This longitudinal study used data from the Busan Educational Longitudinal Study (BELS) to identify growth profiles of English class self-efficacy (ECS) over three years and their associations with English class comprehension, engagement, and achievement. A middle school student sample from 2016 to 2018 BELS comprised 3,038 students (1,394 females and 1,644 males) from 56 middle schools in South Korea. Using a personcentered approach with Mplus 8.4, a higher-order growth mixture modeling (GMM) yielded three distinct growth trajectories of ECS: 82.8% of initially high and slowly decreasing (HSD) group, 9.7% of intermediate high and decreasing (IHD) group, and 7.5% of low but increasing (LI) group growth profiles. Results indicated that English class comprehension, engagement, and achievement showed statistically significant mean differences across each growth profile of ECS. The identified ECS growth profiles can be used to tailor intervention measures. Empirical findings are discussed in terms of pedagogical implications in applied language learning and teaching practices and further research.

Based on the motivation theories, we postulated that interest in learning languages influences the self-efficacy beliefs of students about their capabilities as second/foreign language (L2) English learners. This study examined the longitudinal causal relation between affective interest and cognitive self-efficacy in the L2 motivational context using the Gyeonggi Education Panel Study (GEPS) data from South Korea. A secondary school student sample from 2015–2020 GEPS over six years comprised 6,314 students (3,189 males and 3,125 females). Using a parallel growth model (PPM) with Mplus 8.4, the results indicated that the initial level and growth rate of L2 English interest positively predicted L2 English self-efficacy. Subsequently, the initial level of L2 English interest exhibited a negative cross-effect on the growth rate of L2 English self-efficacy. Finally, the sequential causal effect of L2 English interest on self-efficacy was found across the six-year period. The findings are discussed in terms of the pedagogical implications in English learning and teaching practices and further research.