A Control–Value Theory Approach to Boredom in English Classes Among University Students in China CHENGCHEN LI Huazhong University of Science and Technology, School of Foreign Languages, 1037 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, 430074, China Email: lichengchen@hust.edu.cn There is a growing research interest in a variety of emotions in foreign and second language (L2) class- rooms, especially since the introduction of positive psychology. However, research on the ubiquitous emotional experience of boredom is scant. Building on its prevalence and documented deleterious effects, I argue that research on the antecedents for the instigation of boredom is needed. Based on the control–value theory (CVT) of achievement emotions in educational psychology, this study took a mixed methods approach to examine control–value appraisals as antecedents of boredom in English-as- a-foreign-language learning among Chinese university students. In line with CVT assumptions, Pearson correlation analyses and regression analyses (N = 2,002) showed that different control–value appraisals predicted boredom uniquely or interactively. Qualitative data from interviews with 11 students and 11 English teachers expanded the quantitative results by including more complexities in the associations between control–value appraisals and boredom. These fndings provide further support for the CVT and help to elucidate the instigation of boredom in the L2 learning context. Directions for future research and implications for L2 educational practice are discussed. Keywords: boredom; control–value theory; emotion; positive psychology; second language acquisition; English as a foreign language THE PAST THREE DECADES HAVE witnessed a growing interest in emotion re- search in second language (L2) learning and teaching (Dewaele & Li, 2020). Increasingly, researchers have begun to realize the insep- arability of emotion and cognition (Lantolf & Swain, 2019; Swain, 2013). It has also been widely recognized that emotion plays an equally important role as do cognition and motivation in language learning (Dewaele, 2005). The re- cent positive psychology movement in applied linguistics has helped to catalyze an emotional or affective wave or turn (Prior, 2019; White, 2018). A variety of emotions in L2 classrooms have been attended to apart from the extensively studied anxiety, especially positive emotions such as enjoyment (e.g., Dewaele & MacIntyre, The Modern Language Journal, 0, 0, (2021) DOI: 10.1111/modl.12693 0026-7902/21/1–18 $1.50/0 © National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations 2014; Li, 2020a), joy, love, hope, pride, and interest (e.g., MacIntyre, Dewaele, et al., 2019; MacIntyre & Vincze, 2017), as well as other tra- ditionally neglected negative emotions, such as guilt and shame (e.g., Teimouri, 2018). However, scant attention has been paid to the prevalent emotional experience of boredom in the L2 learning context (Kruk, 2019; Li & Dewaele, 2020). Drawing on the theories and fndings from psychology and educational psychology, we can conclude that boredom negatively af- fects people in multiple aspects including their thoughts, feelings, cognition, motivation, and behaviors (Putwain et al., 2018). Thus, research on the antecedents of boredom is much needed and warranted. Boredom, experienced in the educational context, is closely related to learning achievement and could be conceptualized as an achievement emotion (Pekrun, 2006). The control–value theory (CVT) of achievement emo- tions posits that control and value appraisals are the two proximal determinants of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006; Putwain et al., 2018).