Pride and shame in CALL: How do they relate to appraisals, engagement, and performance?

Guided by the control-value theory (CVT) of achievement emotions, this study examines the relationships among two understudied foreign language (FL) emotions: pride and shame, control-value appraisals, engagement, and performance in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). A total of 652 Chinese university students from a language MOOC participated in the study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results showed that control and value appraisals positively predicted FL pride but negatively predicted FL shame. FL pride positively predicted each of the three dimensions of engagement while FL shame negatively predicted them, except for cognitive engagement. Emotional engagement and behavioral engagement but not cognitive engagement positively predicted FL performance. FL Pride and FL shame mediated the relationship between control-value appraisals and emotional and behavioral engagement, which, in turn, mediated the relationship between pride or shame and FL performance. Cognitive engagement consistently showed no significant pathways. Importantly, pride and shame, along with emotional and behavioral engagement rather than cognitive engagement serially mediated the relationship between control-value appraisals and FL performance. We discussed the implications for language teachers to address pride and shame, alongside their appraisal antecedents and learning outcomes in CALL.