Measuring and profiling Chinese secondary school English teachers’ language mindsets: an exploratory study of non-native teachers’ perceived L2 proficiency loss

Abstract Non-native second language (NNL2) teachers’ perceived L2 proficiency loss is a widespread, yet largely underrepresented phenomenon. This study used a sample of 969 Chinese secondary school non-native English teachers (91.6% female, M age = 37.18, SD = 9.45) to examine their decremental beliefs toward English language proficiency within the framework of mindsets. Both variable-centered and person-centered approaches were adopted to perform data analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis provided validity evidence for the decremental mindset construct. Latent profile analysis categorized the participants into three groups: low decremental mindset, moderate decremental mindset, and moderate-high decremental mindset teachers. Multi-group structural equation modeling demonstrated that the direct effect of a decremental mindset on effort beliefs about English language ability loss was evident across the three groups, whereas only the decremental mindset of certain moderate-high decremental mindset teachers could lead to prevention-focused motivation. As an early attempt to examine people’s decremental beliefs toward language ability, this study extends existing research on language mindsets and provides a new perspective for the analysis of NNL2 teachers’ perceived L2 proficiency loss. Practical implications for NNL2 teacher educators and administrators are discussed on the basis of the findings.