Exploring the mediating role of basic psychological needs in the relationship between teacher confirmation and students’ academic engagement in EFL classes: A self-determination perspective

Academic engagement is crucial for effective English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learning in classrooms. Previous research has linked learners’ engagement to their perceptions of teacher confirmation. However, little is known about the specific mechanisms through which teacher confirmation impacts academic engagement. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), our study aimed to explore how students’ perceptions of teacher confirmation, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and academic engagement interact in EFL classes at Chinese colleges. We gathered data from 642 Chinese college EFL students who completed validated scales, analyzing the data using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Amos 24 software. Our findings indicate that teacher confirmation did not directly influence academic engagement. However, it did enhance satisfaction of students’ three basic psychological needs. Among these needs, autonomy and competence did not directly affect academic engagement, whereas relatedness did. Furthermore, teacher confirmation did not significantly affect academic engagement through autonomy or competence as mediators; instead, it operated through relatedness. This study also discusses the theoretical implications of these results and suggests directions for future research.