Learning Environment and Foreign Language Classroom Boredom: Unravelling the Emotional and Motivational Mechanisms

Abstract

Considering the situated nature of foreign language classroom boredom and dearth of research on the potential underlying mechanisms explaining the link between classroom environment and boredom, the present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of positive learning emotions (enjoyment, hope, and pride) and the moderating role of self-efficacy for motivation regulation in accounting for English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students’ classroom boredom. The participants were 643 Iranian learners who were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling and responded to four questionnaires measuring their foreign language classroom boredom, classroom environment, positive learning emotions, and self-efficacy for motivation regulation. The results of structural equation modelling showed that classroom environment could directly and positively predict students’ boredom. Additionally, this link was mediated by learners’ positive learning emotions and moderated by their self-efficacy for motivation regulation. The implications are discussed in light of the obtained findings.