Mirroring Emotional Beliefs of EFL Students via Path Analysis: An Insight into Reflective Thinking, Self-esteem, and Autonomy in CALL

Abstract

It is believed that psycho-emotional concepts, social and emotional competencies, reflective thinking, self-esteem, and autonomy are critical to how successful learners are. In EFL settings, particularly in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), the connections between emotional competencies, reflective thinking, self-esteem, and autonomy have not been investigated despite the importance of these concepts. This research sought to address this gap by examining the Oman higher education setting and the possible involvement of emotional competencies, reflective thinking, mindsets, and self-esteem. With this goal in mind, a convenience sample of 274 EFL learners participated in this research. The outcomes of path analysis indicated that EFL students with higher emotional beliefs had higher states of reflective thinking, self-esteem, and autonomy in CALL. According to the study's conclusions, higher education curricula should contain instruction in higher-order cognitive abilities, emotion regulation techniques, reflective thinking, self-esteem strategies, and autonomy techniques.