Factors Associated with Learning Enjoyment in Higher Education L2 Virtual Exchanges 

Abstract Book of the 8th Global Conference on Education and Teaching

Year: 2026

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Factors Associated with Learning Enjoyment in Higher Education L2 Virtual Exchanges 

Dominic K. Bagenda, Adam Smith, Andrew Johnson, Peter Ruthven Stuart

ABSTRACT:

Learning enjoyment (LE) refers to a positive affective experience marked by pleasure and satisfaction. LE correlates positively with learning effort and negatively with anxiety, leading to better learning outcomes. The present study investigated factors associated with observed LE among university students (n=498) participating in two foreign language (L2) virtual exchanges (VEs) each lasting eight weeks. To operationalize LE, students who mostly continued contributing to both VEs after achieving the maximum weekly score were categorized as high LE (n = 48) while those who mostly did not meet the weekly pass mark during both VEs were categorized as low LE (n = 50), creating a binary outcome variable. Univariate logistic regression showed that among five potential factors associated with LE, a learner variable (gender) showed the largest effect size (OR = 4.40; p= 0.005) followed by instructor factors (OR = 4.33; p= 0.002). A multivariate logistic regression model showed a significant fit (chi-square (5) = 32.53, p < .001), explaining 40% of the variance and correctly classifying 71.7% of observations. The results could inform the use of LE to improve L2 VEs.

Keywords: learning enjoyment, second-language, virtual exchange