Autonomy support predicts language mindsets: Implications for developing communicative competence and willingness to communicate in EFL classrooms

Abstract

Growth language mindsets, the beliefs that language-learning ability can be cultivated through effort, are argued as a motivational resource that guides learners to focus on improvement and learning processes. However, little is known about how classroom learning contexts predict predict language-mindsets, and whether language-mindsets are linked to learners' competence development and language use in a language classroom. In this study, we recruited 392 university-level English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students in Iran and examined (a) how learners' perceptions of their teacher's autonomy support predict their language-mindsets, and (b) whether language-mindsets in turn predict learners' perceptions of communicative competence and willingness to communicate (WTC). Path analyses demonstrated that growth language-mindsets mediated the link of autonomy support on communicative competence and WTC. Students who perceived their teachers to be more autonomy-supportive were more likely to endorse growth (vs. fixed) language-mindsets, and thereby feeling more competent and being more willing to use English in the classroom. This study highlights the importance of growth mindsets in EFL classrooms and provides practical implications for fostering growth mindsets with autonomy-supporting strategies.