The Role of Mindfulness in the Emotion Regulation of Turkish EFL Children

This mixed-methods study, with a primary emphasis on the quantitative strand, investigated the relationships between mindfulness and emotion regulation of young English as a foreign language (EFL) learners while also exploring their coping strategies when experiencing negative emotions. The correlational analysis of the quantitative data obtained from the questionnaires demonstrated strong positive correlations between mindfulness and goal-directed behaviour, openness, impulse control, and the application of adaptive techniques. Regarding gender, the findings highlighted the importance of developing targeted interventions to support emotional regulation in learners, especially in females, by focusing on key areas such as clarity, goal setting, strategies, and acceptance. Similarly, the regression analysis indicated that the participants’ emotion regulation (ER) difficulties were significantly predicted by their mindful attention awareness; thus, it can be concluded that the more mindful students become, the less difficulty they experience in regulating their emotions. Based on the qualitative analysis, listening to music, breathing and talking to their friends were reported as the most frequently used stress reduction strategies among the participants. In this sense, the study recommends integrating mindfulness practices into the realms of foreign language classes to help learners regulate their emotions and reach their full potential in their learning.