L2 grit unboxed: A meta-analytic journey into L2 grit and its correlates

As an emerging field of study within second language acquisition (SLA), the notion of grit has gained immediate relevance as it is considered to play a key role in language achievement. Although recent years have witnessed increasing attention to second language (L2) grit due to its merits in foreign/second language learning processes, a comprehensive meta-analysis synthesizing the results of all available studies on the relationship between L2 grit and its frequently associated variables is currently lacking. Therefore, the current meta-analytic study scrutinized the total mean correlation between L2 grit and six main correlates examined in the research domain: foreign language enjoyment, L2 motivation, foreign language anxiety (FLA), ideal L2 self, growth mindset, and teacher support. A total of k = 34 effect sizes were analyzed with an overall sample size of N = 13,068 in random-effects models with correlation coefficients. The findings indicated that L2 motivation is the strongest correlate of L2 grit (r = .58), indicating a large effect size. The other five variables were moderately correlated with L2 grit, with FLA (r = −.47) being the strongest correlate and growth mindset (r = .33) being the weakest correlate. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.