Relations between motivation, social and emotional learning (SEL), and English learning achievements in Hong Kong primary schools

ABSTRACT

Against the backdrop of declining motivation and growing social and emotional challenges in English learning experienced by Hong Kong primary school students, the study aimed to profile an interactive pattern between relevant motivational beliefs (i.e., self-efficacy, interest, and growth mindset), social and emotional learning (SEL) skills and English learning achievements. Data was collected from 913 4th graders with questionnaires and an English test. Results indicated a medium-high level of motivation among the participants, and a high level of self-awareness and social awareness skills but a medium level of self-management and social management skills in terms of SEL. More importantly, structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses confirmed the intricate interplay where the motivational beliefs predicted English learning achievements through the mediation of self-awareness and self-management skills. Our findings also underscore the relatively higher importance of interest and growth mindset than self-efficacy in English learning for young children. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-efficacy
• interest
• growth mindset
• social and emotional learning (SEL)
• English learning achievements

1. Introduction

What would contribute to English learning outcomes has been a permanent question driving English learning research forward. Among the continuous endeavours, accumulating attention has been attached to non-cognitive factors (e.g. different types of motivation) in English learning, in addition to learners’ cognitive development (Oxford, 2017; C. Wang & Bai, 2017). This could be evidenced by Boo et al.’s (2015) documentation of a surging research trend on second language (L2) motivation and the flourishing development of research on academic emotions in English learning (Dewaele et al., 2018; Y. Wang et al., 2021). Even the line of research on social and emotional learning (SEL) has newly emerged in the field of English learning (Bai et al., 2021).

Hong Kong is idiosyncratically characterised by its linguistically rich context due to its complex political history and unique geographic location (L. Wang & Kirkpatrick, 2015). Hong Kong primary-school students are experiencing declining motivation in English learning and fewer opportunities to practise English outside class (D. C. S. Li, 2011, 2018; Shen, Bai, & Park, 2020). At the same time, they are faced with considerable social and emotional pressure (Cho & Chan, 2020; Lun et al., 2018). For example, a heavy emphasis on exam preparations and assessment in English classes could bring about emotional distress (Lee et al., 2018). In addition, social anxieties may arise since individual learning is mostly preferred by Chinese English learners, which may run counter to the practice of collaborative learning encouraged by the curriculum (Curriculum Development Council, 2017). Such social and emotional pressure may probably result from their constant struggles between embracing the Confucian philosophy of maintaining group harmony and following the Asian educational advocate of highlighting social comparisons (King & Chen, 2019). Moreover, the ongoing global pandemic has generated great social and educational turmoil in the Hong Kong society, posing considerable emotional challenges for young learners. Therefore, it is essential to unpack young learners’ SEL in order to help them better cope with the social and emotional challenges in English learning.

That said, the issues of students’ motivation and SEL under the distinctive Hong Kong English learning context would warrant particular attention. In addition, young learners have been the least investigated group in L2 motivation research (Boo et al., 2015), even though it is of great significance to help primary-school students, who are at the early stage of English learning and for whom any improvement could impose long-term effects on their future accomplishments (Shen, Bai, & Park, 2020). Moreover, only scant attempts have been made in understanding SEL in the field of the English learning of school students (Bai et al., 2021). Therefore, the present study aimed to narrow the research lacunae by profiling an interactive pattern between relevant motivational beliefs and SEL skills in relation to English learning achievements to advance our understanding of how motivational factors would interact with the SEL construct in influencing English learning, and to further seek alternatives to tackle challenges in young school students’ English learning by attending to these non-cognitive factors.

2. Literature review

2.1. Social and emotional learning (SEL) in English learning

With growing needs to cultivate young learners’ ‘non-academic skills’, also termed as life skills, soft skills, non-cognitive skills, twenty-first century skills, or social and emotional learning skills, SEL programmes have been promoted and incorporated into the general education curriculum for young students in the USA, Australia, Britain and major countries in Europe, with evidence suggesting noticeable improvement in peer relationships, emotional well-being and academic achievements (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning CASEL, 2015; Dix et al., 2012; Rawdin, 2019; Sklad et al., 2012).

SEL competence refers to the skills usually applied by children or young adults to recognise and manage one’s emotions, set and achieve goals, demonstrate concern and caring for others, establish or maintain positive relationships, and effectively handle difficulties (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning CASEL, 2012). Cefai and Cavioni (2014) SEL framework was employed to guide the present study with four components, i.e. self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and social management. Self-awareness skills are described as those used to identify one’s feelings and emotions, understand one’s strengths and weaknesses, be clear about learning goals and hold positive attitudes towards learning (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning CASEL, 2005). In addition to being aware of one’s inner self, SEL is also made up of skills to sense the outer environment, where social awareness is understood as the skills required to notice potential social resources and support from one’s family, school and classroom, share the perspectives of and empathise with others, acknowledge and appreciate similarities and differences, and show willingness to collaborate (Cefai & Cavioni, 2014). As another key dimension aside from awareness, management also entails the self- and social orientations. Self-management skills enable learners to regulate their emotions, maintain/enhance positive emotions and reduce negative emotions, establish, monitor and achieve goals, persevere in overcoming challenges, and solve problems (MindMatters, 2012). Such skills may resemble self-regulation strategies that learners use to manage consciously their cognition, metacognition, motivation, emotions and learning behaviours (Dörnyei, 2005). Social management pertains to the skills needed to engage in cooperation, seek and provide help and support, and build and maintain harmonious relationships with individuals and groups (KidsMatter, 2012).

In the past few years, the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly brought about social, economic and educational upheaval that has made students physically and emotionally anxious (MacDonald, 2021). Especially, Hong Kong students faced frequent school closures. According to Yiu and Zhao (2023), primary-school students had only 70–80 school days in total in 2020 and probably around 100 days in 2021. All students experienced many rounds of shifts between classroom learning and online learning at home, unsupervised and isolated from their parents, which led to increasing distress and social and emotional hardships. The unprecedented times have garnered higher than ever attention on students’ social and emotional well-being in learning different subjects including foreign languages (MacDonald, 2021; Zaimoğlu & Sahinkarakas, 2021). Nevertheless, there still exist almost no explorations into the role of SEL competence on students’ English learning despite a notable exception in our prior investigation (Bai et al., 2021). While the SEL framework has not yet been systematically applied in English learning research, different SEL skills were found to associate with English learning performance drawing upon various theories of positive psychology (Dewaele et al., 2018), awareness (Ludwig et al., 2020), self-regulation (Bai & Wang, 2020) and collaborative learning (Veramuthu & Shah, 2020). For example, with awareness of one’s emotions (e.g. self-awareness skills), learners tend to regulate their reactions to the emotions through enhancing positive and reducing negative affects and this could result in better management of their learning behaviours (Dewaele et al., 2018; Ludwig et al., 2020). Recognising classmates, friends and family as social resources (e.g. social awareness skills) could also play an essential role in English learning (Bai, Chao, et al., 2019; Veramuthu & Shah, 2020). Research on self-regulated learning has reported those who could manage their thoughts, motivation, emotions and behaviours in learning (e.g. self-management skills) are likely to achieve well in English learning performance (Bai & Wang, 2020; M. F. Teng & Huang, 2019). Positive effects of seeking social assistance and participating in collaborative activities (e.g. social management skills) have also been evidenced on English learning (Volet et al., 2009).

Of particular note, Bai et al. (2021) made some pioneering contributions in bringing in a unified theoretical SEL framework to enlighten the studies on English learners’ social and emotional well-being and uncovering the inner workings of the four SEL components. It was proposed that English learners’ awareness of their own emotions and the outer environment could serve an antecedent role in their management of the learning process, which was eventually related to the learning outcomes, drawing on self-determination theory (Brown & Ryan, 2015). Such a theoretical assumption has been empirically testified in the Hong Kong secondary school English learning context (Bai et al., 2021). Notably, with an increasing number of English learners starting to learn English at an early age, their problems in English learning become more prominent (Oga-Baldwin et al., 2017). As younger learners may be more susceptible to emotional and social problems, primary-school English learner populations thereby warrant equal explorations (Rescorla et al., 2007). Building on the prior endeavours, we hereby attempted to dive into the Hong Kong primar-school populations’ SEL and hypothesised the same influencing path between awareness and management dimensions of the SEL competence in the current study.

2.2. Relating motivational beliefs (i.e. growth mindset, self-efficacy, interest) to SEL in English learning

Motivation refers to the sum of the need for achievements, the probability of success, the incentive values of task fulfilment, and the incentives to avoid failure (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2013). A plethora of research has provided evidence that motivational beliefs such as self-efficacy (Kim et al., 2015; Y. Wang et al., 2021), intrinsic value (Bai & Wang, 2020), interest (Bai et al., 2020) and task value (Shen, Bai, & Park, 2020) are critical factors influencing students’ English learning. However, motivational factors may not exert direct influences on learning outcomes but rather through effective management and regulation of the learning behaviours as implicated in various theories, such as the expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002) and social cognitive theory (Bandura, 2001). They both underscore the prerequisite role of one’s expectancies (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002) or personal beliefs (Bandura, 2001) (e.g. self-efficacy, interest and growth mindset) in influencing their achievement-related behaviours (e.g. employment of SEL skills).

In particular, the three motivational beliefs were researched because of their great relevance for Hong Kong English learners who may be characterised by low levels of self-efficacy and interest (Bai & Guo, 2019; Lee et al., 2018). Additionally, interest plays a critical role in early stages of learning (Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000; Renninger et al., 1992). Further, past research has implied that the Chinese seemed to attribute academic success to efforts more than their perceived competence (Hau & Ho, 2010; Leung & Shek, 2015). Given that hard work is greatly valued by Confucianism, growth mindset could be a very relevant motivational belief that could impact students’ learning in the Hong Kong context (J. Wang & Rao, 2019).

2.2.1. Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is defined as learners’ judgement of their capabilities to complete a specific task and attain academic goals (Bandura, 1997). Though less frequently researched in English learning contexts compared with other disciplines, such as maths and science (C. Wang & Bai, 2017), self-efficacy has long been recognised as a significant motivational variable in English learning (L. J. Woodrow, 2011, 2006). More self-efficacious students are more likely to exhibit lower anxiety, devote more time, make more efforts and persist for longer periods of time when facing challenges, thereby achieving better academic performance in language learning (Kim et al., 2015; Pajares, 2009; Schunk & Zimmerman, 2008). Even though a direct relation to SEL is yet to be built in English learning research, self-efficacy was deemed a strong predictor of metacognitive and cognitive strategy use for Hong Kong English learners (Bai & Wang, 2020), lending evidence to the possible influences of one’s self-efficacy on self-management skills of SEL competence. More notably, L. S. Teng’s (2021) study also revealed that students’ self-efficacy beliefs had greater effects on metacognition, cognition and motivational regulation, but less on social behaviour strategies, implicating that whether and to what extent self-efficacy was significantly related to the social dimension of SEL (i.e. social awareness and social management skills) requires further exploration.

2.2.2. Interest

Interest concerns the extent to which learners take part in a task for curiosity, challenge or mastery (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2013). Research has indicated that children and adults who show interest in particular activities engage more, persist longer and enjoy their involvement to a greater extent than those without such interest (Schiefele, 1996). Recent L2 studies have also attested to the strong links between students’ level of interest and English learning achievements (Bai & Guo, 2019; Lee et al., 2018). It is quite self-evident that interest possesses powerful facilitative effects on cognitive functioning, attention, recognition and memory (Renninger & Wozniak, 1985) and hence on academic learning (Schiefele et al., 1992). People with great interest tend to set themselves challenging goals, maintain strong commitment to tasks, and keep a positive mood as they are engaging in a task for enjoyment (which reflects self-awareness skills of SEL competence) (Bonney et al., 2008; Schunk & Pajares, 2010). Interest in language learning could also motivate learners to actively employ a wide range of strategies to self-regulate their learning process (which reflects self-management skills of SEL competence) (Bai & Wang, 2020). Research findings also indicate motivational beliefs, including interest, may interact with not only the cognitive and behavioural, but also the environmental variables in the self-regulatory processes in L2 learning (Oxford, 2017; Zimmerman & Schunk, 2008), suggesting potential links between interest and social awareness and social management skills of SEL competence.

2.2.3. Growth mindset

In light of implicit theories of intelligence, growth mindset pertains to a type of developing learner belief that intelligence is not fixed but rather malleable and subject to improvement with adequate efforts (Claro et al., 2016; Dweck, 2006). Despite being linked to various motivational beliefs, growth mindset has been far less researched in language learning given the stereotypical notion that language learning may rely more on gifted talents than hard work (Lou & Noels, 2016, 2017). With the mindsets framework newly emerging in L2 learning research, a recent growing body of empirical evidence has indicated beneficial influences of endorsing a growth mindset (Lou & Noels, 2020). Among them, effects on language learning achievements and in relation to aspects of SEL were both identified. Previous results revealed learners’ growth mindsets as regards English learning (rather than their fixed mindsets) were positively associated with their English language performance, although this was indirectly through mediation of engagement and perceived instrumentality (Eren & Rakıcıoğlu-Söylemez, 2020) and self-regulation (Bai & Wang, 2020; Bai et al., 2020). Furthermore, Noels and Lou (2015) reported learners with a growth mindset were more likely to set learning goals and show less negative affect (e.g. self-awareness skills) while learners with a fixed mindset associated themselves with a higher level of anxiety. Moreover, ESL adult learners with strong growth language mindsets tend to show more willingness and feel more motivated to interact with native speaker peers (e.g. social awareness skills) and thereby engage in more communication in English with social peers (e.g. social management skills) (Lou & Noels, 2020). Within the novel investigations into growth mindset in the Hong Kong primary English learning contexts, growth mindset has also been found to contribute to learners’ self-regulation of their cognition, metacognition and behaviours in their learning process (e.g. self-management skills) (Bai & Guo, 2019; Bai & Wang, 2020; Bai et al., 2020).

In sum, underpinned by the expectancy-value and social cognitive theoretical perspectives, and supported by empirical findings in both motivational and SEL research in the English learning field, we proposed that English learners’ motivational beliefs (i.e. self-efficacy, interest and growth mindset) could predict their SEL competence (i.e. self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and social management skills), which may further relate to their English learning achievements. The following two research questions were generated:

1. What are the levels of Hong Kong primary-school students’ motivation (i.e. self-efficacy, interest and growth mindset) and SEL competence (i.e. self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and social management skills) in English learning?

2. What is the relationship between students’ motivational beliefs, SEL competence and English learning achievement in the Hong Kong primary-school English context?

3. Method

3.1. Research context and participants

In Hong Kong, children may start to be exposed to English learning early, from kindergarten, with an emphasis on speaking skills, while their systematic learning of the English language begins in primary school. Following the Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB) subject curriculum, primary-school students usually have 7–10 general English lessons per week, with each one lasting for 35–40 minutes. Four key areas, i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing, are focused on in their English lessons. With Cantonese, a dialect of Chinese, being their mother language, the medium of instruction (MOI) in most of the schools is Cantonese and English may be used only in English lessons. Following convenience sampling, we sent invitations to eight government-aided primary schools located in public housing estates in Hong Kong which followed a very similar English curriculum. Primary students in such schools are generally not exposed to a conducive environment for English learning outside the classroom and receive very little support at home. Therefore, they tend to experience a great deal of hardship in their SEL development with regard to English learning. Nine hundred and thirteen Grade 4 students (aged 9–10) completed the questionnaires on a voluntary basis and 901 valid cases (453 boys and 448 girls) were kept for analysis after data screening. The present study only included data collected from students with Chinese as their mother tongue. In addition, students with special learning needs (SEN) did not participate.

3.2. Measures

1. Motivational beliefs in English learning. The motivation measure was made up of three scales, i.e. growth mindset (four items), self-efficacy (five items) and interest (four items). Items of the growth mindset scale were adapted from Dweck’s (2006) questionnaire and this scale measured the degree to which learners believe they can improve their general ability in English learning through efforts. One sample item of growth mindset was ‘If I work hard, I can improve my English learning.’ Items on the self-efficacy and interest scales were adapted from Pintrich and De Groot (1990). The self-efficacy scale pertained to the extent to which learners believe in their abilities in English learning. One sample item was ‘I am confident in my English learning ability.’ The interest scale evaluated the extent to which learners perceive English learning as interesting. One sample item was ‘Learning English is an interesting activity’. A five-point Likert scale from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree) was adopted. The motivation measure was previously validated with Hong Kong fourth graders with psychometric excellence (Bai & Guo, 2019; Bai & Wang, 2020). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results indicated the three-factor measurement model fit the data adequately, χ² = 281.191, df = 62, p < .001, RMSEA = .062, 90% CI [.055, .070], CFI = .973, TLI = .966, SRMR = .030, according to Hair et al. (2006) cut-off value: 1) the ratio χ² to the degrees of freedom (χ²/df) with values of lower than 5 indicates acceptable model fit; (2) CFI with values of greater than 0.9 indicates acceptable fit; (3) SRMR with values of less than 0.07 (with CFI of greater than 0.9) indicates acceptable fit; (4) RMSEA, with values of less than 0.07 (with CFI of 0.9 or higher) indicates acceptable fit. Internal consistency tests showed high reliabilities with the Cronbach’s coefficient alpha ranging from .79 to .92, higher than the benchmark .70 (Table 1).

   Table 1. Descriptive statistics, internal consistencies and correlations.

   Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	α	M	SD
   1. Growth mindset	-							.79	3.89	0.96
   2. Self-efficacy	.69**	-						.91	3.38	1.14
   3. Interest	.57**	.76**	-					.92	3.15	1.29
   4. Self-awareness	.69**	.65**	.56**	-				.76	3.63	0.82
   5. Social awareness	.66**	.54**	.52**	.70**	-			.79	3.61	0.87
   6. Self-management	.64**	.77**	.76**	.65**	.56**	-		.92	3.26	1.10
   7. Social management	.49**	.52**	.53**	.54**	.58**	.63**	-	.84	2.93	0.93
   8. English scores	.31**	.45**	.40**	.29**	.19**	.43**	.18**	-	18.81	9.67

   Note. **p <.01.

2. SEL competence for English learning. Bai et al.’s (2021) SEL competence questionnaire for English learning was employed in the present study. Bai et al. (2021) made a pioneering attempt to adapt Cefai and Cavioni’s (2014) conceptualisation of SEL competence to the English learning context and successfully validated the questionnaire with Hong Kong students. The questionnaire now included 27 items under four subscales, i.e. self-awareness skills (six items), social awareness skills (seven items), self-management skills (seven items) and social management skills (seven items). Sample items were ‘I am aware of what I am feeling in English learning’, ‘I know whom I can seek help from in English learning’, ‘I can solve my problems in English learning’ and ‘I seek suggestions from other people in English learning’ for each of the four subscales respectively. The students responded to the items on a five-point Likert scale from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). CFA results also indicated a satisfactory model fit of the four-factor SEL competence measure, χ² = 1127.631, df = 318, p < .001, RMSEA = .053, 90% CI [.049, .056], CFI = .927, TLI = .919, SRMR = .044. Cronbach’s coefficient alpha ranged from .76 to .92, also demonstrating high internal consistencies of the measure (Table 1). Both questionnaires were translated into traditional Chinese for students to complete. Back translation was performed to ensure accuracy.

3. English learning achievements. English learning achievements were measured by the participants’ scores in an English test, developed by three primary-school English teachers who had experiences teaching Grade 4 students and agreed the test was proper for evaluating Grade 4 students’ English learning achievements. The test was made up of three parts, i.e. sentence comprehension (17 points), vocabulary (17 points) and reading comprehension (16 points), making the total score 50.

3.3. Procedures

Upon obtaining consent from school principals, teachers, students and their guardians, participants were invited to complete the motivation and SEL questionnaires in class under the guidance of their English teachers. Brief training was provided by the teachers before questionnaire administration, wherein the teachers explained how to fill out the questionnaires and informed the participants of the research purpose and data confidentiality, as well as that the students should answer all the questionnaire items faithfully. The two questionnaires took them approximately 15–20 minutes to complete. Participants were also asked to participate in an English test in class, supervised by their English teachers. The test took them around 35–40 minutes.

3.4. Data analyses

According to Peng et al.’s (2006) procedures, data cleaning was initially performed before analysis. First, two sets of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to examine the factor structure and measurement properties of the constructs of motivational beliefs and SEL competence. Second, descriptive statistics and correlational analyses were conducted to ensure internal consistency and profile the participants’ level of motivation and SEL competence, as well as the general relationship among the measured variables and English learning achievements. Lastly, to evaluate the proposed relationship pattern among motivation factors, SEL competence and English learning achievements, structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed using Mplus 7.

4. Results

4.1. Levels of Hong Kong primary-school students’ motivation and SEL competence

To address the first research question, means, standard deviations and correlations for all measured variables were calculated and presented in Table 1. Oxford’s (1990) proposed level for a five-point Likert scale was adopted to assess the participants’ motivation and SEL competence levels. A mean that falls in the range of 3.5–5.0 is classified as a high level, 2.5–3.4 a medium level and 1.0–2.4 a low level. According to Table 1, the participants demonstrated a high level of growth mindset (M = 3.89, SD = 0.96), while demonstrating a medium level of self-efficacy (M = 3.38, SD = 1.14) and interest (M = 3.15, SD = 1.29). As regards SEL competence, the participants reported a high-level use of self-awareness skills (M = 3.63, SD = 0.82) and social-awareness skills (M = 3.61, SD = 0.87) but a medium-level use of self-management (M = 3.26, SD = 1.10) and social management skills (M = 2.93, SD = 0.93). Correlation analyses showed significant correlations among the three motivational beliefs (i.e. growth mindset, self-efficacy and interest), the four SEL competence clusters (i.e. self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and social management skills) and English scores (.18 ≤ r ≤ .77, p < .01).

4.2. Relationship between students’ motivational beliefs, SEL competence and English learning achievement

To answer the second research question, SEM was specified to assess the proposed relationship pattern that the three motivational beliefs predicted English learning achievements through the mediation role of SEL competence. In terms of the inner association among the four SEL competence components and English learning achievements, Bai et al.’s (2021) model that the awareness skills (i.e. self-awareness and social awareness) indirectly predicted learning achievements through management skills (i.e. self-management and social management) was incorporated and embedded into the hypothesised SEM model. In the hypothesised model, the three motivational constructs and the four SEL competence clusters were treated as latent variables with their items as observed variables, except for English test scores, which were treated as an observed variable. Eighteen paths were established from the three motivational variables to the four SEL skills, from the two awareness skills to the two management skills, and from the two management skills to English test scores. The SEM results demonstrated an adequate model fit: χ² = 1361.561, df = 757, p < .001, RMSEA = .030, 90% CI [.027, .032], CFI = .939, TLI = .934, SRMR = .040, empirically supporting the relationship model. The data verified 11 out of the 18 proposed paths. Figure 1 presents the path diagram with the standardised regression coefficients for the significant paths.

Figure 1. A mediation model of motivational beliefs, social and emotional learning (SEL) competence and English learning achievement.

Notes. All path coefficients are standardised. Only significant relations are shown. Solid lines indicate positive paths, while dash lines indicate negative paths.

Regarding the links between motivational beliefs and SEL competence, growth mindset significantly predicted self-awareness (β = .693, p < .001) and social awareness (β = .715, p < .001); self-efficacy was positively related to self-management (β = .329, p < .001) and negatively to social awareness (β = −.354, p < .001); interest served an antecedent role of three SEL components, i.e. self-awareness (β = .114, p < .001), social awareness (β = .306, p < .001) and self-management (β = .382, p < .001).

With respect to the inner workings among SEL skills and between SEL skills and English learning achievements, self-awareness significantly predicted self-management skills (β = .326, p < .001) and social awareness significantly predicted social management skills (β = .667, p < .001). Self-management was associated with English learning achievements (β = .622, p < .001) while a significant path between social management and English learning achievements (β = −.101, p = .062) was not built.

In sum, four indirect paths from motivation to English learning achievements through SEL were yielded as follows:

• Growth mindset to self-awareness to self-management to English test scores

• Self-efficacy to self-management to English test scores

• Interest to self-awareness to self-management to English test scores

• Interest to self-management to English test scores

To further evaluate the mediation effects, bootstrapping (2000 bootstrapping resamples) with bias-corrected confidence estimates was applied (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). The results suggested significant mediation effects with a 95% confidence interval of the indirect effects. The relationship between growth mindset and English test scores was mediated by SEL with indirect effect = .69 × .33 × .62 = .14, p < .05. The relationship between self-efficacy and English test scores was mediated by SEL with indirect effect = .33 × .62 = .20, p < .05. The relationship between interest and English test scores was mediated by SEL with indirect effect = .11 × .33 × .62 + .38 × .62 = .26, p < .05.

5. Discussion

A novel contribution of our study was empirical testing of the hypothesised model that young English learners’ motivational beliefs predicted their English learning achievements through SEL competence. Growth mindset, self-efficacy and interest were significant but related to SEL skills in different ways, which in turn predicted English test scores.

5.1. Motivation and SEL competence levels

Our findings suggest a medium level of self-efficacy and interest where there is a high level of growth mindset. Such results mirror previous findings on young English learners’ motivation (Bai & Guo, 2019; Bai & Wang, 2020; Bai et al., 2020). Hong Kong fourth graders in general did possess a moderate level of interest in English learning and show a certain degree of confidence in their learning capabilities. It is noteworthy that earlier studies on older school students in Hong Kong disclosed a low level of motivation (Lee et al., 2018; Shen, Bai, & Park, 2020). This may possibly imply that students may not lack confidence or interest in English learning at the start of schooling. The declining motivation level observed in older students could probably be attributed to such contextual factors as demotivational feedback, uninteresting teaching materials and drilling for exam preparations (Lee et al., 2018). Therefore, it is necessary to guard against these demotivators for English learning in the early stage. Additionally, our fourth-grade Hong Kong participants maintained a high level of growth mindset, supporting recent findings on Hong Kong primary-school populations (Bai & Guo, 2019; Bai et al., 2020), and echoing the ideas that efforts are peculiarly cherished in Confucian heritage cultures, including Hong Kong (W.-W. Chen & Wong, 2015).

As regards SEL competence, a high-level use of self-awareness skills and social awareness skills with a medium-level use of self-management and social management skills was documented. The findings resonate with the prior investigation into Hong Kong secondary-school students (Bai et al., 2021). In other words, like their secondary school counterparts, Grade 4 participants were generally clear about their goals, cognisant of their emotions, aware of their strengths/weaknesses, of a sense of belonging to the community, and conscious of social support in English learning. This may result from the explicit feedback and goal-oriented educational context as well as the collectivist culture (Bai et al., 2021). However, what should be brought to attention is the noticeable gap between awareness and management skills. While highly aware of the inner self and of the outer social resources, the students failed to exert a comparable amount of effort to regulate their self and the social environment. Therefore, future attempts should be made to narrow such gaps in reaching a higher level of SEL competence.

5.2. Relating motivational beliefs, SEL and English learning achievements

5.2.1. Motivational beliefs and SEL competence

With regard to the links between motivational beliefs and SEL competence in our study, growth mindset strongly predicted self-awareness and social awareness. This is understandable with evidence drawn from past research. Those who believe in efforts and are willing to improve performance through hard work are likely to establish learning goals and display positive affect (e.g. self-awareness skills) (Noels & Lou, 2015). Lou and Noels (2020) also noted, with strong growth language mindsets, that ESL learners felt more motivated to interact with native-speaker peers (e.g. social-awareness skills), which could further lead to actual English communication with social peers (e.g. social-management skills). Another peculiar finding in our study is that growth mindset may also relate to management skills, but indirectly through the working of awareness skills.

Surprisingly, although self-efficacy has been considered a most powerful predictor of language learning achievements (Bai, Chao, et al., 2019; C. Wang & Bai, 2017), it was found to be positively related to only one type of SEL skills (self-management). Past literature has suggested self-efficacious students tend to make greater efforts to better manage their metacognition, cognition and motivation during the English learning process (L. S. Teng, 2021), thereby confirming the relations between one’s self-efficacy beliefs and self-management skills. However, our findings show that self-efficacy may not be associated with self-awareness skills and even negatively associated with social awareness skills, suggesting that believing in one’s competence may not necessarily lead to his/her consciousness of the inner self and even may blind oneself from recognising the outer environment. Therefore, self-efficacy should be treated with caution because unrealistic self-confidence could hinder self-reflection and hamper the need to seek social collaboration. Similar cautions were raised by J. Chen et al. (2021), who noted that incongruence between self-efficacy and actual achievement may bring negative influences on learning behaviours.

Interest seems a strong predictor of SEL competence since it served a predictive role of three SEL skills, i.e. self-awareness, self-management and social awareness. Such findings are consistent with previous research showing those who are engaged in learning for fun are most likely to show positive affects, set goals (Schunk & Pajares, 2010), employ strategies to regulate the learning process (Bai & Wang, 2020) and to interact with social settings (Oxford, 2017).

Our finding on the different importance of each of the three variables deserves more research attention in the future. Counter to previous research findings, the predictive power of self-efficacy may have been possibly minimised with both growth mindset and interest in the analyses. This unique finding may point to the need for understanding young children’s motivational system as a whole and how various motivational variables may interact together. For young children, interest and growth mindset may outperform self-efficacy when all three motivational factors are considered together. In other words, it may be more useful to focus on improving young children’s interest and growth mindset than self-efficacy in English learning because interest and growth mindset may downplay self-efficacy.

5.2.2. SEL and English learning achievements

Regarding the inner relationship patterns among the four SEL skills, self-awareness significantly predicted self-management skills and social awareness significantly predicted social-management skills. Such results are theoretically supported by behavioural regulation theories which highlighted the antecedent role of awareness (Carver & Scheier, 1981; Deci & Ryan, 1985) and empirically agreed with Bai et al.’s (2021) exploratory findings in the English learning context. But in the present research, the paths between social awareness and self-management and between self-awareness and social management were missing. The missing paths could possibly be justified by the cognitive immaturity of young learners who may not have yet developed the ability to move from the interpsychological (e.g. social awareness skills) to intrapsychological activity (e.g. self-management skills) to complete the internalisation process of learning as proposed by sociocultural theorists (e.g. Vygotsky, 1978; Wertsch, 1979). Additionally, young learners may not be able to translate their self-awareness to social-management skills for the same reason. Our findings on the missing links deserve more research attention and underscore the importance of looking into and developing the mechanisms that can facilitate young students’ SEL development as a whole.

In terms of the paths between management skills and English learning achievements, self-management skills predicted English learning achievements while social-management skills failed to do so. The results are consonant with Bai et al.’s (2021) discovery and extended the findings to the primary-school context. Similar results were produced in pertinent research. For instance, L. S. Teng and Zhang (2016) concluded the learners who used strategies well to manage their cognition, metacognition and emotions were often the ones who did well in English writing. Also in line with Bai et al. (2021), the path from social management to English learning achievements did not turn significant, which may appear unexpected as it ran counter to the theoretical belief that language learning is a social activity in that engagement in social collaboration should promote learning outcomes. Similarly, the use of social strategies and receiving social support were not found to be significantly related with English learning outcomes (Bai, Chao, et al., 2019; L. S. Teng & Zhang, 2018). The underlying explanation could be the Chinese examination culture, in Hong Kong in particular, that underlines a pragmatic acquisition of knowledge (Bai et al., 2021; J. Li, 2006), therefore leaving little room for collaborative learning. As Chinese students may not be accustomed to social collaboration (Shen, Bai, & Xue, 2020), social management skills may not necessarily appear as a tightly relevant predictor of English learning achievements. Such a result raises a serious concern over the influence of social-management skills (e.g. seeking peer support) on English learning achievements in both the Chinese educational context and other similar Confucian heritage cultural contexts.

6. Conclusion, implications and limitations

The study showcased Hong Kong primary-school students’ English motivation and SEL competence levels. Specifically, they displayed a high level of growth mindset and maintained a medium level of self-efficacy and interest, which may indicate that primary-school students in Hong Kong believe that their efforts can make a difference to their learning achievements. In addition, the findings also show that primary-school students are still relatively confident and interested in English learning. In terms of SEL, the students enjoyed a high level of self-awareness and social-awareness skills but a medium level of self-management and social-management skills. Moreover, the present study depicted an intricate interplay where the motivational beliefs, i.e. growth mindset, self-efficacy and interest, predicted English test scores through the mediation of SEL skills, i.e. self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and social management.

The current study moved forward the research of SEL in an English setting by extending Bai et al.’s (2021) model to the primary-school context and complementing the model with motivational beliefs as antecedents, aiming to depict a more sophisticated and authentic interaction among these non-cognitive factors and English learning achievements. In particular, the present study highlights the importance of looking into students’ motivation as a system, because in many countries and regions including Hong Kong, English teachers tend to neglect students’ motivational factors, but over-emphasise grammar drilling, which leads to students’ decreasing motivation when English learning becomes more challenging. Therefore, the findings have significant pedagogical implications. First, given the essential predictive effects of motivation on English learning outcomes, to escalate or at least to sustain young learners’ growth mindset, self-efficacy and interest become imperative. Practical tips on fostering growth mindset may include a purposeful selection of and discussion on scientific information on brain development as a result of efforts in learning, e.g. formation of tighter connections between nerve cells, as reading materials and discussion topics to consolidate students’ incremental beliefs (Bai & Wang, 2020; Blackwell et al., 2007). English teachers should inculcate the belief that efforts can lead to better learning outcomes through regular discussions with students on how to achieve it. Ways to promote learner self-efficacy entail skill development to improve students’ competence through authentic mastery experience and praises and encouragement from teachers to boost learner confidence (Liem et al., 2008). Teachers should ask students to share their successful learning experiences in class so that all students can reflect on their own learning experiences for better improvement. But teachers should also closely monitor students’ self-efficacy levels to guard against unrealistic self-efficacy, which could cause obstacles to learning (Shen & Bai, 2022). Increasing/maintaining young learners’ interest should always be a seminal task for English teachers (Shen, Bai, & Park, 2020), considering its powerful effects on SEL and English learning. Classroom teachers are encouraged to design and use interesting and relevant tasks (Lee et al., 2018), offer multiple tasks for students to choose from (Wigfield & Cambria, 2010), and incorporate information and communication technology (ICT) tools to motivate learners and elevate learning effectiveness (Bai, Wang, et al., 2019).

More importantly, English teachers should consider students’ motivation as a whole system given the findings in the present study. For example, although self-efficacy has been considered the most important influencing factor for students’ learning, interest and growth mindset can downplay self-efficacy. In other words, English teachers should understand how these motivational factors may function together in students. When young students show a lack of competence (i.e. self-efficacy), teachers can consider promoting their interest and/or growth mindset since both interest and growth mindset can also contribute to English learning achievements through the mediation of the awareness and management skills of the SEL framework. When students have made good progress in English learning, then teachers may focus on improving students’ self-efficacy. It is also essential to highlight that primary-school students are still in a period of formative experiences whereby their motivation can be greatly shaped by their classroom experiences and English teachers whereas older students (e.g. secondary students) may have developed a relatively stable state of motivation in English learning.

Second, efforts should be expended to nurture students’ SEL in light of the predictive effects of SEL competence on English learning achievements given that SEL skills can be a key factor of their future learning success. English teachers can help students more consciously understand their emotional and social development in their English learning process by helping students relate to emotional and social scenarios when they are engaged in video games, sports, and other outdoor activities (Strahan & Poteat, 2020). Teachers are also encouraged to assist in developing skills to manage emotions and behaviours, for example, how to persist in challenging tasks, set goals, focus their attention and solve learning problems (Bai et al., 2021). More fundamentally, teachers should shoulder more emotional responsibility by showing great care for students both individually and as a group, thus building a climate of emotional security (Strahan & Poteat, 2020).

Several limitations should be noted with suggestions for future research. First, the study participants were only selected from a group of Grade 4 students in eight Hong Kong primary schools, which may not be presentative of the whole Hong Kong primary-student populations. Future studies are recommended to recruit students from different grade levels to improve generalisability and to explore how these relationship patterns may change across grade levels. Second, the present study was cross-sectional in nature, disabling us from making strict causal claims among motivational beliefs, SEL competence and English learning achievements, though the SEM analysis verified a proposed direction in their relationship. In light of this, future longitudinal or experimental studies are needed to establish causal relationships. Third, solely relying on self-reports may also suffer from criticism. For example, it could be susceptible to response bias deriving from social desirability (Virtanen & Nevgi, 2010). That said, future work should consider data collection with multiple instruments including class observations and behaviour measures of emotional fluctuation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Council, China Association of Higher Education (grant # 23WYJ0427) and Fujian Provincial Social Sciences Fund (Grant number: FJ2023B030).