A multidimensional exploration of negative emotions during undergraduate thesis writing: Evidence from English majors...

Students' negative emotions are likely to arise when they are engaged in writing graduation theses due to intense academic pressure. There have been many studies concerning negative emotions of MA or Ph.D. students in thesis writing but little attention has been paid to undergraduate students in English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. In this study, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was adopted to examine the negative emotions of 113 senior English majors in their undergraduate thesis writing. Results indicate that: (1) Students' negative emotions primarily fall into 4 categories: Self-deficiency Anxiety, Task-induced Stress, Cognitive Fragmentation and Communication Apprehension. (2) Academic publication experience, participation in Innovative Practical Training Program, and English proficiency exert, to some extent, an influence on these negative emotions. (3) The dynamic evolution of negative emotions is characterized by stage-specific differences in occurrence frequency, coexistence or alternation with positive emotions, and diachronic impacts on students. The findings provide valuable insights for alleviating negative emotions of English majors during thesis writing and improving thesis quality.