English Graduate Students’ Achievement Goals For Research And Their Relationships With Perceived Social Support And Well-being

In the field of foreign languages and literature,English graduate education has made substantial progress over the past decades.With increasing societal demands for highly qualified personnel,the focus of English graduate education has shifted from serving foreign language teaching to cultivating research-oriented,innovative,and high-quality talents.Nevertheless,a large body of evidence suggested that there are numerous challenges to the high-quality development of English graduate students,particularly those enrolled in research-oriented programs.Promoting the positive and successful development of English graduate students and improving the quality of English graduate education have therefore become the top priorities for academics,educators,and policymakers alike.To address the concern,the present study aims to provide supporting empirical evidence by investigating the characteristics of and relationships between English graduate students’ achievement goals for research,perceived social support,and well-being.The quantitative research method was employed in the present study.English graduate students who were doing research-oriented programs at different universities were invited to respond to an anonymous online questionnaire survey on a volunteer basis.The survey was comprised of three scales measuring English graduate students’perceived social support,achievement goals for research,and well-being.After excluding the invalid responses,a total of 838 participants from 74 universities were included in the analysis.Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis,descriptive statistics,correlation analysis,independent-sample t-test,structural equation modeling,mediation analysis,and multi-group analysis.The thesis was partitioned into three major objectives:1)to describe the characteristics of English graduate students’ achievement goals for research,perceived social support,and wellbeing,2)to understand the relationships between English graduate students’achievement goals for research,perceived social support,and well-being,and 3)to examine the mediating role of achievement goals for research on the relationship between English graduate students’ perceived social support and well-being.The results of this study revealed that English graduate students’ research motivation could be largely explained by achievement goal theory and they generally perceived a relatively high level of support from supervisors and peers in the research context.In addition,English graduate students’ well-being was found to be higher than the average level,while ill-being was slightly lower.The results of the t-test showed significant differences between master’s and doctoral students in mastery approach goals,mastery avoidance goals,work avoidance goals,and supervisor support and between male and female graduate students in well-being.Moreover,the results of the SEM analysis suggested significant correlations between English graduate students’achievement goals for research,perceived social support,and well-being.Regarding the relationship between achievement goals for research and well-being,performance approach goals were positively related to well-being,while performance avoidance goals were negatively related to well-being.Work avoidance goals were negatively related to well-being but positively related to ill-being.As for the relationships between perceived social support and achievement goals for research,supervisor support was positively related to mastery approach goals but negatively to work avoidance goals.Peer support was positively related to both mastery-and performance-oriented goals.In terms of the relationships between perceived social support and well-being,the results indicated that supervisor support was positively related to well-being,while peer support was positively associated with well-being but negatively associated with illbeing.Furthermore,the results of the mediation analysis supported the mediating role of achievement goals for research.The present study adds to the literature by exploring the characteristics of and relationships between English graduate students’ achievement goals for research,perceived social support,and well-being.This study also provides fresh insights into the mediating role of achievement goals for research in the relationships between perceived social support and well-being.The findings of this study not only contribute to a greater understanding of the interactions between the three variables,but also offer educators,administrators,and supervisors practical implications for promoting English graduate students’ research motivation and well-being during research and for improving the quality of English graduate education.