ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1680032
This article is part of the Research TopicCulture and Emotion in Educational Dynamics - Volume IVView all 13 articles
Academic Buoyancy and Academic Engagement in English Speaking Learning among Chinese College Students: The Mediation of Enjoyment and the Moderation of Anxiety
Provisionally accepted
- Northeastern University Foreign Studies College, Shenyang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Learners’ academic engagement in English speaking learning is crucial for improving their English speaking abilities through the process of motivation. Although prior research has explored predictors of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) academic engagement, such as academic buoyancy and foreign language learning emotions, the underlying mechanisms among these variables remain largely unexplored, especially in college English speaking learning. Given this, elucidating these mechanisms is essential for advancing the understanding of how to effectively promote English speaking proficiency among college students. Purpose: This study aims to construct a structural equation model (SEM) with a sample of 244 college students from two highly-ranked Chinese universities to examine the mediating role of foreign language enjoyment and the moderating effect of foreign language anxiety in the relationship between academic buoyancy and academic engagement within the context of Chinese college English speaking learning. Methods: Based on a correlation design, data from 244 Chinese EFL college students were collected via an online questionnaire in December 2023 and analyzed through a moderated mediation model with SPSS 26.0, IBM Amos 22, Mplus 8.3, and PROCESS v4.2, applying 2000 bootstrap iterations. Results: The results reveal that English speaking learning buoyancy (ESLB) positively predicted English speaking learning engagement (ESLEG) both directly and indirectly through the mediating role of English speaking learning enjoyment (ESLE). Additionally, English speaking learning anxiety (ESLA) significantly and negatively moderated the relationships between ESLB and ESLE, as well as between ESLB and ESLEG. Conclusion: These findings highlight the complex interactions of academic buoyancy and foreign language learning emotions on engagement in English speaking learning. The study provides valuable pedagogical implications for enhancing English speaking instruction in Chinese colleges.
Keywords: Academic buoyancy, Academic engagement, Foreign language enjoyment, Foreign language anxiety, moderated mediation
Received: 05 Aug 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Huang and Hui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaowei Huang, Northeastern University Foreign Studies College, Shenyang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.