iranian efl learners’ foreign language enjoyment and anxiety in online education

Foreign language enjoyment (fle) and foreign language class anxiety (flca) have recently attracted researchers’ attention in the l2 acquisition setting. however, factors contributing to these negative and positive emotions in the online education context, especially in the iranian english as a foreign language (efl) context, has not received due attention. given the fundamental role of emotions in learning, especially in distance learning situations where students experience higher levels of stress and anxiety, it is crucial for language educators to put premium on boosting learners’ positive emotions to ensure enhanced acquisition. accordingly, this study aims to shed light on sources of enjoyment and anxiety in the efl context. using a convenience sample of 153 university students, this study investigated the main factors leading to fle and flca, applying li et al.’s (2018) fle scale and horwitz et al.’s (1986) flca scale. the learner individual factors included age, gender, socioeconomic status, and language proficiency level. data were analyzed using the quantitative methods and the spss software. statistical analysis of the data showed a significant relationship between iranian efl learners’ gender and their perceived fle and flca; while, age was not an influential factor in the degree of perceived enjoyment and anxiety. the correlations between efl learners’ socioeconomic status and language proficiency level and fle and flca were found to be significantly high. moreover, learners’ perceived flca was significantly higher than their fle. the main finding of this study was that efl learners generally perceive higher degree of flca than fle. in online educational courses that inherently abound with internal distractions, and external ones, teachers are suggested to apply online educational programs, capable of driving students’ interest and effort, to help learners regulate their emotions and raise their emotional skills and ultimately improve their academic