The Effects of Foreign Language Anxiety, Shame and Pleasure on Chinese High School Learners English Learning Motivation and Academic Grades

The field of education is now being more attentive to the emotions of learners when studying foreign languages, more emotions besides anxiety, boredom, and enjoyment have been gradually discovered by researchers. The focus of this study is on the impact of anxiety, shame, and pleasure on student motivation and academic grades (AG) in Chinese high schools, and aims to help educators guide students to acquire second language from the psychological aspect. A mixture of methods was employed to obtain data from 105 students at a Chinese high school via questionnaires and AG records. The findings reveal that foreign language anxiety and shame is significantly negatively linked to students' English learning motivation (ELM) and AG. In contrast, foreign language pleasure positively influences motivation and academic outcomes. The study suggests that educators should focus on students' learning emotions towards English subjects more, and use interesting classroom activities and other measures to minimize negative emotions and increase positive emotions. In this way, those approaches can promote the generation of students' ELM and the improvement of academic performance.