How teacher characteristics shape Chinese undergraduate EFL learners’ enjoyment and anxiety

ABSTRACT

Emotion research in second language acquisition has flourished under the growing influence of Positive Psychology in recent years. This mixed-method study explored the effects of teacher characteristics on learners’ foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) in the Chinese educational context. A total of 347 EFL (English as a foreign language) learners from a provincial key university filled out an online questionnaire. Results showed that participants with male teachers reported more FLE than those with female teachers. Multiple regression analyses revealed that teacher characteristics predicted much more variance in FLE than in FLCA. Teachers’ happiness was the strongest predictor of learners’ enjoyment, while teachers’ strictness was the most significant predictor of anxiety. Qualitative data on students’ enjoyable and anxiety-provoking experiences regarding teachers also indicated that participants experienced more FLE with humorous, patient, supportive, happy, encouraging, and friendly teachers, yet teachers who were strict, frequently practiced random calls, and only spoke English in class would evoke participants’ FLCA. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications for foreign language teaching at the collegiate level are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher characteristics
• foreign language enjoyment
• foreign language classroom anxiety
• EFL learners
• foreign language teaching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Hubei Provincial Department of Education [21Q012].

Notes on contributors

Huashan Wu

Huashan Wu is a lecturer in the College English Department at the School of Foreign Languages, Hubei University. Her research interests include educational psychology, blended teaching and individual differences among learners.