ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
College of Education, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia
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Abstract
Classroom environment and growth mindset have been recognized as important factors in foreign language learning. Existing research links classroom environment and language mindset with willingness to communicate (WTC). This study extends this work by examining growth mindset as a proposed mediator of the associations between perceived classroom environment and two distinct outcomes: WTC and self-reported course grade. Participants were 287 undergraduate EFL learners enrolled at a public university in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using established self-report questionnaires, and students’ self-reported final course grades were used to assess EFL achievement. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to test the proposed model. Classroom environment was positively associated with growth mindset, WTC, and EFL achievement, while growth mindset was positively associated with both outcomes. In addition to the direct associations, classroom environment showed significant indirect associations with WTC and EFL achievement through growth mindset. The study extends previous research by examining indirect associations through growth mindset with both WTC and course performance, highlighting the potential relevance of perceived classroom environment and growth-mindset beliefs to these distinct EFL outcomes.
Summary
Keywords
classroom environment, EFL achievement, growth mindset, higher education, Structural Equation Modeling, Willingness to communicate
Copyright
© 2026 Alrashidi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Oqab Alrashidi
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
