Mindset Matters: Enhancing English Self-Efficacy through Positive and Spiritual Psychology Interventions

This study explores the intersection of positive and spiritual psychology with language education by examining how emotionally and spiritually grounded interventions affect students' English self-efficacy and holistic development. Nineteen senior high school students participated in a six-week intervention program that incorporated positive psychology principles and spirituality-based reflective activities, including gratitude letters, inner journey writing, and collaborative tasks. These activities aimed to cultivate self-awareness, hope, resilience, empathy, and meaning-making within the language learning process. The research adopted an exploratory case study framework with a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. Quantitative data were gathered using the English-Related Self-Efficacy Belief Scale, revealing statistically significant gains across all four core language skills (t (18) = 6.38, p < .001), with the mean score increasing from 3.12 to 3.87. Complementary qualitative data, collected via Padlet, indicated enhanced emotional awareness, motivation, and learner confidence. Findings reveal the transformative potential of affective and spiritually informed pedagogy in foreign language classrooms. In addition to improving linguistic competence, such practices support emotional well-being, reduce language anxiety, and promote personal growth. The study also highlights the importance of integrating emotionally enriching practices into language teaching and recommends further research with larger and more diverse samples using longitudinal designs.