Anxiety
L vs. S
L vs. W
R vs. L
R vs. S
R vs. W
S vs. W
EnjoyL vs. W
ment
R vs. L
R vs. W
S vs. L
S vs. R
S vs. W
Pride
R vs. L
S vs. L
S vs. R
S vs. W
W vs. L
W vs. R
Hopeless- L vs. R
ness
L vs. S
R vs. S
W vs. L
W vs. R
W vs. S
Mean
diff.
.055
.114
.026
.081
.140
.058
.016
.627*
.643*
1.403*
.776*
1.419*
.146*
.756*
.610*
.510*
.247*
.101
.224*
.282*
.058
.084
.308*
.367*
Std.
error
.072
.074
.074
.068
.080
.077
.155
.142
.115
.141
.111
.130
.064
.079
.075
.084
.070
.074
.052
.045
.034
.065
.057
.057
Sig.(b)
.445
.128
.727
.232
.083
.449
.917
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.023
.000
.000
.000
.000
.176
.000
.000
.086
.197
.000
.000
Based on estimated marginal means
* The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.
b. Adjustment for multiple comparisons: Least significant difference (equivalent to no adjustments).
has on emotions. For instance, in case of anger, there is a significant difference (p < .05)
between all language skills except for reading and speaking (p = .89 > 0.05) indicating that
these two language skills have the same impact on feeling of anger.
Concerning anxiety, the results indicate that there is no significant difference between
language skills, meaning that anxiety is the only emotion which was equally experienced in
all occasions and situations. With regard to shame, although there is a significant
difference between listening and reading (p = .000 < .05), listening and writing (p = .000
< .05), speaking and reading (p = .032 < .05), and speaking and writing (p = 0.03 < .05),
no significant difference was found between either listening and speaking (p = .347 > .05)
or reading and writing (p = .234 > .05). This result indicates that the pair of listening and
speaking and the pair of reading and writing have the same impacts on the feeling of
shame.
Regarding enjoyment, except for listening and reading (p = .917 > .05), in all other pairs,
there is a significant difference between language skills. Similarly, concerning pride, a
significant difference was found between language skills in almost all comparisons made,
Pishghadam, Zabetipour & Aminzadeh
519
except for only one case, writing and reading (p = .176 > .05). This table also indicates
that concerning hope, there is no significant difference between reading and speaking (p =
.086 > .05) and also writing and listening (p = .080 > .05). However, in all other cases, a
significant difference was found.
With regard to boredom, as it was mentioned before, both writing and listening skills
bring about boredom in EFL classrooms. Accordingly, as this table shows, there is no
significant difference between writing and listening (p = .053 > .05) in the extent of
boredom they cause. On the other hand, in all other cases, there is a significant difference
between language skills. Finally, concerning hopefulness, except for only two pairs,
namely, reading and speaking (p = .086 > .05), and also writing and reading (p = .197 >
.05), there is a significant difference between all other pairs of skills.
Discussion
The present study showed that the EFL Skills Emotions Scale is a reliable measure of
English language learners' emotions regarding language skills. As mentioned earlier, this
paper reported on the construction and validation of a scale called EFL Skills Emotions
Scale, which assesses EFL learners’ emotional states generated by language skills. The
second aim of this study was to measure the emotions EFL learners experience with
regard to language skills (i.e., listening, speaking, reading and writing). Based on the
findings of the study, EFL Skills Emotions Scale manifests the academic emotions which
were adapted from Pekrun et al.’s (2005) AEQ. The results also revealed that each one of
language skills is associated with specific emotions.
Based on the findings, anxiety was the only emotion which was intensely engendered by
all four English language skills. This finding is in harmony with the assertion made by
Horwitz et al. (1986), who held the view that foreign language learning activates anxiety in
EFL learners. In addition, this finding is in accord with previous studies that indicated
anxiety might have negative impacts on both productive (e.g., Cheng, 2002; Daly &
Wilson, 1983) and perceptive language skills (Bacon, 1989; Lund, 1991). Difficulty in
speaking in front of the teacher and other classmates, listening to native or native-like
accents in audio clips, and writing using accurate grammar and spelling, as well as reading
texts and comprehending them accurately without making any mistakes may lead to fear
of negative evaluation and thus bring about language anxiety. These facts highlight the
significant role of language teachers as facilitators and counsellors, who should pay
considerate attention to actual emotional needs of learners and offer solutions and
suggestions for attaining confidence and calmness. In brief, the findings of the present
study and also the previous ones (e.g., Cheng, 2002; Mahmoudzade, 2012) indicate that
more attention should be given to language anxiety.
Based on the findings of this study, listening is the only English language skill which is
associated with all of the negative emotions (e.g., anger, shame, boredom and
hopelessness). Generally, frustration is one of the main causes of anger (Averill, 1983).
Moreover, since listening is a complex process, which involves discriminating between
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Examining emotions in English language learning classes
unfamiliar sounds, understanding the meaning of words, and interpreting stress and
intonation as well as the meaning in the immediate and sociocultural environment
(Vandergrift, 1999), language learners may feel frustrated for this endless effort, which
may lead to the feeling of anger. In addition, when they fail to utter what they had heard
in the classroom, feelings of shame and hopelessness might be triggered. In fact, shame is
triggered when one fails to meet important internalised goals, rules, or standards (Lewis,
1993). According to Turner and Waugh (2007), shame is "one of the most distressing and
disruptive unpleasant emotions" (p. 131). Moreover, an interesting point observed in the
findings of the study is that both opposite feelings of hope and hopelessness are
engendered by the listening skill. Listening is the only skill which puts a heavy pressure on
the learners’ cognition to simultaneously entangle with decoding sounds, retaining
information, considering grammatical features, and the speed of sounds (Walker, 2014).
Generally, when the focus is on finding the right answers to the follow-up questions in the
listening tasks, students will feel hopeless if they fail to answer correctly. Generally,
hopelessness is posited to occur whenever success or a positive satisfying achievement
outcome is not attainable (Pekrun et al., 2007). Moreover, hope is considered to be a
positive outcome-focused emotion while hopelessness is a negative outcome-focused
emotion (Elliot & Pekrun, 2007). Assuming this, language teachers need not focus merely
on the product, meaning that adequate attention should also be given to the process of
learning. When the focus is on the product/outcome rather than the process, students’
final performance is only judged, which may bring about a feeling of hope or
hopelessness.
Moreover, the findings showed that listening is also associated with boredom. Pekrun et
al. (2007) pointed out that boredom is induced when students do not find any negative or
positive value in the activity they are doing. Moreover, due to the fact that listening is
regarded as the most difficult skill to learn (Vandergrift, 2004), and that language learners
find it difficult to grasp and utter what they have heard, they may not find any positive
value in listening activities and then feel bored. Moreover, language learners are not able
to see the speaker and the environment when they are listening to audio files. Hence,
video clips can be regarded as "a very valuable tool for language learning" (Woottipong,
2014, p. 203) because they provide contextual information and an environment helping
language learners improve their listening comprehension and confidence in speech
(Shrosbree, 2008).
Unlike other language skills, feelings of enjoyment and pride are mostly triggered by the
speaking skill. The findings also indicate that, in comparison with other language skills,
speaking brings about the least amount of boredom and hopelessness in language
classrooms. Generally, emotional states can influence thinking, meaning that students can
perform and learn better when they feel happy, interested, and excited about the task they
are to do (Oatley & Nundy, 1996). Thus, the fact that speaking is the most enjoyable skill
for language learners can be related to their probable interest in speaking. In the same
vein, positive activating emotions like enjoyment can broaden thought-action repertoires
leading to creative and novel thoughts and ideas (Fredrickson, 1998), which are
particularly useful in speaking.
Pishghadam, Zabetipour & Aminzadeh
521
In contrast to speaking, writing is associated with a higher extent of negative unpleasant
emotions like boredom, hopelessness, and anger in language learners. This finding accords
with the assertion Brookes (2010) made arguing that boredom is mostly associated with
writing. As mentioned earlier, according to Pekrun et al. (2007), boredom is induced when
students do not find any negative or positive value in the activity they are doing. In other
words, when students are faced with either a low or a high-demand activity, they
experience boredom (Pekrun et al., 2007). In addition, Pekrun et al. (2007) took the stance
that hopelessness arises from negative achievement outcomes or when "a positive
achievement outcome cannot be attained" (p. 19). Keeping these in mind, with regard to
writing, for one thing, feeling negative emotions may be due to the fact that there is little
mutual engagement in writing, and that in most of the cases, EFL learners need to do the
writing tasks on their own, while the intensity of mutual engagement in speaking and
conversations is greater, which leads to a more enjoyable atmosphere. In this regard,
Brookes (2010) advanced the view that if students understand that there is mutual
engagement in the writing skill, they become more enthusiastic and will be less likely to
experience boredom. Secondly, although students' emotional states and feelings as well as
their state of mind can be discovered through writing (Brookes, 2010), encoding thoughts
and feelings seem to be an overwhelming task for language learners.
Concerning reading skill, the findings of the study indicate that reading can be considered
as a neutral skill in engendering negative or positive emotions. In contrast, Moore (1993)
pointed out that for science students reading is both boring and overly time-consuming.
However, as mentioned earlier, academic settings are highly domain-specific. That is to
say, for instance, a student’s level of boredom in a science class is not necessarily similar
and equal to that of an English language class. Moreover, this study showed that reading
does not bring about boredom as much as listening and writing skills do. This can be,
firstly, due to the fact that reading sections of language learning books taught in Iran, in
most of the cases, include stories about real life events, outstanding celebrities, and
famous tourist attractions, which make learners become more interested. Secondly,
language learners are often provided with visual elements (i.e., photos) in reading
comprehension sections, and thus, can understand the texts more easily.
In summary, considering the significant impact of affective factors on language learning
(Gardner & Lambert, 1972), and based on the findings of the present study, it can be
concluded that it is essential to help students manage, regulate, and control their emotions
and feelings in language classrooms. Based on the principles of Suggestopedia, which is
defined as "the application of suggestion to pedagogy" (Bancroft, 1999, p. 16), most
learning happens in a both relaxed and focused state (Richards & Rodgers, 2001).
Suggestopedia was originally developed in the 1970s by Lozanov, whose aim was to provide
a positive state of mind and environment, where language learners would overcome
psychological obstacles through positive suggestion (Guclu & Ayhan, 2015). Thus,
language teachers need to take into account the possible impacts of language skills on
learners' emotions, and consider every aspect or factor which can affect and manipulate
learners' emotions in order to create a positive state of mind and secure environment for
the development of optimal learning of their students.
522
Examining emotions in English language learning classes
This can be done by encouraging students to express their feelings and talk about their
learning worries while they are doing tasks related to each language skill. Moreover,
making use of visual elements (e.g. video clips) that include contextual information for
listening tasks, and promoting mutual engagement while learners are doing writing tasks
may have positive impacts on their performance and reduce negative emotions like
boredom. Future research however, can be conducted to measure the emotions
engendered by language sub-skills, i.e., grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. In
addition, further studies can be done to draw a comparison between male and female
language learners and investigate the type of emotions they experience regarding language
skills. Furthermore, the relationship between EFL learners’ emotional intelligence and the
emotions they experience in English language classrooms can be explored in future
studies.
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Appendix: Sample items in the EFL skills emotions scale
Reading
1. What emotion/s do you have when your English language teacher is teaching reading skill?
Anger
Anxiety Shame Relief
Enjoyment
Hope
Pride
Boredom Hopelessness
2. What emotion/s do you have when you are doing reading skill tasks?
Anger
Anxiety Shame Relief
Enjoyment
Hope
Pride
Boredom Hopelessness
3. What emotion/s do you have when you are taking a reading skill test?
Anger
Anxiety Shame Relief
Enjoyment
Hope
Pride
Boredom Hopelessness
4. What emotion/s do you have to the teaching method of reading skill?
Anger
Anxiety Shame Relief
Enjoyment
Hope
Pride
Boredom Hopelessness
5. What emotion/s do you have to the reading skill section of the English language book?
Anger
Anxiety Shame Relief
Enjoyment
Hope
Pride
Boredom Hopelessness
Pishghadam, Zabetipour & Aminzadeh
Dr Reza Pishghadam is a professor of language education and a professor by courtesy
of educational psychology in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. Over the last nine
years, he has published more than 170 articles and books in different domains of
psychology and English language education, and has participated in more than 20
national and international conferences. In 2007, he was selected to become a member of
Iran's National Foundation of Elites. In 2010, he was classified as the distinguished
researcher of humanities in Iran. In 2014, he also received the distinguished professor
award from Ferdowsi Academic Foundation, Iran. He is the corresponding author for
this article. Email: pishghadam@um.ac.ir
Web: http://pishghadam.profcms.um.ac.ir/index.php/index.php?option=
com_profactivity&task=allPublications
Mohammad Zabetipour is a PhD candidate in Teaching English as a Foreign
Language (TEFL) at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. He received his master's
degree in TEFL from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, and his bachelor's degree in
English Translation from Islamic Azad University, Quchan Branch. His research
interests include nonverbal communication and its relationship to language teaching and
learning, and psycholinguistics. Email: m.zabetipour@gmail.com
Web: http://mo_za839.student.um.ac.ir
Afrooz Aminzadeh obtained her BA in TEFL from Islamic Azad University of
Mashhad, Iran in 2007. She received her MA in TEFL from Ferdowsi University of
Mashhad, Iran. She received the Six Seconds' EQ certification
[http://www.6seconds.org/pdf/EQ-Certification.pdf] in May 2015. She is currently the
only Iranian EQ practitioner who is licensed to use the Six Seconds EQ model. Her
main research interests are psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics.
Email: aminzadeh1984@gmail.com
Web: http://aminzadehafrooz.student.um.ac.ir
Please cite as: Pishghadam, R., Zabetipour, M. & Aminzade, A. (2016). Examining the
gender identity of language teachers using a masculinity-femininity scale: A case from
Iran. Issues in Educational Research, 26(3), 508-527.
http://www.iier.org.au/iier26/pishghadam-2.pdf
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