The Influence of Student Leadership on English Learning Emotional Engagement: The Mediating Role of English Learning Self-Efficacy

English learning emotional engagement is an important indicator of students’ learning quality and psychological involvement; however, limited attention has been paid to how students’ internal personal resources contribute to the development of such engagement. Drawing upon the social cognitive theory, this study examined the relationship between student leadership and English learning emotional engagement and explored the mediating role of English learning self-efficacy. A questionnaire survey was conducted among students, and structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed theoretical model. The measurement model and structural model were evaluated, and bootstrapping procedures were performed to examine the mediating effect. The results indicated that student leadership had a significant positive effect on English learning emotional engagement. In addition, student leadership significantly predicted English learning self-efficacy, which in turn positively influenced English learning emotional engagement. The mediation analysis further revealed that English learning self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between student leadership and emotional engagement, suggesting that student leadership enhances students’ emotional involvement in English learning partly by strengthening students’ confidence in learning English. This study contributes to the literature by integrating student leadership and self-efficacy perspectives into the study of English learning emotional engagement. The findings highlight the importance of developing students’ leadership-related competencies and enhancing their self-efficacy beliefs to promote more active and emotionally engaged English learning experiences.