The paper provides a comprehensive critical review of research conducted over the past 20 years (2000-2020) examining emotional factors such as attitudes, motivation, anxiety, autonomy, and self-esteem in English as a foreign language (EFL) learning and teaching in Saudi Arabia.
The aim of this review is to identify common research themes, strengths and weaknesses, and assess how this research has contributed to developing EFL learning/teaching in Saudi Arabia. The study finds that research on EFL emotions in Saudi Arabia has made significant progress, with a growing number of publications, some in leading applied linguistics journals. However, it also identifies several weaknesses and areas for improvement.
Key findings include an imbalance in topic selection, with some emotional factors like motivation receiving disproportionate attention while others like self-esteem are neglected. Most studies used non-experimental, cross-sectional designs that cannot establish causality. Sampling procedures were often flawed, limiting generalizability. Data collection relied heavily on questionnaire surveys rather than more in-depth methods.
The paper recommends developing a more coordinated national research program on EFL emotions, adopting more rigorous experimental and longitudinal designs, using more representative sampling, and employing diverse data collection methods. It suggests EFL teachers need to recognize their crucial role in managing learners' emotional states. Overall, the review provides a critical assessment of the state of research on emotions in EFL learning/teaching in Saudi Arabia and offers recommendations to strengthen future work in this area.