Grit, emotions, and their effects on ethnic minority students’ English language learning achievements: A structural equation modelling analysis

Foreign language learning is a complex and lengthy process that is perfused with potential learning challenges and diverse feelings, which necessitate the exploration of grit and emotion in achieving an attainment result. However, few studies have been conducted to verify the predictive effect of grit, understand its relationships with frequently associated emotional factors, such as enjoyment and boredom, and determine how these psychological factors affect a learner’s achievement within the L2 learning mechanism. Adopting a structural equation model, this study aims to address these issues in a sample of 504 ethnic minority students, a population that has not been featured in the literature thus far. These participants are secondary school learners from the western regions of China, where a large gap exists in English learning facilities, teaching resources, and educational attainments. The findings indicate that: i) grit components (both perseverance of effort/POE and consistency of interest/COI) were predictors of emotions and learning achievements, but POE displays a greater strength; and ii) despite both enjoyment and boredom mediating the relationship between grit and language achievement, enjoyment has a more powerful effect. The results suggest pedagogical implications to enhance students’ language learning.