This study attempts to investigate whether there is any significant difference between the anxiety level of mastery avoidance-oriented English for Academic purpose (EAP) students and their performance avoidance-oriented counterparts based on their teacher’s supportive motivational discourse during instruction. It also explores the perception of EAP students of the influence of this intervention. This study employs a mix-method design. In the first phase, EAP students were recruited through convenience sampling and then placed into one control (n = 31) and two experimental groups (n = 34 for mastery-avoidance and n = 34 for performance-avoidance). The anxiety levels of both groups were measured using a questionnaire before and after a ten-week treatment. In the second phase, to understand the experimental group’s perceptions of the intervention, 20 participants were interviewed, and 10 were selected for stimulated recall interviews. Non-parametric ANCOVA and posthoc comparison tests showed that the mean levels of anxiety in experimental groups were significantly lower compared to that of the comparison group. However, the teacher’s supportive motivational discourse had a stronger influence on the reduction of the mastery-avoidance group’s anxiety. Content analysis of qualitative data also showed that this intervention increased learners’ emotional engagement and self-actualization. This is the first causal study investigating the effect of the teacher’s supportive motivational discourse on the anxiety of EAP students with mastery and performance-avoidance goal orientation. The implications of teachers’ supportive motivational discourse for improving the delivery of lessons in language education are discussed.

本研究试图根据教师在教学过程中的支持性动机话语，调查学习回避型学术英语（EAP）学生和他们的表现回避型学生的焦虑水平是否存在显着差异。它还探讨了 EAP 学生对这种干预影响的看法。本研究采用混合法设计。在第一阶段，通过便利抽样招募 EAP 学生，然后将其分为一个控制组（n  = 31）和两个实验组（n  = 34 为避免掌握，n = 34 用于性能规避）。在为期十周的治疗之前和之后，使用问卷测量了两组的焦虑水平。第二阶段，为了解实验组对干预的看法，对20名被试进行了访谈，其中10名被选为刺激回忆访谈。非参数 ANCOVA 和事后比较测试表明，与对照组相比，实验组的平均焦虑水平显着降低。然而，教师的支持性动机话语对减少掌握-回避组的焦虑有更强的影响。定性数据的内容分析还表明，这种干预增加了学习者的情感投入和自我实现。这是第一个调查教师支持性动机话语对掌握和绩效回避目标导向的 EAP 学生焦虑的影响的因果研究。讨论了教师的支持性动机话语对改进语言教育课程的意义。