The longitudinal relationship between foreign language learning anxiety and willingness to communicate in vocational English classrooms among Chinese students: the mediating roles of instrumental motivation and learning engagement.

The willingness to communicate (WTC) in vocational English classrooms involves the combined roles of achievement emotions, future-oriented motivational beliefs, and classroom engagement. Drawing on control-value theory (CVT) and the L2 motivational self system (L2MSS), this study developed a three-wave longitudinal mediation model to examine the relationships among foreign language learning anxiety, instrumental motivation, learning engagement, and willingness to communicate (WTC) among Chinese non-English major vocational students. Participants (N = 232) from a vocational college completed three waves of surveys at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. Foreign language learning anxiety was assessed using the 8-item S-FLCAS; instrumental motivation for vocational English was measured using an adapted version of the Instrumental Motivation subscale; learning engagement was tracked via the 9-item Language Classroom Engagement Scale; and WTC was evaluated using an adapted WTC in English scale. The longitudinal path analysis indicated that Time 1 foreign language learning anxiety was negatively associated with Time 3 WTC. Crucially, Time 2 instrumental motivation and Time 3 learning engagement each served as a significant mediator in this relationship, and sequentially formed a significant longitudinal chain mediation path. These findings indicate that initial anxiety is longitudinally related to subsequent differences in career-related instrumental motivation and classroom engagement, which are further associated with students' willingness to communicate in vocational English classrooms. The findings highlight the importance of considering emotional experiences, vocational relevance, and classroom engagement when designing vocational English instruction.