An Investigation Into Resilience, Metacognition, and L2 Listening Comprehension

ABSTRACT Positive psychology in second language (L2) acquisition has increasingly attracted interest recently. Despite many studies highlighting the importance of resilience in L2 learning, a comprehensive understanding of its role in the skill‐specific domain of listening comprehension remains underdeveloped. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the relationships among resilience, metacognition, and L2 listening comprehension in a cohort of 175 Chinese EFL high school students. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM), the study addressed two research questions regarding the structural paths among the three individual difference factors. Data were collected using a newly adapted Listening Resilience Scale, the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire, and the Cambridge English A2 Key listening test. The results demonstrated that resilience significantly and positively influenced both metacognition and listening comprehension, and metacognition was a significant predictor of listening comprehension. Additionally, metacognition was found to partially mediate the relationship between resilience and L2 listening comprehension. These findings extend the application of resilience research from general language proficiency to skill‐specific domains, theoretically positioning resilience as a context‐specific capacity that enables L2 listeners to manage real‐time affective and cognitive pressures, recover from comprehension setbacks, and sustain strategic processing through enhanced metacognitive awareness in L2 listening. Consequently, pedagogical implications emphasize the necessity of integrating resilience‐building and metacognition interventions to enhance listening comprehension, especially in high‐stakes educational settings.