The relationship between foreign language learners' grit, motivation, and achievement

The present study aimed to explore the relationships between EFL learners' L2 grit, L2 motivation, and L2 achievement as well as to determine their perceived levels of L2 grit. The study also investigated the role of L2 motivation and L2 achievement in predicting EFL learners' L2 grit. Moreover, the variance in learners' L2 grit in terms of their grade level, the type of high school that they graduated from, and their self-perceived proficiency in English was examined in the study. The study, which employed a quantitative research design, was conducted with 500 EFL learners studying at a vocational school of a state university in Türkiye in the spring semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. The data collection instrument was a composite survey instrument consisting of two sections. The initial section comprised demographic questions about the participants while the second section was composed of L2 grit and L2 motivation scales. Course achievement, one of the major variables in the study, was assessed through the composite scores of the term. The data were analyzed descriptively via IBM SPSS 21. The results showed that EFL learners have a moderate level of grit for learning English. While grade level and the type of high school being graduated from were found to have no impact on EFL learners' grit for learning English, self-perceived proficiency in English was revealed to exert influence on their passion and perseverance in attaining long-term proficiency in English. The results also demonstrated a positive and statistically significant correlation between L2 grit, L2 motivation, and L2 achievement. The largest statistically significant correlation seemed to exist between L2 grit and L2 achievement, whereas the smallest one was between L2 motivation and L2 achievement. Besides, L2 achievement indicated greater predictive power for L2 grit than L2 motivation did.