To be a language learner or not to be? The interplay among academic resilience, critical thinking, academic emotion regulation, academic self-esteem, and academic demotivation

It is widely accepted in the literature that demotivation among second language (L2) learners can be caused by a variety of factors, such as Academic resilience (AR), critical thinking (CT), academic emotion regulation (AER), and Academic self-esteem (AS-E). However, there has been a lack of research into the associations between AR, CT, AER, and AS-E with academic demotivation (AD) in the higher education context of Iran. To address this gap, the present study examined if AR, CT, AER, and AS-E were significantly associated with AD among English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in the Iranian higher education context. For this purpose, a total of 398 EFL learners were randomly selected and asked to complete the Academic Resilience Scale, the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal form A, the Academic Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Foreign Language Learning Self-esteem Scale, and the Academic Demotivation Scale. The collected data were analyzed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. Results disclosed that there was a negative significant correlation between the AR, CT, AER, and AS-E with AD among the EFL learners. That is, the EFL learners with higher the AR, CT, AER, and AS-E were less likely to be demotivated to achieve their goals. The implications of the findings are discussed for relevant stakeholders.