The role of mindfulness on the relation between critical thinking and well-being of Chinese EFL learners

Abstract

Critical thinking has been defined as one of the abilities that the Chinese EFL learners require to become skillful in the 21st century. Furthermore, recent investigations have indicated that Positive Psychology (PP) and strengths have a pivotal impact on students, and among the related issues of PP, well-being plays a great role in this process. Additionally, mindfulness as one of the language learner's mental characteristics is a strategy that has been revealed to have a positive influence when applied as a management strategy against stress. So the present study aimed to explore whether mindfulness could play a mediating role in the relationship between critical thinking and well-being. For this purpose, 360 Chinese EFL students were recruited to take part in this study to fill out questionnaires on mindfulness, well-being, and critical thinking. At that point, the structural equation modeling utilizing the pwrSEM program statistical package was used to reveal their possible connections. Results indicated that critical thinking has a positive influence on well-being through mindfulness. Overall, mindfulness's main role in this field has been identified and based on the present findings, some suggestions have been made.