Emotional experiences of Mexican language learners: A qualitative study of their effects on motivation

Abstract

This article reports on the emotional experiences of Mexican language learners in their second year of an English language teaching programme at a state university. The aim was to identify the effects of emotions on the motivational behaviour that the students displayed in their daily classes. The instruments employed were personal narratives, electronic journals and semi-structured interviews. The results demonstrated that emotions are a source for students' development and that meta-emotions can help students to become more motivated. The study revealed that emotions, both positive and negative, can help students develop awareness, responsibility and commitment to their language learning process.

Keywords

• Emotions
• motivation
• language learning