This quantitative study probed the largely unexplored relationship between achievement emotions, academic performance, and learning styles among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Three hundred students from the Applied College at a public university completed an adapted version of Bieleke et al.’s (2021) Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Short (AEQ-S), which measures emotional experiences in classroom-related, testing-related, and self-directed contexts.
Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed significant emotional differences between high and low achievers across the three contexts, with high achievers reporting stronger positive emotions and low achievers more negative ones. ANOVA showed that learners’ distinct learning styles significantly shaped achievement-emotion experiences—except for anxiety and relief—suggesting that tailoring instruction to learning styles can influence students’ emotional responses. These findings offer guidance for creating emotionally responsive pedagogical strategies that may boost EFL learners’ academic success.