Effect of student engagement on growth mindset in learning English-as-a-foreign-language vocabulary: Role of foreign language enjoyment as mediator

This paper examines how the growth mindset in vocabulary learning is influenced by student engagement when foreign language enjoyment is considered a mediating factor. Relying on positive psychology and a correlational research design, we collected data from 390 students majoring in English as a foreign language at the university and conducted statistical modeling. The findings of this paper indicated moderate levels of student engagement, growth mindset in vocabulary learning, and foreign language enjoyment, with strong positive relationships among them. Foreign language enjoyment emerged as a key mediating factor in the correlation between student engagement and growth mindset in vocabulary learning, suggesting that improving student engagement levels and providing an enjoyable language-learning environment can enhance students’ resilience and expand their capacity to learn vocabulary. Insights for educators and policymakers, as well as the contributions of this paper to positive psychology strategies, are discussed in detail.