Testing the relationship between Chinese primary students’ feedback orientation and emotions in learning English as a foreign language

While acknowledging teacher feedback's impact on student achievement is prevalent, a research gap exists in comprehensively assessing children's feedback orientation. Feedback orientation pertains to children's perceptions of teacher feedback, shaping their use of feedback to enhance academic performance and learning outcomes. Feedback orientation encompasses four pivotal facets: the perceived utility of teacher feedback, self-efficacy in utilizing it, a sense of responsibility for leveraging it to bolster academic performance, and social awareness in fostering a positive student-teacher relationship. The quantitative research involved 109 Chinese primary students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in mainland China. Results showed a significant positive correlation between children's feedback orientation and positive emotions related to English learning. These significantly positive correlation patterns were consistent in the relationship between the four specific aspects of feedback orientation and positive emotions. The study contributes theoretically by enriching feedback orientation research within primary education and the EFL context. Empirically, it provided evidence to support the feedback ecological model, integrating feedback orientation and learning outcomes (e.g., positive emotions, engagement in learning). Practically, children's feedback orientation is found to be significantly correlated with positive emotions in EFL, emphasizing the importance of training educators with effective feedback strategies to enhance orientation and emotional experiences, subsequently bolstering engagement in EFL. Copyright © 2023 HKERA-APERA.