<p>The growing recognition of emotional factors in language learning has increased interest in loving pedagogy as a human-centered approach in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education. This mixed-methods study investigated the role of loving pedagogy in shaping male senior high school EFL learners’ experiences of classroom boredom and learned helplessness and examined how teachers enact loving pedagogical principles in practice. Quantitative data were collected from 120 male senior high school students in Iran using validated measures of foreign language boredom and learned helplessness, followed by survey responses and semi-structured interviews with 18 male EFL teachers. The study employed a gender-specific replication–extension design to examine whether the protective emotional role of loving pedagogy generalizes across gender-segregated educational contexts. Findings indicated that a notable proportion of learners experienced moderate to elevated levels of boredom and learned helplessness. Classroom-level correlational and regression analyses revealed significant negative associations between loving pedagogy and students’ boredom and learned helplessness, with forgiveness, emotional intimacy, acceptance of diversity, and kindness emerging as influential dimensions. Qualitative findings further showed that teachers perceived loving pedagogy as fostering emotionally supportive classroom environments, strengthening teacher–student relationships, and promoting learner engagement. Overall, the findings suggest that loving pedagogy functions as an effective emotional–relational framework for reducing negative academic emotions among male EFL learners and supporting emotionally sustainable language education. All inferential findings are interpreted at the classroom level based on aggregated student emotional scores.</p>