Pedro Humánez-Berral
Recent work has begun to examine pronunciation-specific affective variables because of their reported association with pronunciation outcomes, yet this evidence focuses on older learners, leaving younger EFL samples underexplored. Using a pseudo-longitudinal design, this study compared pronunciation anxiety and pronunciation motivation across grades 3 to 6 in 259 Spanish primary pupils from five schools. Participants were surveyed in grades 3 and 4 at Time 1 and again in grades 5 and 6 at Time 2. Learners completed a 12-item pronunciation anxiety scale and a 36-item pronunciation motivation scale. Linear mixed-effect models revealed modest but consistent grade shifts. Anxiety was highest in grade 3 and lower in upper grades. Motivation showed a two-phase profile, being higher in grades 3 and 4 than in grades 5 and 6. Grade differences coexisted with strong individual variability, highlighting pronunciation anxiety and motivation as both grade-linked and learner-stable characteristics.