Understanding the impact of out-of-school English exposure on self-perceived listening gains: An insight into the activation mechanism

This study investigated the role of ideal L2 self, self-efficacy, emotions in self-perceived listening gains in out-of-school English exposure contexts. Data were collected from English majors in central China, and multi-group structural equation modeling approach was employed to analyze the data. Results showed that participants with a stronger ideal L2 self demonstrated increased out-of-school exposure to English, heightened self-efficacy, greater enjoyment, and enhanced self-perceived listening gains compared to those with a weaker ideal L2 self. Out-of-school English exposure positively influenced self-efficacy; self-efficacy positively affected enjoyment, which in turn positively affected self-perceived listening gains for both high- and low-ideal L2 self groups. The findings suggest ideal L2 self may activate the mechanism transforming incidental learning into autonomy-supportive learning, and this mechanism is stable across groups. It offered insights into pedagogical implications for language learning.