exploring achievement emotions of iranian esp learners: the case of esp teachers’ perspectives

Adhering the theoretical framework of the control-value theory, this study aimed at exploring the emotions that iranian esp learners might experience in their language classes. to this end, 120 esp students, majoring in basic sciences and engineering, were selected in kashan university. the study, benefitting from the non-experimental and mixed methods research design, aimed to explore how differently the students of different majors feel in their esp classes. in addition, the role of gender in experiencing different emotions was examined. the data were obtained via the achievement emotions questionnaire developed by pekrun et.al. (2005). it included 155 items measuring students’ achievement emotions in areas of class-related emotions and learning-related emotions. to investigate esp teachers’ perceptions towards the students’ achievement emotions, ten teachers were invited to take part in semi-structured interview sessions individually. it was found that esp students recognized the role of achievement emotions in their esp classes by relying more on positive emotions and reducing negative feelings. there were not any significant differences between esp students of the two target majors regarding their emotions. no significant differences were observed between esp male and female students regarding their class- and learning-related emotions. finally, teachers’ perceptions were directed at achievement emotions and esp students’ educational performance and motivational education. given that achievement emotions are directly related to learning performance, finding out about the emotions of learners whose majors is not english can be very useful in helping them to boost their positive emotions and manage their negative feelings in their english classes.