The Effect of Foreign Language Anxiety on Learning Strategies: Academic Buoyancy as a Mediator and Educational Level as a Moderator

Prior research has extensively documented the negative relationship between Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) and learning strategies, but how this relationship operates among Chinese English majors across different educational levels remains underexplored. To address this, the present study examines the mediating role of academic buoyancy and the moderating effect of educational level in this relationship. A survey of 1609 undergraduate and postgraduate English majors from Chinese universities was conducted to examine the relationships between FLA and four types of learning strategies: memorization, elaboration, cooperation and control strategies. Additionally, the study investigated the mediating role of academic buoyancy and the moderating role of educational level in these relationships. It was found that FLA was negatively associated with academic buoyancy and all four learning strategies, whereas both academic buoyancy and educational level demonstrated positive associations with these strategies. Academic buoyancy predominantly mediated the relationship between FLA and memorization, and that between FLA and cooperation, while partially mediating the relationship between FLA and elaboration and that between FLA and control strategies. Furthermore, educational level significantly moderated the effect of FLA on elaboration specifically. These findings highlight the value of attending to positive emotions in language education and reveal how educational level shapes strategy use. The study offers general implications for language teaching and learning, suggesting that educators should foster students' academic buoyancy and provide differentiated instructional support across degree levels to alleviate anxiety and promote effective strategy employment.