Can positive psychology interventions increase foreign language enjoyment? evidence from an eight-week quasi-experimental study with Indonesian EFL undergraduates

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine whether the incorporation of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) into regular English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class would increase university students’ foreign language enjoyment (FLE). A quantitative, quasi-experimental pretest–post-test design was used with 60 undergraduates learning EFL in two intact university classes. Classes were randomly assigned to the experimental group (n = 30), who underwent traditional EFL teaching with structured PPIs, and the control group (n = 30), who received syllabus-based foreign language instruction. During the eight-week intervention period, the experimental group received 15–20 minutes of Positive Psychology activities during each lesson, such as gratitude journaling, character strengths reflections, and positive peer feedback, during each lesson. FLE was measured before and after the experiment by means of the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale. ANCOVA was conducted to compare the post-test FLE scores between the groups while taking pre-test FLE scores into account. The experimental group had a substantially higher post-test FLE score (M = 4.24, SD = 0.27) than the control group (M = 3.02, SD = 0.23). ANCOVA revealed a statistically significant difference in post-test FLE between the experimental and control groups after controlling for pre-test FLE, F(1, 57) = 6,723.58, p < .001, partial η² = .992. This study shows that short, structured positive psychology interventions may serve as a practical tool for the enhancement of positive emotional experiences in university EFL classes. However, the unusually high effect size should be statistically verified in the context of university EFL classes.