Enjoyment and perceived teacher conflict shape early L2 English performance: A longitudinal study in primary school

Learning English as a second language (L2) is crucial in a globalized world. However, longitudinal evidence on how young learners' achievement emotions and perceived teacher-child relationship quality jointly shape L2 outcomes remains limited.

This study investigated the prospective associations of enjoyment, boredom and anxiety, and perceived teacher warmth and conflict, with English performance in primary school children. We also examined whether relationship quality moderated emotion-performance links and explored interactions among emotions.

Participants were 148 Italian children (45.9% girls; M_age = 8.46 years), assessed in third (T1) and fourth grade (T2).

At T1, children reported L2-related emotions (AEQ-ES) and perceived relationship with their English teacher (Y-CATS). English performance was assessed at both time points using vocabulary comprehension, vocabulary production and problem-solving tasks. Working memory and L1 proficiency were also measured. Observed-variable path models (robust maximum likelihood) predicted T2 performance, controlling for baseline performance, sex, age, maternal education, working memory and L1 proficiency.

Enjoyment predicted higher T2 English performance beyond baseline performance and covariates (β ≈ .24-.26). Boredom and anxiety showed no unique main effects. Teacher conflict moderated the associations of boredom and anxiety with later performance, whereas teacher warmth did not. No significant interactions among emotions emerged.

Enjoyment promotes early L2 learning, likely by enhancing motivation and engagement. Teacher conflict amplified the negative impact of anxiety but attenuated the negative association of boredom, potentially reflecting a more activating teacher directiveness. These findings highlight the importance of joyful, low-conflict learning environments with practical implications for language instruction.