A Social Network Analysis Of The Extracurricular English Learning Among Junior High School Students

It’s commonly believed that for junior high school students whose mother tongue is Chinese to learn English well,care and attention must be given equally to out-of-class learning activities as well as in-class learning.On the other hand,the sate of the interpersonal interaction among classmates in the process of extracurricular English learning has an important impact on English learning,which renders it necessary and important to have a clear picture of the current situation of the interpersonal interaction among fellow students in the extracurricular English learning activities so that appropriate reflection will be made on the social network among fellow students and relevant strategies will be adjusted in order to enhance the learning.The present study aims to make a survey over the situation of the interpersonal interaction among fellow students in their extracurricular English learning activities,with 38 junior high school students’ involved in the study.Adopting a social network analysis method in the light of relevant literature,the study made a survey by means of a question-naire,the statistics of which was processed through computer applications.On the basis of the survey,an analysis was made about the current situation of the interpersonal interaction in extracurricular English learning activities among fellow students.The discussion also takes into consideration the relationship between the characteristics of the interpersonal interaction among fellow students and their respective achievements in the English course.With the aim of the study in view,a reflection was made on the relationship between those characteristics and the teachers9 guidance so that suggestions were given as to the ways of conducting in-class teaching and extracurricular English learning activities.The findings of the present study are as follows:In general,few interpersonal interactions occur among the students in their extracurricular English learning.The existing interpersonal interaction network rarely takes the form of a little clique.And the core members of the little cliques are usually students leaders,but their interpersonal interactions occur to a very low extent and with a low density.It’s also found that the junior high school students tend to interact with friends or the same-sex classmates in the process of the their extracurricular English learning.The more actively the students are involved in the extracurricular English learning,the better are their scores in the English course.And those students whose positions are close to the core of the clique have even better scores in the English course.In view of the above-mentioned findings and conclusions,this study puts forward corresponding suggestions as follows:In order to stimulate students’ interest in the interpersonal interaction during their ext.icurricular English learning activities,teachers should not only play a positive role in guiding their extracurricular English learning,but also get involved in the activities.Teachers should pay more attention to identifying and training more students who take an active part in the interpersonal interaction in class so as to make them the teachers’good assistants in and out of class.In this way they will exert more positive effects on improving the learning atmosphere and group cohesion.