The impact of teacher-student relationship quality on achievement emotions in English as a foreign language within a Confucian heritage cultural context: an examination of the mediating roles of cognitive appraisals

Achievement emotions are central to learning and linked to academic outcomes and well-being. While control-value theory (CVT) research has emphasized cognitive appraisals and classroom climate, social-contextual influences such as teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ) remain underexamined, particularly in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education within Confucian heritage cultural contexts. Guided by CVT, this study tested a model linking TSRQ to achievement via control and value appraisals. Survey data were collected from 1103 Chinese college EFL learners from March to May 2025, during the 2024–2025 academic year (Mage = 19.47; SD = 0.74; 71.0% female). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted, controlling for gender, age, and home educational resources. TSRQ was positively associated with enjoyment and negatively associated with boredom and anxiety. Control and value appraisals fully mediated the TSRQ-anxiety association and partially mediated the TSRQ-enjoyment and TSRQ-boredom associations. Female students reported more positive and fewer negative emotions than males; age was negatively associated with control appraisals and positively associated with anxiety; and greater home resources were associated with higher perceived TSRQ, higher enjoyment, and lower anxiety and boredom. The findings underscore the importance of TSRQ in EFL learners’ achievement emotions and suggest that its associations with emotions operate partly through control and value appraisals, informing relational and appraisal-focuses practices in EFL education.