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 Chinese EFL learners require to become skillful in the 21st century. Furthermore, recent investigations have indicated that Positive Psychology (PP) has a pivotal impact on students, and among the related issues of PP, well-being plays a great role in this process. It seems necessary to improve the above factors through teaching strategies which highlight the understanding of the importance of learners’ critical thinking and well-being. Among these strategies, mindfulness as one of the language learner’s mental characteristics 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, the main role of mindfulness in this field has been identified, and some suggestions have been made based on the present findings.