An analysis of the predictive efficacy of EDM, a model of emotional dynamics in second language acquisition, on anxiety and enjoyment in foreign language classrooms

Abstract

Abstract In recent years, foreign language classroom anxiety and enjoyment have received widespread attention for their significant effects on second language acquisition. Therefore, based on the theory of complex dynamic systems, this paper recruited five students in a second language classroom as research subjects and used the individual dynamics method and EDM modeling to follow up their foreign language anxiety and enjoyment in the second language classroom over a short window of time. After completing the data collection, correlation analysis and PLS regression analysis were combined in statistical analysis to explore the predictive efficacy of the emotion dynamic model on anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. The results showed that there was a nonlinear dynamic correlation pattern between foreign language enjoyment and foreign language anxiety, which continuously alternated between zero, negative, and positive correlations, and the dynamic pattern was individualized. Learners’ emotional experiences and positive (intrinsic and external) emotional values together predict 44% and 67% of anxiety and enjoyment in foreign language classrooms. This study contributes to foreign language teachers’ further understanding of the mechanisms of positive and negative emotions and has implications for teaching second languages.