From foreign language classroom anxiety to English learning engagement: the roles of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression

Abstract

Background: Emotions play a central role in second and foreign language (L2) learning, yet relatively little is known about how specific emotion regulation strategies shape the link between foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and learners' engagement. Drawing on the process model of emotion regulation and positive psychology in second language acquisition (SLA), this study examined whether cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in English learning mediate the association between FLCA and English learning engagement among Chinese university students. Methods: A cross-sectional online questionnaire survey was administered to 260 undergraduates enrolled in compulsory College English courses at multiple universities in Mainland China. Students completed newly developed, context-specific scales assessing FLCA, cognitive reappraisal in English learning, expressive suppression in English learning, and English learning engagement, along with demographic and English-learning background items. Descriptive statistics and correlations were computed, a four-factor confirmatory factor analysis evaluated the measurement model, and a parallel mediation model tested the hypothesized paths. Results: Students reported moderate levels of FLCA and expressive suppression, moderate use of cognitive reappraisal, and moderately high English learning engagement. FLCA correlated negatively with both cognitive reappraisal and engagement, and positively with expressive suppression. In the structural model, FLCA showed a substantial negative total effect on engagement. When mediators were included, higher FLCA predicted less frequent cognitive reappraisal and more frequent expressive suppression; in turn, cognitive reappraisal was positively, and expressive suppression negatively, associated with engagement. Both indirect paths were statistically significant, and together accounted for a considerable portion of the FLCA–engagement link, while a meaningful direct effect of FLCA on engagement remained. Conclusion: The findings indicate that foreign language classroom anxiety is robustly and negatively related to English learning engagement and that this relationship is partly explained by students' emotion regulation strategies. Cognitive reappraisal in English learning functions as an adaptive pathway that helps sustain engagement, whereas expressive suppression operates as a maladaptive pathway associated with disengagement. These results highlight the value of classroom practices and institutional initiatives that not only reduce excessive anxiety but also explicitly foster adaptive emotion regulation in university English-as-a-foreign-language contexts.