Iranian EFL Students’ L2 Engagement: The Impact of Teacher Support and Teacher-student Rapport

Abstract

Given that L2 engagement serves a vital role in students’ academic success, studying the predictors of this construct seems critical. Notwithstanding, factors influencing one’s engagement in an L2 context have remained unclear. To respond to this gap, the current research aimed to unravel the effects of teacher-student rapport and teacher support on Iranian EFL students’ L2 engagement. In doing so, 216 Iranian students majoring in Applied Linguistics, Linguistics, English Translation, or English Literature were invited to cooperate in this investigation. To obtain the required data, three pre-designed scales were virtually distributed among the respondents. Then, through correlation tests, the association between teacher support, teacher-student rapport, and student L2 engagement was measured. Following that, the effects of teacher-student rapport and teacher support on Iranian students’ L2 engagement was assessed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The correlational analysis uncovered a strong, favorable association between constructs. The SEM analysis also indicated that teacher-student rapport and teacher support can strongly influence Iranian students’ engagement in EFL classes. The implications of results are further discussed.