The effects of incorporating mindset intervention in L2 English writing on Chinese college EFL students’ learning engagement and writing performance

Abstract

Language mindsets are an emerging research topic in the analysis of EFL learners’ motivation and learning outcome. However, research on incorporating mindset intervention in L2 writing classes is scarce. The current study explores whether employing two specific types of mindset interventions would result in more positive L2 writing mindset, stronger learning engagement, and improved writing performance. To this end, the study implemented a one-semester long quasi-experiment involving 210 EFL students from six intact writing classes at a university in Mainland China. The participating students were assigned to one of three conditions: a) EG1 (experimental group 1, explicit-intervention-only); b) EG2 (experimental group 2, combined-intervention with both explicit and implicit growth mindset interventions); c) CG (control group). The results revealed significant effects of the two intervention conditions on L2 writing mindsets, learning engagement, and writing performance. Furthermore, the EG2 students, who received both explicit and implicit interventions, exhibited higher positive effects in all three dependent variables than students who received only explicit mindset intervention or no intervention although some of the effect sizes of the between-groups measures were medium or small. This study highlights the importance of incorporating mindset interventions in L2 writing classes. Pedagogical and research implications are also discussed.