مشخصات پژوهش

Emotional content of words can affect L2 reading by altering the word recognition cost. Meanwhile, this effect does not seem to be independent from the processor’s psychological states. The present study examined the complex interplay between word-level emotional features of valence and arousal and reader-level affective states of perceived mood and anxiety on L2 word recognition in the context of L2 reading. Forty-four Iranian late English learners (male and female) read 36 sentences containing words of varying valence and arousal while their eye fixations were recorded with an eye tracker. The results indicated no significant differences in the processing time between high and low arousal words; however, words with positive valence elicited longer gazing time than neutral words, suggesting deeper cognitive engagement with positively-valenced words. Additionally, observation of the interaction between words’ valence and arousal levels showed a processing disadvantage for positive low-arousal words. Concerning readers’ psychological states, positive mood facilitated faster global word processing regardless of words’ emotional properties. However, a high or low level of readers’ state anxiety did not make a difference in the processing speed of emotion-laden words. Also, valence and arousal did not interact with the learners’ mood or anxiety. The study concludes that the positive valence cost is likely driven by the higher cognitive load and abstractness of positive low-arousal words for L2 learners. Furthermore, positive mood acts as a global cognitive enhancer, reducing processing load, rather than a specific, mood-congruent facilitator. These findings suggest that fostering a positive affective environment and providing explicit instruction for abstract positive words are key to improving reading fluency.