Relationships between Chinese university EFL learners’ academic emotions and self-regulated learning strategies: A structural equation model

Abstract

Emotional research in foreign language learning has bloomed recently, and yet there has been a call for attention to a broader spectrum of emotions experienced by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Whilst emotions and self-regulated learning (SRL) are both believed to play important roles in EFL learning, little is known about their interplay. To fill the void, the study intends to map out an overall status quo of Chinese university EFL students’ academic emotions and SRL strategy use and sophisticated interrelationships between them using structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings showed that the Chinese participants demonstrated a medium level of positive emotions, a low level of anger, a medium level of shame and anxiety, and a low to medium frequency use of SRL strategies in English learning. ANOVA results detected gender differences in SRL strategy use, with females outperforming males in using self-evaluation and persistence strategy types, together with grade level influences in anxiety level with seniors feeling less anxious than juniors and sophomores. Furthermore, SEM results suggested that enjoyment had positive relationships with SRL strategy use; anger and shame had negative relationships while anxiety had ambivalent relationships with SRL strategy use. Important implications are discussed.