Exploring flourishing, personal best goals, engagement, and teacher support in adolescent English learning: a goal-setting theory perspective

Grounded in Goal-setting Theory, this study examined the relationships among flourishing, personal best goals, and engagement in English learning among Chinese senior high school students and further explored whether teacher support moderated the association between personal best goals and engagement. A total of 661 students participated in a questionnaire survey and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. The results showed that flourishing positively predicted both personal best goals and engagement.

Personal best goals also positively predicted engagement. In addition, the relationship between personal best goals and engagement was stronger among students who perceived higher levels of teacher support. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of goal-setting processes in adolescent English learning by highlighting the role of flourishing and the contextual significance of teacher support.

Correspondence to Aihua Cheng or Ningbing Yu. The authors declare no competing interests. All methods were carried out in accordance with the guidelines and regulations of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

Since this study does not involve intervention and it is low risk, ethical review and approval were waived according to the Academic Committee, School of Foreign Language in Soochow University (No. 20250502011011) on 23, March, 2025. Each participant was required to sign a written informed consent form by the research investigator before the survey (conducted in Nov, 2025). All participants confirmed their informed consent regarding participation, data use, and research publication after being adequately informed about assured anonymity, voluntary participation, research aims, data use, and any potential risks.

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