{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T06:04:21Z","timestamp":1789452261961,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789430400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In university physical education courses, Tai Chi, as a course requiring a high level of bodily coordination and sustained practice, poses challenges in maintaining students\u2019 learning engagement. Although teacher support and peer support are widely regarded as important psychosocial resources for promoting learning engagement, their mechanisms of action and interactive processes in skill-based embodied learning contexts remain insufficiently explained. In particular, how social support facilitates sustained learning engagement through psychological mechanisms has not yet been fully clarified.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      This study employed a descriptive and inductive qualitative research design, conducting semi-structured interviews with teachers (\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f8) and students (\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f16) in university Tai Chi courses. Credibility was enhanced through independent coding, negative case analysis, and reflexive memoing. Data analysis combined thematic analysis and the constant comparative method, using a systematic process of open, axial, and selective coding. This process ultimately led to the construction of a theoretical framework explaining the mechanism underlying the formation of sustained learning engagement.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study identified three integrated psychosocial pathways: (1) teaching empowerment: teachers provided structured support through layered demonstration, protective feedback, and the construction of cultural meaning, thereby facilitating students\u2019 mastery experiences and strengthening self-efficacy; (2) motivational internalization: peers, through emotional companionship, behavioral modeling, and collaborative responsibility, gradually transformed external participation into internal value endorsement; (3) dual-support synergy: teacher support and peer support interacted and reinforced each other throughout the learning process, jointly sustaining learning engagement. In addition, negative cases further revealed boundary conditions under which the support system failed.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The \u201cdual-support\u2013dual-pathway model\u201d proposed in this study indicates that sustained learning engagement in embodied learning contexts is the result of the combined effects of self-efficacy accumulation generated through teaching empowerment and motivational internalization facilitated by peer interaction. These two pathways can operate relatively independently, while also forming synergistic reinforcement within a psychosocial system. This study extends the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the formation of learning engagement and provides an integrated psychosocial explanatory framework for learning engagement in embodied learning contexts.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1876692","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T05:33:36Z","timestamp":1789450416000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Psychosocial mechanisms of sustained learning engagement in university Tai Chi courses: a qualitative study of teacher\u2013peer dual-support synergy and learning pathways"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Lan","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Physical Education Department, Huanggang Normal University","place":["Huanggang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qianqian","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Physical Education Department, Huanggang Normal University","place":["Huanggang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3170","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-024-20469-x","article-title":"Effects of blended learning in physical education on university students\u2019 exercise attitudes and basketball skills: a cluster randomized controlled trial","volume":"24","author":"Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.14695\/KJSOS.2024.27.3.27","article-title":"Effects of Tai Chi training on attention and physiological changes: an EEG study","volume":"27","author":"Cha","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sci Emot Sensib"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1186\/s12906-021-03482-0","article-title":"Does Tai Chi improve psychological well-being and quality of life in patients with cardiovascular disease and\/or cardiovascular risk factors? 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