A SCOPING REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE ENJOYMENT (2014-2021): PANORAMA, MEASUREMENT AND NOMOLOGICAL NETWORK

Abstract

The purpose ofthis scoping review is to offer an overview ofthe empirical research on foreign language enjoyment (FLE), an emerging construct in the field of Applied Linguistics. After a first search across 15 databases and a second one applying the snowballing technique, 130 empirical studies published between 2014 and 2021 were included in the review. Among other results, the analysis of 20 bibliometric and methodological variables revealed a steady increase in the number of studies on FLE over the last seven years (Mdn = 2020), particularly in Asian contexts (n = 89, 68 %), and a clear predominance of the quantitative (n = 67) and mixed (n = 51) approaches over the qualitative research paradigm (n = 12). In order to measure the levels of FLE, operationalized as a unidimensional, bidimensional or tridimensional construct, the majority of the studies have used one of the five most well-known scales (n = 77), while the rest have used adapted versions or (very) different instruments. Complementarily, a total of 133 variables analyzed in relation to FLE were identified, classified in two groups (85 learner-internal variables, 48 learner-external variables) and six subgroups (22 linguistic and demographic, 37 motivational, 9 emotional and 17 personality variables, 25 professor- and 23 context-related variables) and ordered by their frequency of inclusion in the studies. Having found several problematic or still under-explored aspects, the study concludes with some suggestions for future research on FLE.