This study investigated the relationship between teacher support in the areas of learner autonomy, relatedness, and competence, and motivational beliefs regarding achievement goal orientations and perceived task value in Chinese EFL college classrooms based on self-determination theory. A questionnaire was administered to 712 college students, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0. The findings indicated that teacher support for autonomy, relatedness, and competence was positively correlated with mastery goal orientation and performance-approach orientation, while it was negatively correlated with performance-avoidance orientation. Furthermore, these forms of teacher support positively influenced students’ perceived task value. Achievement goal orientation mediated the relationship between the three types of teacher support and student engagement. However, perceived task value only mediated the relationship between teacher autonomy support and student engagement. This study offers valuable insights for enhancing English teaching practices by promoting student motivation through addressing their psychological needs in EFL college classrooms.

This study investigated student engagement by conceptualizing learning engagement and examining the inner mechanism that operates in the university English learning context. This study administered a questionnaire to 376 college students, and data analysis was conducted with SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0. The findings revealed that student engagement can be conceptualized into behavioral, cognitive, affective, and interactive engagement. The results confirmed that cognitive engagement positively affected behavioral engagement, whereas affective engagement did not. Affective engagement had positive effects on both cognitive engagement and interactive engagement. Interactive engagement positively affected cognitive engagement but did not affect behavioral engagement. Further, the results showed that cognitive engagement acted as a full mediator between affective engagement and behavioral engagement, as well as between interactional engagement and behavioral engagement. The findings of this study propose implications for optimizing English teaching to facilitate student engagement and ultimately enhancing their learning satisfaction along with improving academic outcomes.