English Language Learning Trauma, Communicative Anxiety and Willingness to Communicate: The Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence among Pakistani University EFL Learners

Abstract

English language learning is often treated as a cognitive and instructional process, although many learners enter university carrying distress associated with earlier humiliation, punishment, repeated failure and public correction. This study conceptualized English language learning trauma (ELLT) as the enduring emotional residue of such experiences and examined its relationship with communicative anxiety (CA), emotional intelligence (EI) and willingness to communicate (WTC) among Pakistani university EFL learners. A cross-sectional correlational design was used with undergraduate and MPhil students enrolled in English language teaching-related programmes at five universities. Participants completed a self-report battery measuring ELLT, CA, EI and WTC. The data were examined through descriptive analysis, group comparisons, correlation, hierarchical regression and bootstrapped parallel and serial mediation. The findings showed that greater language learning trauma was associated with stronger communicative anxiety and lower emotional intelligence and willingness to communicate. Communicative anxiety emerged as the most influential negative predictor of willingness to communicate, whereas emotional intelligence functioned as a protective resource. Both variables mediated the association between trauma and willingness to communicate and the serial pattern suggested that trauma may weaken emotional regulation, intensify speaking anxiety and reduce readiness to communicate. Learners educated through Urdu or regional-language media reported a heavier affective burden than those from English-medium backgrounds. The study extends affective second-language research by treating learners’ educational histories as active influences on present communication. It recommends trauma-sensitive feedback, emotionally scaffolded speaking tasks and explicit emotional-intelligence support in Pakistani ELT classrooms.