In current research, emotions in language use situations are often examined only at their starting and ending points, akin to observing the beginning and end of a wave, while neglecting their complex fluctuations in between. To fully comprehend the dynamics of emotions in language use situations, it is essential to delve into their intricate unfolding throughout their progression. This is particularly critical in the context of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), where emotional dynamics can significantly influence learning outcomes and proficiency. Drawing on existing empirical research and theories, we propose a novel interpretation rooted in complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) to elucidate the dynamic nature of emotions in language use situations. Furthermore, we suggest methodologies for capturing the complete dynamics of emotional and language behaviours, including an analysis of their dynamic interrelationships. By embracing a dynamic perspective, we can advance our understanding of interplay between emotions and language behaviours from epistemological theory to methodology and analysis, paving the way for future research in this field.

Anxiety during speech is often assumed to differ in type between native (L1) and non‐native (L2) language use. We combined continuous self‐reports with high‐resolution cardiac and electrodermal recordings in 40 Dutch–English bilingual adults who delivered 4‐min monologues in both languages, followed by second‐by‐second replay ratings of felt anxiety and self‐perceived proficiency. Across conditions, anxiety emerged as brief episodes (typically 1–4 s) superimposed on slower physiological adaptation. L2 speech elicited higher and more sustained autonomic arousal and a delayed return to baseline relative to L1. However, time‐varying and multilevel vector autoregressive models showed that the core psychophysiological network linking felt anxiety, perceived proficiency and physiology was statistically indistinguishable across languages. What is commonly labelled ‘foreign language anxiety’ therefore reflects a context‐intensified expression of a shared anxiety mechanism rather than a distinct construct. By mapping second‐scale trajectories of subjective and physiological states during naturalistic speech, our findings highlight anxiety as a fluid dynamic system that adapts over tens of seconds yet is built from much shorter micro‐episodes. This dynamic, multimodal approach offers a template for probing how contextual demands shape common affective mechanisms in communication across domains.

Emotion research in second language learning has largely focused on static, trait-based measures, especially anxiety, while neglecting contextual and temporal dynamics. This study reconceptualizes emotions as emergent and context-dependent, shaped by real-time interactions with learning activities and self-perceptions. Using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), 92 adult learners reported their emotional states (anxiety, enjoyment, boredom), perceived proficiency, and contextual features (e.g., task modality, duration) across 6,918 learning episodes over 21 days. We identified five emotional profiles, including a dominant “Routine but Pleasant” state, challenging anxiety-centred paradigms. Emotional variability was primarily intraindividual (62–68%), with weak temporal trends and idiosyncratic cycles. Time-series machine learning (TabPFN-TS) achieved high predictive accuracy for emotional states (e.g., anxiety R² = 0.87; boredom R² = 0.95) and perceived proficiency (R² = 0.83). These findings underscore the value of modelling emotional dynamics in context and suggest that short-horizon forecasting may help identify moments when timely learner support could be explored in future work.

Learning to evaluate information in digital contexts relies not only on critical thinking but also on how children acquire and apply knowledge when evaluating news content. In an era in which children increasingly rely on social media as a primary source of information, understanding how cognitive and social factors shape judgments is crucial. The present study examined how an inoculation intervention, cognitive reflection skills, and social context (social media use and adult support) influence children’s credibility judgments of real and fake news. Children evaluated news items before and after completing an inoculation quiz with or without feedback. Results showed that feedback was associated with a greater difference in credibility ratings between true and false news items, but no causal effect of feedback on changes in these ratings. Higher CRT-D scores were associated with credibility judgments overall, but were not associated with greater differentiation between true and false news items. Importantly, the combination of feedback, social media experience, and support from parents or school was associated with higher credibility for true news items, underscoring the role of social context in the evaluation of true and false news items. These findings highlight that learning to evaluate information is a process influenced by both individual cognitive mechanisms and social environments.