A network psychometric study of motivational beliefs, self-regulated learning, and psychological adjustment among collaborative EFL learners

Collaborative EFL learning is not only a language-learning setting but also a psychological context in which learners must sustain motivation, regulate their learning, and adapt to emotional and social demands. Yet these psychological dimensions have often been studied separately, leaving their joint organization insufficiently understood. The present study addressed this issue by examining motivational beliefs, self-regulated learning, and psychological adjustment as an interconnected psychological system among university students engaged in collaborative EFL learning. A total of 450 valid responses were collected from learners with collaborative English-learning experience. Network psychometric analysis was conducted at the subscale level, including intrinsic goal orientation, task value, self-efficacy, metacognitive self-regulation, effort regulation, peer learning, foreign language enjoyment, foreign language classroom anxiety, and classroom connectedness. The results showed that the network was structured primarily by positive associations, with metacognitive self-regulation emerging as the most central node and the strongest bridge across domains. Self-efficacy, peer learning, and classroom connectedness also played important bridging roles, while foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety formed a clear negative pair. These findings suggest that collaborative EFL learning is psychologically organized around the interplay of motivational resources, strategic regulation, and psychological adjustment. The study contributes to educational psychology by showing how adaptive participation in collaborative language learning depends on the integration, rather than the isolation, of multiple psychological components.