Portraying higher education students' accounts of foreign language classroom enjoyment and its effects

Among different positive emotions in language education research, foreign language enjoyment (FLE) has been in the limelight. As Botes et al. (2022b) note, the nomological network of FLE is still enlarging, and more empirical investigations are needed in this domain. Nevertheless, this network was obtained mainly from quantitative or mixed-methods research undertakings. In an attempt to expand the nomological network of FLE, this qualitative inquiry delved into the perceptions of a group of 96 undergraduate students regarding FLE and its learning and academic outcomes in English as a foreign language (EFL) university classes in Iran. The data, obtained via administering an open-ended questionnaire, was analyzed in MAXQDA. Accordingly, three themes, 25 sub-themes, and 299 open codes were inductively created. The first theme revealed the students conceptualized FLE as a multidimensional concept, triggered by both student-external (teacher, classroom climate, teacher-student relationships, and instruction) and -internal factors. The second theme showed experiencing FLE in university EFL classes was mainly deemed important by the participants. The third theme unveiled the students' accounts that FLE can bring about students' positive learning outcomes, positive psycho-emotional experiences, and enhanced contribution in the classroom as well as effects far beyond the boundaries of the classroom. These findings signify how teachers' creation of an enjoyable foreign language (FL) learning environment might bring about both immediate (classroom-related) and long-term (lifetime) outcomes for their students.