Institutional Support, Teacher Sustainability, and Student English Learning Motivation: A Small Scale Cross Cultural Comparison of China and Latvia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67148/fahss-2026-182Keywords:
institutional support, teacher sustainability, English learning motivation, cross cultural comparison, secondary educationAbstract
Teacher wellbeing and student motivation are both critical concerns in language education, yet they are often treated separately. This smallscale crosscultural study investigates whether teacher sustainability mediates the relationship between institutional support and student motivation to learn English. Data were collected from two distinct instructional contexts -- China (EFL) and Latvia (ESLlike) -- via a crosssectional survey of 150 teacher--student dyads (China: *n* = 80; Latvia: *n* = 70) from secondary English classrooms. Mediation was tested using bootstrapped regression, and crosscultural differences in path coefficients were examined with interaction terms.Results indicate that institutional support positively predicts teacher sustainability, which in turn positively predicts student English motivation. In both countries, teacher sustainability fully mediates the link between support and motivation. Regarding crosscultural patterns, the mediation structure remains invariant, yet the strength of the supporttosustainability path is significantly larger in Latvia (β = 0.59) than in China (β = 0.42). This difference appears to be driven by Latvian teachers' stronger positive response to autonomy support, whereas Chinese teachers place relatively greater value on administrative efficiency.Despite the modest sample size, these findings point to a universal pathway from school support to student engagement via teacher sustainability, while also revealing culturally sensitive leverage points. Implications for English language policy and teacher development are discussed.
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