Investigating the interrelationship among academic emotions, classroom engagement, and self-efficacy in the context of EFL learning in smart classrooms in China

Abstract

Objective This study aims to fill in the gap by exploring the interrelationship among academic emotions, classroom engagement and self-efficacy in EFL learning among Chinese non-English majors in smart classrooms.Methods A total of 409 non-English majors in their first year from a Chinese university completed the revised version of the academic emotions scale, classroom engagement scale and self-efficacy scale and their interrelationship has been analysed by Structural Equation Modelling.Results Positive emotion significantly enhances classroom engagement, while negative emotion does not. Classroom engagement has a significant effect on promoting self-efficacy, which is influenced by both positive and negative emotions, with positive emotions having a greater impact. Specifically, classroom engagement mediates the relationship between positive emotion and self-efficacy, whereas it does not mediate between negative emotion and self-efficacy.Conclusion Smart classrooms can stimulate students’ positive academic emotions, increase their engagement in learning so as to enhance their self-efficacy.

Keywords

• Academic emotions
• classroom engagement
• self-efficacy
• structural equation modeling
• EFL learning