Teacher autonomy support and student agentic engagement in EFL context: The mediating role of learning empowerment

作者：Maryam Khabar, Nasser Fallah, Behruz Lotfi Gaskaree · 发表于：Educational Psychology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1080/01443410.2025.2567553 · 被引用次数：3

Abstract The current study sought to examine the interrelationships among teacher autonomy support, student agentic engagement, and learning empowerment in English as a foreign language (EFL) learning context. In addition, the mediating impact of empowerment on the connection between teacher autonomy support and agentic engagement was tested. Accordingly, a total of 300 university EFL learners were recruited using a convenience sampling method and were requested to fill out self-report questionnaires. In addition to the survey-based findings, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen EFL learners to ensure the accuracy and depth of the quantitative results. The reliability and validity of the scales were assessed. The findings from the structural equation modelling analysis revealed that teacher autonomy support positively predicted empowerment and agentic engagement. Further, empowerment positively predicted agentic engagement. Another aspect of the findings indicated that empowerment played a mediating function in the association between teacher autonomy support and agentic engagement. The qualitative analysis also confirmed these findings and provided additional insights into the complexities of the associations among these constructs. The theoretical and practical implications were explored, and recommendations for further investigations were provided.