Communicative strategy selection in language anxiety: eye-tracking evidence of EFL learners’ multimodal pragmatic regulation

In the context of globalization, language anxiety has become a common obstacle for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in cross-cultural communication. Centered on multimodal communicative strategy selection under anxiety, this study integrates a multimodal discourse analysis framework with eye-tracking technology to unpack EFL learners’ pragmatic regulation mechanisms. The study selected 120 college students with moderate anxiety levels (Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) scores of 50–59) through stratified random sampling, forming experimental and control groups of 60 each. Language, eye movements, gestures, facial expressions, and physiological signals were collected during impromptu speech and debate tasks. The results showed a systematic multimodal difference between high anxiety and low anxiety learners: participants with anxiety exhibited rigid text bias gaze patterns, redundant language output, and inhibitory nonverbal behavior as compensatory pragmatic regulation. Eye tracking indicators related to students have strong predictive power for language anxiety levels. As supplementary applied verification, exploratory intervention tests indicate that Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) training can alleviate anxiety-related cognitive constraints and improve multimodal communication performance. This study not only expands the theoretical understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of language anxiety but also provides actionable intervention pathways for EFL teaching.