Second language pupils’ anxiety and motivation: a meta-analysis

According to control-value and self-determination theories, pupils with greater second language.(L2) anxiety than others should have less L2 motivation. However, past studies' results are mixed. Thus, we determined the link between L2 pupils' anxiety and motivation during L2 learning, and its moderators. Specifically, we meta-analyzed 51 studies of 14,178 pupils' 97 effect sizes. It yielded a small, negative overall relation between L2 pupils' anxiety and motivation ( r = -.059). L2 motivation types and linguistic distance moderate this link. This link was significantly negative (a) for intrinsic motivation ( r = -.156) but not significant for extrinsic motivation, (b) for internal motivation ( r = -.181) but not significant for external motivation, and (c) when either L1 or L2 was not Indo-European ( r = -.201) but not significant when both were Indo-European. These findings support control-value and self-determination theories and help explain the mixed results of past studies. We discussed these results' practical implications.