The Role of Positive and Negative Emotions in Resilience Among L2 Learners: A Three Level Meta‐Analytic Review

ABSTRACT Second/foreign language (L2) learning is not solely a cognitive/linguistic acquisition process but includes mixed emotional experiences. Understanding how these emotional experiences relate to resilience could help our understanding of how learners navigate fluctuations in emotions when learning an L2. This study systematically synthesizes research on the relationship between emotions and resilience in L2 learners through a three‐level meta‐analysis of 13 primary studies ( N = 5,340) published between 2019 and 2025. The findings revealed two distinct emotional pathways to resilience: 1) positive emotions correlated positively with resilience (pooled r = 0.544; p < 0.001); and 2) negative emotions were negatively correlated with resilience (pooled r = ‒0.479; p < 0.001). Substantial heterogeneity was observed for both associations, supporting the need for moderator analyses. For positive emotions, publication year significantly moderated the association with resilience, suggesting variation across the recent development of this research area. For negative emotions, significant moderators included mean age, percent female participants, education level, school type, emotion factor structure, and emotion domain. In contrast, language similarity did not significantly moderate either positive or negative emotion–resilience associations. These findings underscore the differential roles of positive and negative emotions, offering practical insights for fostering resilience in L2 research and practice.