Foreign language learning's role in the development of global competence: A latent profile analysis

Abstract

Amid the rapid changes that adolescents experience in today's globalized society, global competence has become a core quality that enables them to cope with the demands of life, learning, and work. To understand the potential categorization of global competence and its influencing factors among secondary school students, this study used a questionnaire to survey students in 89 secondary schools in Shanghai, China. Latent profile analysis was used to examine the heterogeneity of the selected students' global competence. Analysis of variance was performed to explore how the latent categories of global competence are associated with gender and foreign language learning. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis was employed to identify their potential profiles' influencing factors. The results demonstrated that secondary school students' global competence can be categorized into one of four potential categories––limited awareness and engagement, emerging awareness and engagement, developed cognition and moderate engagement, and highly developed and globally engaged––with the highest number in the developed cognition and moderate engagement group and the lowest number in the limited awareness and engagement group. Furthermore, the variables of gender, years of foreign language learning, number of languages studied, and satisfaction with the school's foreign language curriculum may serve as potential indicators for categorizing global competence profiles. The study's results can be useful for subsequent theoretical and practical research in this field.