Exploring the emotional experience in learning Chinese as a second language of students from the multimodal affective perspective: A case study in Vietnam

This study explores the emotional experiences of Vietnamese secondary students learning Chinese as a second language (CL2) through a multimodal affective lens. Drawing on a qualitative case study design, data were collected from 15 students over five months via interviews, classroom observations, and emotional reflection journals. Reflexive thematic analysis yielded four interrelated affective themes: (1) multimodal engagement as a catalyst for enjoyment and agency; (2) emotional discomfort and cognitive overload during task complexity and transitions; (3) peer-mediated emotional regulation as a buffer and amplifier of affective responses; and (4) the development of emotional self-efficacy through sustained multimodal production. The study demonstrates that emotions in CL2 learning are not static but evolve through complex interactions among task design, peer dynamics, and cultural norms surrounding self-expression. These findings extend current multimodal emotion research by emphasizing longitudinal affective trajectories and by situating emotion within the relational ecology of the Vietnamese classroom. Nonetheless, this study provides contextually grounded insights into the emotional lives of adolescent learners in multimodal L2 environments, contributing to the emerging field of emotion-aware second language education.