Foreign Language Learners’ Speaking Anxiety and Enjoyment With Single-word Vocabularies and Phrasal Verbs Over Time: An Idiodynamic Perspective

Although evidence concerning how cognitive task complexity influences task performance abound, its impact on emotional variables remains underexamined. Besides, previous research has mainly treated emotions as stable individual difference variables. To address these limitations and following complex dynamic systems theory, this research adopted an idiodynamic approach to investigate fluctuations in Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) and Foreign Language Speaking Enjoyment (FLSE) among four female intermediate-level English learners under two cognitively different speech production conditions: using single-word vocabulary (less complex) and phrasal verbs (PVs, more complex). Results of per-second self-ratings revealed that vocabulary knowledge and cognitive load level triggered fluctuations in FLSA and FLSE quite differently. Interestingly, speakers reported high levels of both anxiety and enjoyment while using PVs. This finding can shed more light on the dynamics of FLSA and FLSE in foreign language classrooms. Implications for considering dynamics of emotional variables in oral task design is discussed.