Background. Research interest in FLE and its associated factors has increased in recent
years, especially regarding learner-internal factors. Happiness could potentially be one of the
predictors of FLE.
Purpose. This study aimed to investigate the link between foreign language enjoyment (FLE)
and a measure of subjective happiness (SH).
Methods. A total of 594 adult foreign language learners aged 16 to 72 participated in the study.
Ten items extracted from the FLE scale and the SH scale translated and validated into Spanish
were used to gather the data.
Results. With a significant 3.6% shared variance between FLE and SH, the study found that
participants with higher scores on FLE have higher scores on SH. However, the percentage
of shared variance found is considerably higher for different subgroups (e.g., 6.7% for the
older adolescent group and 10% for mature and senior adults). The results suggest that the
relationship between personality variables and FLE may differ depending on learner-internal
factors such as age, gender, competence level and foreign language.
Implications. The study opens a new line of research into the interaction between FLE and
happiness, and factors affecting it with a sample that, due to the wide range of participant
ages and the number of participants beyond their twenties, is more representative of the adult
foreign language learner population than is usually the case in studies of FLE.