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Advancedness in Second Language Spanish: Definitions, challenges, and possibilities
Edited by Mandy R. Menke and Paul A. Malovrh
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 31] 2021
► pp. 441–468

Chapter 19
The role of language anxiety and enjoyment in advanced proficiency

Considerations for task-based language teaching research

ORCID logo | Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC)
The current chapter examines the subjective experiences of 14 Spanish advanced learners and 10 low-proficiency learners in relation to their L2 anxiety and enjoyment while performing two oral narrative tasks varying in cognitive demands. Results showed advanced participants experienced more enjoyment than their low-proficiency counterparts during complex tasks, although anxiety was still present as part of learners’ experiences. Importantly, task factors affecting learners’ anxiety in the advanced group differed from those perceived as more anxiety-inducing in the novice group. The study raises awareness of the importance of positive and negative emotions when manipulating cognitive task demands. It further emphasizes the complexity of emotional processes involved in learners’ performance and how their dynamic interactions with tasks differ as proficiency increases.
Keywords: positive and negative emotions, language anxiety (LA), foreign language enjoyment (FLE), advanced language proficiency, cognitive task complexity
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background
    • Language anxiety and language proficiency in SLA literature
    • Factors affecting language anxiety in task-based research
    • Positive Emotions in SLA
  • Purpose of the current study
  • Methodology
    • Participants
    • Materials
    • Procedure
    • Qualitative scoring and analytical procedures
  • Results
    • Results on cognitive task complexity, language anxiety and enjoyment by proficiency levels
    • Results on task factors attributed to language anxiety on the novice and advanced proficiency levels
  • Discussion and future directions
    • The interaction of task complexity and learner FL anxiety and enjoyment
    • Task-based predictors of learner anxiety
  • Note
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 8 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.31.19don
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2024. Ansiedad y producción oral en estudiantes multilingües de secundaria y universitarios. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching 11:1 ► pp. 83 ff. DOI logo
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