Maternal wellbeing amidst English fever: An integrative framework of vicarious pride, empathy, agency, and hope (M–VEAH)

This study explored maternal wellbeing in the context of intensive maternal involvement in children's English education in South Korea, a setting characterised by neoliberal educational pressures. It highlights how individual wellbeing intersects with broader institutional pressures and social ideologies. The omission of maternal wellbeing in applied linguistics is surprising because mothers often fulfil conflicting roles such as a study supervisor, language teacher, emotional and financial supporter across many language education contexts. Adopting a qualitative research approach, the study employed semi-structured interviews with nine mothers in metropolitan areas in South Korea, actively managing their children's English learning activities. Grounded in Oxford's EMPATHICS framework, and complemented by the perspective of English education as an institution, a thematic analysis was conducted on the interviews. The findings showed that maternal wellbeing comprises vicarious pride, reflecting emotional resonance with their children's educational successes and challenges; empathy-driven decision-making, balancing educational pressures with emotional care; agency exercised through reflective and resistant strategies against institutional expectations. Hope emerged as a critical psychological resource, sustaining mothers' long-term emotional investments. Based on the findings, the study proposed the Maternal Wellbeing through Vicarious Pride, Empathy, Agency, and Hope (M–VEAH) framework, providing an integrative approach to understanding maternal wellbeing amid English fever.