Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Exploring the Mediating Role of Emotions Between Growth Language Mindset and Engagement Among EFL Learners

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 17 January 2024

This article has been updated

Abstract

Although engagement in the language learning process is important for students’ language outcomes, factors that contribute to it are underexamined. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the roles of individual differences (growth language mindset and academic emotion) in shaping foreign language (FL) engagement. A total of 1,738 Chinese undergraduates (790 males and 948 females) studying English as a foreign language (EFL) completed questionnaires measuring their growth language mindsets, positive emotions (enjoyment, pride and hope), negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness and boredom) and engagement during the English learning process. Correlational analyses revealed positive relationships between growth language mindsets, positive emotions, and engagement; and negative relationships between negative emotions and the three other variables. Structural equation modelling analyses showed that both positive and negative emotions were partial mediators between growth language mindset and engagement in FL learning, with positive emotions demonstrating larger effects. The findings are indicative of a motivation–emotion–behavior path in the EFL context. The theoretical and practical implications for language learning and teaching are discussed in this paper.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Data would be available upon request on the corresponding author.

Change history

References

  • Bai, B., & Guo, W. (2021). Motivation and self-regulated strategy use: Relationships to primary school students’ English writing in Hong Kong. Language Teaching Research, 25(3), 378–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bai, B., & Wang, J. (2020). The role of growth mindset, self-efficacy and intrinsic value in self-regulated learning and English language learning achievements. Language Teaching Research, 27(1), 207–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bai, B., Wang, J., & Nie, Y. (2021). Self-efficacy, task values and growth mindset: What has the most predictive power for primary school students’ self-regulated learning in English writing and writing competence in an Asian Confucian cultural context? Cambridge Journal of Education, 51(1), 65–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bieleke, M., Gogol, K., Goetz, T., Daniels, L., & Pekrun, R. (2021). The AEQ-S: A short version of the achievement emotions questionnaire. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 65, 101940.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnette, J. L., O’boyle, E. H., VanEpps, E. M., Pollack, J. M., & Finkel, E. J. (2013). Mindsets matter: A meta-analytic review of implicit theories and self-regulation. Psychological Bulletin, 139(3), 655–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, C. C., & Farh, J.-L. (2010). Developments in understanding Chinese leadership: Paternalism and its elaborations, moderations, and alternatives. In M. H. Bond (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Psychology Press (pp. 599–622). Oxford University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, X., & Liu, Y. (2022). Student engagement with teacher written feedback: Insights from low-proficiency and high-proficiency L2 learners. System, 109, 102880.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho, E., Toste, J. R., Lee, M., & Ju, U. (2019). Motivational predictors of struggling readers’ reading comprehension: The efects of mindset, achievement goals, and engagement. Reading and Writing, 32, 1219–1242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chou, M. H. (2021). The mediating role of achievement emotions in the relationship between instructional clarity, English proficiency, and reading strategies. Educational Psychology, 41(5), 582–601.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bot, K., Lowie, W., & Verspoor, M. (2007). A dynamic systems theory approach to second language acquisition. Bilingualism Language and Cognition, 10(1), 7–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Derakhshan, A., Fathi, J., Pawlak, M., & Kruk, M. (2022). Classroom social climate, growth language mindset, and student engagement: The mediating role of boredom in learning English as a foreign language. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2099407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewaele, J.-M., & Li, C. (2020). Emotions in second language acquisition: A critical review and research agenda. Foreign Language World, 196(1), 34–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewaele, J. M., & Li, C. (2021). Teacher enthusiasm and students’ social-behavioral learning engagement: The mediating role of student enjoyment and boredom in Chinese EFL classes. Language Teaching Research, 25(6), 922–945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewaele, J.-M., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4(2), 237–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong, L. (2022). Mindsets as predictors for Chinese young language learners’ negative emotions in online language classes during the pandemic: Mediating role of emotion regulation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2159032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dweck, C. S. (2013). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Psychology press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dweck, C. S., & Yeager, D. S. (2019). Mindsets: A view from two eras. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(3), 481–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, R. (2018). Reflections on task-based language teaching (Vol. 125). Multilingual Matters.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Eren, A., & Rakıcıoğlu-Söylemez, A. (2020). Language mindsets, perceived instrumentality, engagement and graded performance in English as a foreign language students. Language Teaching Research, 27(3), 544–574.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden–and–build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series b: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1367–1377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frondozo, C. E., King, R. B., Nalipay, M. J. N., & Mordeno, I. G. (2020). Mindsets matter for teachers, too: Growth mindset about teaching ability predicts teachers’ enjoyment and engagement. Current Psychology, 1–4.

  • Garcia-Ponce, E. E., & Tavakoli, P. (2022). Effects of task type and language proficiency on dialogic performance and task engagement. System, 105, 102734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, C. R., Horton, B. T., & Utley, C. A. (2002). Academic engagement: Current perspectives on research and practice. School Psychology Review, 31(3), 328–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helme, S., & Clarke, D. (2001). Identifying cognitive engagement in the mathematics classroom. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 13(2), 133–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiver, P., Al-Hoorie, A. H., Vitta, J. P., & Wu, J. (2021). Engagement in language learning: A systematic review of 20 years of research methods and definitions. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688211001289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horwitz, E. K. (1988). The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. The Modern Language Journal, 72(3), 283–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karlen, Y., Hirt, C. N., Liska, A., & Stebner, F. (2021). Mindsets and self-concepts about self-regulated learning: Their relationships with emotions, strategy knowledge, and academic achievement. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khajavy, G. H., MacIntyre, P. D., & Barabadi, E. (2018). Role of the emotions and classroom environment in willingness to communicate: Applying doubly latent multilevel analysis in second language acquisition research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(3), 605–624.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khajavy, G. H., MacIntyre, P. D., & Hariri, J. (2021). A closer look at grit and language mindset as predictors of foreign language achievement. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 43(2), 379–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kline, R. B. (2015). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Guilford publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lantolf, J. P. (Ed.). (2000). Sociocultural theory and second language learning (Vol. 78, p. 4). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, J., King, R. B., & Wang, C. (2022). Profiles of motivation and engagement in foreign language learning: Associations with emotional factors, academic achievement, and demographic features. System, 108, 102820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., & Pekrun, R. (2011). Students’ emotions and academic engagement: Introduction to the special issue. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(1), 1–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Littlewood, W. (1999). Defining and developing autonomy in East Asian contexts. Applied Linguistics, 20(1), 71–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, E., & Wang, J. (2021). Examining the relationship between grit and foreign language performance: Enjoyment and anxiety as mediators. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 666892.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, S. (2022). Toward the role of L2 enjoyment in EFL Students’ Academic Motivation and Engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 822588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lou, N. M., Chaffee, K. E., & Noels, K. A. (2022). Growth, fixed, and mixed mindsets: Mindset system profiles in foreign language learners and their role in engagement and achievement. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44(3), 607–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lou, N. M., & Noels, K. A. (2016). Changing language mindsets: Implications for goal orientations and responses to failure in and outside the second language classroom. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 46, 22–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lou, N. M., & Noels, K. A. (2017). Measuring language mindsets and modeling their relations with goal orientations and emotional and behavioral responses in failure situations. The Modern Language Journal, 101(1), 214–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lou, N. M., & Noels, K. A. (2019). Promoting growth in foreign and second language education: A research agenda for mindsets in language learning and teaching. System, 86, 102126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lou, N. M., & Noels, K. A. (2020). Breaking the vicious cycle of language anxiety: Growth language mindsets improve lower-competence ESL students’ intercultural interactions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101847.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, P., & Gregersen, T. (2012). Emotions that facilitate language learning: The positive-broadening power of the imagination. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2(2), 193–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, P. D., & Vincze, L. (2017). Positive and negative emotions underlie motivation for L2 learning. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 7(1), 61–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mercer, S., & Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Engaging language learners in contemporary classrooms. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mercer, S., & Ryan, S. (2010). A mindset for EFL: Learners’ beliefs about the role of natural talent. ELT Journal, 64(4), 436–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, D. K., & Turner, J. C. (2002). Discovering emotion in classroom motivation research. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 107–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mori, Y. (1999). Epistemological beliefs and language learning beliefs: What do language learners believe about their learning? Language Learning, 49(3), 377–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, B., & Muthén, L. (2017). Mplus. In W. J. van der Linden (Ed.), Handbook of item response theory (pp. 507–518). Chapman and Hall/CRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oga-Baldwin, W. Q. (2019). Acting, thinking, feeling, making, collaborating: The engagement process in foreign language learning. System, 86, 102128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papi, M., Rios, A., Pelt, H., & Ozdemir, E. (2019). Feedback-seeking behavior in language learning: Basic components and motivational antecedents. The Modern Language Journal, 103(1), 205–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parent, M. C. (2013). Handling item-level missing data: Simpler is just as good. The Counseling Psychologist, 41(4), 568–600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pekrun, R. (2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 315–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pekrun, R., Frenzel, A. C., Goetz, T., & Perry, R. P. (2007). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: An integrative approach to emotions in education. In P. A. Schutz & R. Pekrun (Eds.), Emotion in Education (pp. 13–36). Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002). Academic emotions in students’ self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 91–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pekrun, R., & Stephens, E. J. (2010). Achievement emotions: A control-value approach. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(4), 238–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perkmann, M., Salandra, R., Tartari, V., McKelvey, M., & Hughes, A. (2021). Academic engagement: A review of the literature 2011–2019. Research Policy, 50(1), 104114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philp, J., & Duchesne, S. (2016). Exploring engagement in tasks in the language classroom. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 50–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phung, L. (2017). Task preference, affective response, and engagement in L2 use in a US univer- sity context. Language Teaching Research, 21, 751–766.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reeve, J., & Tseng, C.-M. (2011). Agency as a fourth aspect of students’ engagement during learning activities. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(4), 257–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadoughi, M., & Hejazi, S. Y. (2021). Teacher support and academic engagement among EFL learners: The role of positive academic emotions. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 70, 101060.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadoughi, M., Hejazi, S. Y., & Lou, N. M. (2023). How do growth mindsets contribute to academic engagement in L2 classes? The mediating and moderating roles of the L2 motivational self system. Social Psychology of Education, 26(1), 241–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saito, K., Dewaele, J. M., Abe, M., & In’nami, Y. (2018). Motivation, emotion, learning experience, and second language comprehensibility development in classroom settings: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study. Language Learning, 68(3), 709–743.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, E. A., & Pitzer, J. R. (2012). Developmental dynamics of student engagement, coping, and everyday resilience Handbook of research on student engagement (pp. 21–44). Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Svalberg, A.M.-L. (2009). Engagement with language: Interrogating a construct. Language Awareness, 18(3–4), 242–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, F. (2013). Self and identity in adolescent foreign language learning. Multilingual Matters.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, H., Peng, A., & Patterson, M. M. (2021). The roles of class social climate, language mindset, and emotions in predicting willingness to communicate in a foreign language. System, 99, 102529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y., & Xu, J. (2023). A latent profile analysis of L2 writing emotions and their relations to writing buoyancy, motivation and proficiency. Applied Linguistics Review. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2022-0080

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weston, R., & Gore, P. A., Jr. (2006). A brief guide to structural equation modeling. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(5), 719–751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, C. J. (2018). The emotional turn in applied linguistics and TESOL: Significance, challenges and prospects. Emotions in Second Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75438-3_2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu, J., & Wang, Y. (2023). The impact of academic buoyancy and emotions on university students’ self-regulated learning strategies in L2 writing classrooms. Reading and Writing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-023-10411-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2020). What can be learned from growth mindset controversies? American Psychologist, 75(9), 1269–1284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zarrinabadi, N., Lou, N. M., & Shirzad, M. (2021). Autonomy support predicts language mindsets: Implications for developing communicative competence and willingness to communicate in EFL classrooms. Learning and Individual Differences, 86, 101981.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zarrinabadi, N., Rezazadeh, M., Karimi, M., & Lou, N. M. (2022). Why do growth mindsets make you feel better about learning and your selves? The mediating role of adaptability. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 16(3), 249–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zepke, N., & Leach, L. (2010). Improving student engagement: Ten proposals for action. Active Learning in Higher Education, 11(3), 167–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, L. J., Saeedian, A., & Fathi, J. (2022). Testing a model of growth mindset, ideal L2 self, boredom, and WTC in an EFL context. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2100893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhen, R., Liu, R. D., Ding, Y., Wang, J., Liu, Y., & Xu, L. (2017). The mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and academic emotions in the relation between basic psychological needs satisfaction and learning engagement among Chinese adolescent students. Learning and Individual Differences, 54, 210–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The funding was provided by Guangdong Social Science Planning Project-2023 (Grant No. GD23YWY03).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Foreign Languages, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

    Shuneng Zhong & Wangjiao Wu

  2. Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics/School of English Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

    Yabing Wang

Authors
  1. Shuneng Zhong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yabing Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wangjiao Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yabing Wang.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhong, S., Wang, Y. & Wu, W. Exploring the Mediating Role of Emotions Between Growth Language Mindset and Engagement Among EFL Learners. Asia-Pacific Edu Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-023-00771-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-023-00771-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation