Persistence-confidence incongruence and engagement in translation learning: a response surface analysis

Sustaining engagement in demanding learning contexts is a central psychological challenge, yet relatively little is known about how translation learners' internal motivational resources work together to support such engagement. The present study examined whether the alignment between persistence and confidence at baseline was prospectively associated with subsequent engagement in translation learning among Chinese university students. A two-wave survey design was employed, with 620 students participating at Wave 1 and 510 matched responses retained at Wave 2. Persistence and confidence were measured at Wave 1, and engagement in translation learning was measured 4 weeks later at Wave 2. After confirmatory factor analyses supported the distinctiveness and reliability of the focal constructs, polynomial regression with response surface analysis was conducted to test associations between congruence and incongruence in persistence and confidence and later engagement. The results showed that engagement was generally higher when persistence and confidence were aligned and increased together. However, this positive association leveled off at higher levels of congruence. Engagement was also lower when the discrepancy between persistence and confidence was larger, regardless of the direction of the mismatch. These findings suggest that engagement in translation learning is associated not only with individual psychological resources in isolation, but also with the degree to which they are internally coordinated. Because persistence and confidence were measured concurrently at Wave 1, the results should be interpreted as temporal associations rather than evidence that psychological mismatch causally reduces engagement. The study contributes to the psychology of translation learning by applying a congruence perspective to the balance between effortful persistence and capability-related confidence.