Academic enjoyment, behavioral engagement, self-concept, organizational strategy and achievement in EFL setting: A multiple mediation analysis

Abstract

Motivated by the positive psychology movement in the English as Foreign Language (EFL), existing studies have demonstrated that subject-related enjoyment has a positive correlation with academic achievement. However, quite a few studieshave examined why academic enjoyment can predict positive academic achievement. This study aimed to investigate whether behavioral engagement, self-concept, and organizational strategy mediated relations between academic enjoyment and achievement in EFL setting. 528 Chinese secondary school students (Male: N = 280; Female: N = 248) participated in the survey and completed the questionnaires on EFL-related enjoyment, behavioral engagement, self-concept, organizational strategy, and academic performance. Structural equation model (SEM) analyses showed that students’ academic enjoyment positively predicted their English achievement. Academic engagement, self-concept, and organizational strategy had parallel multiple mediating effects between academic enjoyment and English achievement. Multi-group SEM analysis demonstrated that the model had invariance across genders, indicating that the model is applicable to both male and female students. Limitations and implications are discussed.