Moderation of teacher–student relationships in the link between motivation and English performance of struggling learners in China

This study examined the motivation level of struggling English learners in China and explored the link between motivation and their English achievement. Furthermore, this research dug into the moderation effect of teacher–student relationships on this link based on attachment theory and self-dertemination theory. Struggling students (n = 14,531) were chosen according to the bottom 25th percentile cutoff on English achievement from a large-scale survey in China. The standardised English performance test and students’ self-reported motivation and teacher–student relationships were adopted to collect data. Descriptive statistics showed that struggling English learners had medium intrinsic and utility value and low self-efficacy. Correlation analysis revealed that intrinsic value and utility value were positively correlated with their English performance, while self-efficacy was not. The moderation analysis further demonstrated that supportive teacher–student relationships had a buffering effect on the low or medium motivation of struggling English learners. These findings suggest that harmonious teacher–student relationships are important for improving the English performance of struggling students.