The predictive effect of language achievement on multiple emotions in languages other than English: validating a distal mediation model based on the control-value theory

Abstract

Abstract Although the predictive effect of emotion on language achievement has been substantially established, little is known about whether language achievement could, in turn, shape a constellation of emotions in second language/L2 learning, especially in the field of languages other than English. Given this, grounded on the control-value theory, this tentative study aims to fill the gap by investigating the predictive effect of language achievement on emotions (enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety) and digging into the mediating relationships between them in the underlying L2 Chinese learning mechanism through structural equation modeling. Three hundred and seven (N = 307) young students from a cram school in New Zealand participated in this study. The results indicated that students’ learning achievement, directly and indirectly, predicted three frequently experienced emotions in the multiple mediation model. In addition, positive and negative emotions interacted with each other in the L2 Chinese learning context. The finding of this study validated and extended the application of control-value theory in L2 Chinese learning.