The effect of learning adaptability on Chinese middle school students’ English academic engagement: The chain mediating roles of foreign language anxiety and English learning self-efficacy

Relationship between family background and self-efficacy in adolescent table tennis players: a moderated mediation model

Introduction

A moderated mediation model was constructed in this study to clarify the relationship between family background and self-efficacy of adolescent table tennis players, focusing on the mediating effect of technical learning engagement in the relationship as well as the moderating role of factors such as gender and training years.

Methods

189 adolescent table tennis players (age: 13.69±1.28 years) were investigated as subjects using a questionnaire method.

Results

(1) Family background, technical learning engagement, and self-efficacy were significantly and positively correlated (p<0.01), with girls' technical learning engagement (M_female=5.81, M_male=5.19, p<0.01) and self-efficacy (M_female=3.34, M_male=2.66, p<0.01) significantly higher than boys'; (2) Technical learning engagement partially mediated the effect of family background on self-efficacy (ab=0.10, boot SE=0.02,95% CI=[0.07, 0.14]); (3) The first half of technical learning engagement's mediating role was moderated by gender (B=0.05, p<0.01), with a more significant influence of family background on boys' (B=0.24, p<0.001, 95% CI=[0.22, 0.26]) technical learning engagement than girls' (B=0.19, p<0.001, 95% CI=[0.17, 0.21]); (4) The second half of technical learning engagement's mediating role was moderated by training years (B=-0.21, p<0.001), with a more significant influence of technical learning engagement on the self-efficacy of adolescents with fewer training years (B=0.54, p<0.001, 95% CI=[0.39, 0.68]). The positive effect of technical learning engagement on self-efficacy gradually diminished with increasing training years, and the moderating effect of training years disappeared when the training years reached 8.94 years.

Conclusion

(1) More attention should be paid to adolescent table tennis players with poor family backgrounds, who are more likely to have low self-efficacy. (2) Parents should never neglect their initiative in providing guidance and support to adolescent players involved in long-term professional table tennis training, especially for boys. (3) Coaches should pay close attention to the level of technical learning engagement of players with long training years, who are more likely to have lower self-efficacy as a result of their own emotional experiences, stagnant performance, etc.

Learning adaptability facilitates self-regulated learning at school: the chain mediating roles of academic motivation and self-management

Studies have demonstrated that learning adaptability has emerged as an important factor for students' utilization of self-regulated learning for successful learning, but how this association occurred is not clear yet. This study aimed to clarify the mechanism of the relationship between learning adaptability and self-regulated learning by investigating the chain mediating roles of academic motivation and self-management of 787 junior high school students under the "double reduction" background. The results showed that (1) learning adaptability had significant positive effects on junior high school students' self-regulated learning and (2) academic motivation and self-management played independent and accumulative mediating roles in the relationship between learning adaptability and self-regulated learning. These findings help to understand how to support students in successfully coping with the new challenges brought by educational reform and promote effective adjustment to challenges, including the "double reduction." The key contribution of this study is to provide new insights into the literature that academic motivation and self-management separately and sequentially mediate the learning adaptability, self-regulated learning links, and learning adaptability is effective driver of self-regulated learning in the population of junior high school students.

The effect of overall parental satisfaction on Chinese students' learning engagement: Role of student anxiety and educational implications

Learning engagement is one of the important research contents of learning psychology. The level of learning engagement directly affects students' academic performance and future development. Based on the survey data of primary and secondary school parents and students collated at the beginning of 2019, control factors such as students' gender, school location, parents' education level, total annual family income, parental rearing methods, etc. The study found that parental overall satisfaction can significantly and positively predict students' learning engagement. Mediation effect analysis found that students' anxiety completely mediated the effect on parental overall satisfaction and students' learning engagement. Cultivate good parent-child relationships; Establish positive teacher-student relationships; Build a harmonious relationship with classmates. Families and schools should work together to create an atmosphere conducive to the healthy growth of students.

The relationship between parent–child communication and English academic engagement among middle school students: a moderated mediation model

This study constructed a moderated mediation model to explore the impact of parent–child communication on English academic engagement. We conducted a questionnaire survey among 21,270 middle school students using various measurements: English Academic Engagement Scale, Adolescent Parent–Child Communication Scale, learning adaptability questionnaire, and English Learning Self-Efficacy Scale. The results showed that learning adaptability played a mediating role between parent–child communication and English academic engagement. Moreover, the relationships between parent–child communication and English academic engagement as well as between parent–child communication and learning adaptability were all moderated by English learning self-efficacy. These findings revealed the importance of parent–child communication in middle school students’ foreign language learning and suggested that more attention should be paid to improving middle school students’ English learning self-efficacy and learning adaptability and, therefore, English academic engagement.

Exploring the differential effects of career and psychosocial mentoring on newcomer socialization

Drawing on the social cognitive career theory, this study proposed an integrative framework to uncover how and when different types of mentoring accelerate newcomer’s socialization in corresponding domains. We tested this relational model with time-lagged, multisource survey data collected from 157 newcomers and 88 supervisors. The results indicated that career mentoring facilitated newcomer task mastery, task performance, and job satisfaction by improving newcomer occupational self-efficacy, whereas psychosocial mentoring promoted newcomer job satisfaction and social integration via inspiring newcomer social self-efficacy. Furthermore, newcomer learning adaptability amplified the influence of career mentoring on newcomer occupational self-efficacy, as well as the impact of psychosocial mentoring on newcomer social self-efficacy. Our study extended the mentoring and socialization literature and provided significant practical implications for managers on how to arrange tailored mentoring to facilitate newcomer socialization.

English use anxiety, motivation, self-efficacy, and their predictive effects on Chinese top university students’ English achievements

The present study examined English use anxiety, motivation, self-efficacy, use of English, and their predictive effects on top university students’ English achievements. Two hundred and twenty-three students of the Top-Notch Students of Basic Disciplines Training Program in a top Chinese university answered a battery of questionnaires, which consisted of the 8-item English Use Anxiety Questionnaire, the 5-item Motivational Self-Talk Questionnaire, the 3-item Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, the 19-item Language Learning Orientations Questionnaire, and a Background Information Questionnaire. Analyses of the data revealed the following major findings: (1) the participants had a low level of extrinsic motivation-introjected regulation, a low-to-medium level of English use anxiety, extrinsic motivation-external regulation, intrinsic motivation-knowledge, and a medium-to-high level of motivational self-talk, self-efficacy, extrinsic motivation-identified regulation, intrinsic motivation-accomplishment, and intrinsic motivation-stimulation, (2) use of English anxiety (UAE) and language learning orientation were generally significantly negatively correlated with each other, and significantly correlated with other measured variables, (3) UAE and intrinsic motivation-knowledge significantly predicted the participants English achievements, measured both by standardized test scores and self-rated overall English proficiency, and (4) use of English and self-efficacy mediated the effects of English use anxiety and language learning orientations on the participants’ English achievements. These findings further pinpoint the importance of anxiety and motivation in second/foreign language learning.

The mediating roles of buoyancy and boredom in the relationship between autonomous motivation and engagement among Chinese senior high school EFL learners

For several decades, there has been an increase in studies on second language motivation, one of the most salient topics in individual difference research in second language acquisition, guided by theories and methods from related fields. Self-determination theory (SDT) is one of the most influential theories to provide a comprehensive framework for investigating language learning motivation. To date, numerous SDT-related studies have been performed to explore ways to develop more self-determined types of motivation. However, research on the relationship between self-determined types of motivation and other psychological variables has been limited. To address this gap, the present study investigated the complex relationships between autonomous motivation, buoyancy, boredom, and engagement in a sample of 561 Chinese senior high school English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Data were collected through a composite questionnaire measuring students’ autonomous motivation, buoyancy, boredom, and engagement in EFL learning. Chain mediation analysis was used to test the complex relationships among these variables. The results show that autonomous motivation directly affected student engagement in EFL learning and autonomous motivation also indirectly affected student engagement in EFL learning through the separate mediation of buoyancy and boredom in EFL learning as well as the chain mediation of both mediators. The results support SDT and offer some pedagogical implications for teachers and educators.

Exploring L2 Engagement: A Large-Scale Survey of Secondary School Students

Engagement, a psychological individual difference variable with three facets (vigour, dedication and absorption), has recently attracted scholarly attention. Through a large-scale survey, we examined what we call ‘L2 engagement’ among 21,370 secondary school students in China, with an L2 engagement scale adapted from the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES)-student version. Factor analysis showed this scale to be empirically unidimensional with three highly intercorrelated facets and very high internal consistency; this contributes to our understanding of the conceptual challenges surrounding the construct of engagement (e.g., dimensionality) and the broader issue concerning the correspondence between empirical constructs and theoretical terms (e.g., engagement in our case). Hierarchical regression revealed that the selected sociobiographical variables (e.g., L2 proficiency) were linked to L2 engagement to varying degrees; adopting a more refined approach to gauge the unique contribution of a predictor to L2 engagement in hierarchical regression, we identified L2 proficiency, parental attention, study time and frequency of parental coaching as (very) important predictors for L2 engagement. We call for more studies to adopt our L2 engagement scale, a sufficiently valid and reliable instrument developed based on a large sample. We also propose a few future research directions (e.g., combining self-reports with other data sources).