Exploring The Relationships Between Chinese Postgraduate Students’ L2 Writing Achievement,Emotional Intelligence,and L2 Writing Emotions

The development of second language(L2)writing is dynamic and complex,affected by not only teacher factors,but more closely by learner factors.As a prominent learner factor,academic emotions have gained increasing attention in the field of second language acquisition(SLA).Previous studies have found that negative emotions can hamper L2 development,whereas positive emotions can motivate and facilitate this process.Since early2010 s,under the influence of Positive Psychology,SLA researchers have no longer focused exclusively on L2 learners’ negative emotions,but took a holistic perspective to investigate the roles of different emotions in L2 development.Specifically,anxiety and enjoyment,as two most common negative and positive emotions in L2 learning,have received increasing scholarly attention.Emotional intelligence(EI)refers to individuals’ capability of perceiving emotions of self and others,controlling and adjusting their own emotions,resisting setbacks,and the degree of optimism.Previous educational psychology research has confirmed the importance of EI regulating academic emotions.Similarly,SLA research has also found that EI can positively predict foreign language(FL)performance and L2 writing enjoyment,and negatively predict FL anxiety.However,whether these findings hold true in L2 writing development remains to be examined.Informed by Positive Psychology and the theory of EI,the current study investigated the complex relationships between Chinese postgraduate students’ EI,a positive L2 writing emotion,a negative L2 writing emotion,and the L2 writing proficiency.Adopting a mixed method,the current study obtained 372 questionnaires and 452 pieces of English writings,and conducted 15 semi-structured interviews in a prestigious STEM-oriented university in south China.Quantitative data indicated:(1)there is a negative and moderate correlation between TEI and L2 writing anxiety;(2)there is a positive but weak correlation between TEI and L2 writing enjoyment,(3)there is a negative but weak correlation between L2 writing anxiety and L2 writing,a positive but weak correlation between L2 writing enjoyment and L2 writing,and a negative but weak correlation between L2 writing anxiety and L2 writing enjoyment;(4)there is a full mediating role of L2 writing anxiety in TEI predicting L2 writing proficiency.However,L2 writing enjoyment was not found to have any mediating effect in TEI predicting L2 writing proficiency.Qualitative data analysis revealed that:(1)L2 writing anxiety hinders L2 writing achievement through mediating L2 writing process on the cognitive,behavioral,and affective dimensions,but L2 writing anxiety in some cases also facilitates the cognitive process of L2 writing and thus L2 writing achievement;(2)L2 writing enjoyment exerts positive influences on L2 writing achievement by mediating the cognitive,behavioral,and affective dimensions of L2 writing process.Nonetheless,there were two cases where the individual students perceived negligible influences of L2 writing enjoyment on their L2 writing achievement.Based on these quantitative results and qualitative findings,the current study offers useful implications for L2 writing pedagogy.