The aim of the research presented in this chapter was to investigate the extent to
which emotions and motivation affect the autonomy of students learning English in
secondary schools in Hungary. The rationale of our study is that although learner
autonomy is increasingly seen as an important goal in education, Hungarian learners’
autonomy seems to decrease rather than increase in higher grades (Albert et al. 2018a,
2018b). To shed light on the relationship of these constructs in the secondary school
context, we designed a complex study, where students’ autonomous learning behavior
and their autonomous use of technology (Benson 2013), components of the L2 motivational
Self System (Dörnyei 2005, 2009) and nine positive and negative emotions (Pekrun 2006)
were measured with the help of a standardized questionnaire (N = 337). Based on regression
analyses, our results show that emotions and motivation-related scales contribute
to students’ autonomous learning behavior and their autonomous use of technology in
different ways, with the emotion of curiosity being the only scale with significant
impact on both scales of autonomy. In addition, while positive emotions played a positive
role in shaping autonomy, the contribution of negative emotions was mixed. Moreover,
our findings suggest that in the Hungarian context negative language learning experiences
are more likely to lead to autonomy than positive ones. As for pedagogical implications,
we argue that classroom learning should provide the basis for enhancing learner autonomy
by using activities and tasks that prompt learners’ curiosity, that are motivating,
and that allow for positive emotional experiences.
