The role of gratitude in promoting agentic engagement among Chinese EFL learners: a chain mediation study

IntroductionAgentic engagement is fundamental to fostering language proficiency and learner autonomy in language education. Although the positive psychology movement in second language acquisition has increasingly examined how learners' positive traits facilitate general engagement, the specific relationship between gratitude and agentic engagement remains largely unexplored. Grounded in the control-value theory, this study explored how gratitude, control-value appraisals, and foreign language enjoyment collectively predict agentic engagement.MethodsA total of 3,764 Chinese university students participated in a questionnaire survey. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data.ResultsResults showed that gratitude, control-value appraisals, and enjoyment each positively predicted agentic engagement. Mediation analyses further identified that control-value appraisals and enjoyment mediated the relationships between gratitude and agentic engagement, involving three mediating paths: independent mediation by control-value appraisals, independent mediation by enjoyment, and chain mediation through control-value appraisals and enjoyment.DiscussionAlthough the chain mediation effects were modest, these findings illuminate the cognitive and emotional pathways through which gratitude fosters agentic engagement, underscoring the value of integrating gratitude cultivation into EFL instruction. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.