The differential effects of emotion regulation strategies on L2 achievement emotions: A structural equation modelling approach

Abstract

Despite the burgeoning interest in emotional well-being, few studies have considered how students strategically manage their emotions in L2 learning. Informed by the ERAS model (Harley et al., 2019), this study surveyed the emotion regulation (ER) strategies deployed by a cohort of L2 learners (N = 403) as they prepared for a high-stakes English proficiency test. The focus is on the differential effects of five types of ER strategies (i.e., situation selection, situation modification, attention redirection, cognitive change, and response modulation) on three achievement emotions (i.e., enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom). The study shows that students tended to rely most on attention redirection and least on cognitive change in their test preparation. However, structural equation modelling showed that situation modification and response modulation were associated with higher levels of positive emotion and lower levels of negative emotions, suggesting they may be the most effective ER strategies in L2 contexts. Attention redirection significantly and positively predicted all three emotions. The other two strategies (situation selection and cognitive change) were suggested to intensify negative emotions and diminish positive emotion. ER strategies explained the largest proportion of variance in enjoyment, followed by anxiety and boredom. This study has implications for emotion regulation interventions.