Demystifying the predictive role of students’ perceived foreign language teacher support in foreign language anxiety: The mediation of L2 grit

Abstract

Within students’ proximal social environment, the crucial role of their perceived foreign language teacher support in their academic learning has emerged in numerous empirical studies in recent decades. However, little is known about the impact of perceived foreign language teacher support on academic emotions (e.g. foreign language anxiety; FLA). The mediating role of personality (e.g. second language [L2] grit) also remains unknown. To address these gaps, the current study adopted a quantitative approach to investigate the impact of perceived foreign language teacher support on their FLA and the mediating effect of L2 grit. We administered questionnaires to 1,401 Chinese high school students learning English as a foreign language to measure their FLA, L2 grit, and three types of perceived foreign language teacher support – namely, academic, emotional, and instrumental support. Structural equation modelling results indicate that students’ perceived overall foreign language teacher support had a direct positive predictive effect on FLA, whereas three dimensions of teacher support could not directly affect FLA alone. Mediation analysis results reveal that perceived emotional and instrumental support could negatively affect FLA via the complete mediating role of L2 grit. This study offers insights for teachers to improve students’ academic learning experience.

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