Teacher Support, Learning Engagement, and Flow Experience in Chinese Middle School English Learning: An Investigative Study

To explore the mediating role of learning engagement and flow experience in the impact of teacher support on junior high school students’ English performance, this study used questionnaire surveys to investigate 278 third-year junior high school students in China and applied structural equation modeling to analyze the data. The results show: (1) The perceived teacher support and learning engagement of junior high school students are at a moderate level, the flow experience level is overall low, and half of the students has no flow experience. (2) Teacher support has a significant positive correlation with students’ English performance, learning engagement, and flow experience. Flow experience and learning engagement also have a significant positive predictive effect on English performance. (3) Teacher support indirectly influences students’ English performance through the parallel mediating effects of learning engagement and flow experience. It is suggested that teachers should reform teaching methods and provide more support in English teaching practice to help students stay in a state of flow during English learning for a longer time; at the same time, guide students to engage in learning from multiple aspects including cognition, emotion, and behavior to improve students’ learning autonomy and English performance.