Social support and english academic achievement: the mediating role of foreign language emotions and the moderating effect of academic self-concept

Drawing on ecological systems theory, this study proposed a moderated mediation model to examine how social support influences English academic achievement. Specifically, the model tested the mediating role of foreign language academic emotions and the moderating role of English academic self-concept. A total of 1,877 Chinese secondary school students from four grade levels completed an offline questionnaire. Results showed that foreign language enjoyment and anxiety positively and negatively mediated the relationship between social support and English academic achievement, respectively. Moreover, English academic self-concept significantly moderated the initial stages of both mediation pathways, i.e., from social support to foreign language enjoyment and anxiety, which amplified the positive effect of social support on foreign language enjoyment and attenuated its negative effect on foreign language anxiety. These findings underscore the importance of simultaneously fostering external social support and enhancing students' internal academic self-concept in English instruction, suggesting that effective foreign language teaching should integrate both environmental and cognitive strategies to optimize students' emotional experiences and academic outcomes.