EFL learners’ academic buoyancy and willingness to communicate: the mediating role of basic psychological needs frustration

Despite growing recognition of academic buoyancy as a psychological construct in language learning, the mechanisms through which it relates to willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second or foreign language remain to be explored. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory’s distinction between need satisfaction and need frustration, this study examined whether basic psychological need frustration mediates the relationship between academic buoyancy and WTC. Data were collected from a sample of 201 Turkish university students through validated scales assessing academic buoyancy, three distinct dimensions of need frustration (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and WTC in English. A parallel mediation model, in which the three frustration dimensions simultaneously mediated the buoyancy – WTC relationship, was tested following a two-step structural equation modelling approach. Results showed that academic buoyancy negatively predicted all three need frustration dimensions, with the strongest relationship emerging for competence frustration. Mediation analyses indicated that academic buoyancy exerted both direct and indirect effects on WTC, with significant mediation occurring through autonomy frustration and relatedness frustration, while competence frustration did not emerge as a significant mediator. The total indirect effect accounted for approximately 56% of the total effect, indicating partial mediation. These findings suggest that buoyant learners are more willing to communicate partly through lower experiences of external control and social exclusion. The study integrates academic buoyancy with Self-Determination Theory and highlights need frustration as a mechanism linking psychological resources to communicative outcomes in foreign language learning.