Investigating the Relationships between Regulatory Foci, L2 Grit, and L2 Writing Enjoyment among Iranian EFL Learners

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Objective: Despite the renewed interest in individual differences in second language acquisition (SLA), there is still limited research on the interconnections among regulatory focus (promotion and prevention), L2 grit (Consisting of perseverance of effort and consistency of interests), and emotions.
Methods: A total of 85 undergraduate English majors (54 women, mean age = 20 years) from two comprehensive universities in Iran took part in the research. In order to assess the participants' promotion and prevention focuses, L2 grit, and English writing enjoyment, three questionnaires were used. The data collected was analyzed using IBM SPSS (26.0) software.
Results: The correlational analysis revealed that regulatory focus, L2 grit, and L2 writing enjoyment are interconnected. Specifically, promotion focus positively correlated with L2 writing enjoyment and L2 grit. Additionally, L2 grit (Perseverance of Effort) showed a meaningful connection with L2 writing enjoyment. On the other hand, prevention focus demonstrated significant negative correlations with L2 writing enjoyment and L2 grit. Lastly, there was no significant relationship found between L2 Grit (consistency of interest) and L2 Writing Enjoyment.
Conclusions: The study's results demonstrate the crucial findings regarding the interplay between different dimensions of grit, emotion and personal best goals.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Bruning, R., & Horn, C. (2000). Developing motivation to write. Educational Psychologist, 35(1), 25-37. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3501_4
Credé, M., & Tynan, M. C. (2021). Should language acquisition researchers study “grit”? A cautionary note and some suggestions. Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning, 3(2), 37-44. http://www.jpll.org/index.php/journal/article/view/72
Credé, M., Tynan, M. C., & Harms, P. D. (2017). Much ado about grit: A meta-analytic synthesis of the grit literature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(3), 492. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000102
Davidson, B. (2014). Examining the relationship between noncognitive skills and leadership: The influence of hope and grit on transformational leadership behavior [Doctroal dissertation, University of Kansas]. Education Dissertations and Theses. http://hdl.handle.net/1808/18643
Deng, W., Lei, W., Guo, X., Li, X., Ge, W., & Hu, W. (2022). Effects of regulatory focus on online learning engagement of high school students: The mediating role of self-efficacy and academic emotions. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 38(3), 707–718. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12642
Dewaele, J. M., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2016). Foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety: The right and left feet of the language learner. Positive Psychology in SLA, 215(236). https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783095360-010
Dornyei, Z. (2014). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410613349
Dornyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315779553
Duckworth, A. (2017). Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success. NIDA Journal of Language and Communication, 24(35), 105-106.
Duckworth, A. L., & Quinn, P. D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (GRIT–S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890802634290
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087
Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought‐action repertoires. Cognition & Emotion, 19(3), 313-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238
Gao, J., Hodis, F. A., & Tait, C. F. (2022). University students' regulatory focus-mode profiles and their relationships with grit, critical thinking, effort regulation, and perceptions of academic success. Personality and Individual Differences, 189, 111474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111474
Griffiths, C., & Soruç, A. (2020). A Holistic View. Individual Differences in Language Learning: A Complex Systems Theory Perspective, 197-211. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52900-0
Han, Y., & McDonough, K. (2018). Korean L2 speakers’ regulatory focus and oral task performance. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 56(2), 181-203. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2015-0116
Han, Y., & McDonough, K. (2019). Motivation as individual differences and task conditions from a regulatory focus perspective: their effects on L2 Korean speech performance. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 15(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2019.1652614
Higgins, E. (2008). Culture and personality: Variability across universal motives as the missing link. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(2), 608–634. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00075.x
Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: a theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.94.3.319
Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American psychologist, 52(12), 1280. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.12.1280
Higgins, E. T. (1998). Promotion and prevention: Regulatory focus as a motivational principle. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 1-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60381-0
Jin, Y. (2023). The development and validation of the English writing enjoyment scale. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 130(1), 555-575. https://doi.org/10.1177/00315125221137649
Karlen, Y., Suter, F., Hirt, C., & Merki, K. M. (2019). The role of implicit theories in students' grit, achievement goals, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and achievement in the context of a long-term challenging task. Learning and Individual Differences, 74, 101757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2019.101757
Lake, J. (2013). Positive L2 self: Linking positive psychology with L2 motivation. Language Learning Motivation in Japan, 71, 225. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783090518-015
Lee, J. S. (2020). The role of grit and classroom enjoyment in EFL learners’ willingness to communicate. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 43(5), 452-468. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2020.1746319
Li, S., Hiver, P., & Papi, M. (2022). Individual differences in second language acquisition: Theory, research, and practice. In The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and individual differences (pp. 3-34). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003270546-2
Liu, E., & Wang, J. (2021). Examining the relationship between grit and foreign language performance: Enjoyment and anxiety as mediators. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 666892. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666892
MacIntyre, P. D., Gregersen, T., & Clément, R. (2016). Individual differences. In The Routledge handbook of English language teaching (pp. 310-323). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315676203-27
McCain, B. (2017). Effects of teacher grit on student grit and reading achievement: A mixed-methods study. Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Mei, Y., Yan, Y., & Shen, Y. (2024). How Regulatory Focus Associates With Chinese EFL Learners’ L2 Grit: The Mediating Effects of Achievement Emotions. SAGE Open, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241243201
Ming, T., Rude, L., Qin, G., Hongjuan, Z., Jun, W., & Miaoci, D. (2016). Regulatory Focus and Grit in Senior High School Students: The Mediating Role of Academic Emotions. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 14(4), 479. https://psybeh.tjnu.edu.cn/EN/abstract/abstract1578.shtml
Papi, M., & Teimouri, Y. (2014). Language learner motivational types: A cluster analysis study. Language Learning, 64(3), 493-525. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12065
Pattershall, J., Eidelman, S., & Beike, D. R. (2012). Regulatory focus and affective recall. Motivation and Emotion, 36, 396-403. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-011-9255-4
Pawlak, M. (2017). Overview of learner individual differences and their mediating effects on the process and outcome of interaction. Expanding individual difference research in the interaction approach: Investigating learners, instructors, and other interlocutors, 19-40. https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.16.02paw
Pawlak, M. (2020). 10 Individual Differences and Good Language Teachers. Lessons from good language teachers, 121. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108774390.013
Pawlak, M. (Ed.). (2021). Investigating individual learner differences in second language learning. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75726-7
Pawlak, M., Zarrinabadi, N., & Kruk, M. (2022). Positive and negative emotions, L2 grit and perceived competence as predictors of L2 motivated behaviour. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2091579
Poels, K., & Dewitte, S. (2008). Hope and self-regulatory goals applied to an advertising context: Promoting prevention stimulates goal-directed behavior. Journal of Business Research, 61(10), 1030-1040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.09.019
Robertson-Kraft, C., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). True grit: Trait-level perseverance and passion for long-term goals predicts effectiveness and retention among novice teachers. Teachers College Record, 116(3), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811411600306
Taguchi, T., Magid, M., & Papi, M. (2009). The L2 motivational self-system among Japanese, Chinese and Iranian learners of English: A comparative study. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 66–96). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847691293-005
Tahmouresi, S., & Papi, M. (2021). Future selves, enjoyment and anxiety as predictors of L2 writing achievement. Journal of Second Language Writing, 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2021.100837
Teimouri, Y. (2017). L2 selves, emotions, and motivated behaviors. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39(4), 681–709. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263116000243
Teimouri, Y., Plonsky, L., & Tabandeh, F. (2020). L2 grit: Passion and perseverance for second-language learning. Language Teaching Research, 26(5), 893-918. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820921895
Wei, H., Gao, K., & Wang, W. (2019). Understanding the relationship between grit and foreign language performance among middle school students: The roles of foreign language enjoyment and classroom environment. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. http://doi.org/ 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01508/full.
Yamashita, T. (2018). Grit and second language acquisition: can passion and perseverance predict performance in Japanese language learning? [Master's thesis, University of Massachusetts Amherst]. University of Massachusetts Amherst https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/33719
Zhang, Y., & Guo, H. (2012). A study of English writing and domain-specific motivation and self-efficacy of Chinese EFL learners. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics,16(2).

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics