Europe is a linguistically diverse region and competences in more than one language “influence European citizens’ ability to benefit from education, training and work opportunities across Europe” (European Commission, 2023, p. 15). In almost all European countries, English is the most learned foreign language in primary and (lower and upper) secondary education (European Commission, 2023). In the Czech Republic in the 2023/2024 school year, more than 99.5% of students in basic schools (primary and lower secondary level) who were learning a foreign language were learning English (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, 2024).

With English being increasingly associated with social and economic power, concerns have been growing regarding the gaps in English achievement due to the differences in socioeconomic status (SES) of learners (Butler, 2014). Students whose parents have achieved higher education level and have a more prestigious job benefit from financial (e.g., private tutoring, books) as well as social (e.g., role models, networks) resources, which might make it easier for them to succeed compared to students with lower socioeconomic status (OECD, 2023). In the Czech Republic, inequalities in the educational system are persistent and there is a strong dependence of educational outcomes of students on the social status of their parents (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, 2020). The teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) is heavily marketised in many contexts, leaving it particularly open to the influence of SES differences (Iwaniec, 2020). However, despite such concerns, the role of socioeconomic factors in the acquisition of foreign languages is under-researched (Kormos & Kiddle, 2013).

Though researchers have been interested in how language learners’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect their language learning for a long time, it was only recently that researchers started examining the role of another relevant factor in foreign language learning - L2 grit (Teimouri et al., 2022; Wei et al., 2020). Grit has been defined by Duckworth et al. (2007) as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, entailing “working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress” (p. 1087-1088). Teimouri et al. (2022) present grit in the context of L2 learning and employ a language-domain-specific measure of grit (the L2-Grit scale) measuring its two subcomponents: perseverance of effort and consistency of interest.

Our study extends the current research in several ways. We address the lack of research regarding the role of socioeconomic status in L2 learning (Iwaniec, 2020; Kormos & Kiddle, 2013). The scarce previous research on Czech students has found a link between Czech lower secondary students’ SES and their EFL learning motivation (Vonkova et al., 2024), yet the understanding of how Czech students’ SES relates to different aspects of L2 learning is still limited. Further, we focus on L2 grit, a concept recently gaining attention in L2 research, which might be of great relevance in learning a foreign language. Our research question is: What is the relationship between Czech students’ L2 grit and their home possessions and the number of books in English in the household?

We use data collected in the 2024/2025 school year among Czech upper secondary students in the first and the third year of their study (ca. 15 to 18 years old). In the Czech Republic, there are different types of upper secondary schools providing differently oriented study programs. In this study, we examine students studying 4-year study programmes completed by Maturita, which enable graduates to enter tertiary education. We analyze data from about 3,000 students who provided responses to all the variables in our study. We administered an adopted L2 Grit scale by Teimouri et al. (2022). Using this scale, two subcomponents of grit were examined: perseverance of effort and consistency of interest. An example item for perseverance of efforts is “When it comes to English, I am a hard-working learner.” and for consistency of interest is “I think I have lost my interest in learning English.”. Students rated their grit on a 4-point scale from 1 = Disagree to 4 = Agree. For consistency of interest, the responses were reverse-coded so that higher scores on both perseverance of effort and consistency of interest indices indicate higher values of the respective subcomponent. Further, we collected information regarding students’ home possessions. Specifically, they were asked to indicate whether they have at their home the following: a desk where they can study, their own room, computer for school work, educational software or study applications. Also, specifically related to the English language, we collected information about the number of books, including e-books, written in English in the student’s household.

Our preliminary findings suggest that there exists a small but significant association between L2 grit and students’ home possessions. Both perseverance of effort and consistency of interest are positively associated with a higher count of the reported students’ home possessions (a desk to study, own room etc.). Concerning the possession of individual items, perseverance of effort was most associated with having educational software or study applications, while consistency of interest was most associated with having a desk where they can study. Concerning factors specifically related to English, perseverance of effort is positively associated with the number of books written in English in the student’s household. These findings suggest that students with higher students’ home possessions might be advantaged in terms of their L2 grit. However, further examination is necessary. Future research could focus on a larger spectrum of indicators of socioeconomic status of students (e.g., parental education, general home possessions). Also, a closer examination of the possible parental behaviors which might mediate the link between SES and L2 grit could enhance our understanding of how socioeconomic inequalities translate into L2 learning. Also, such an analysis could point to the possible ways schools could help balance the disadvantages which lower SES students face in L2 learning.

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