A Study Of English Classroom Ecology And Students’ Behavioral Engagement In English Learning In A Senior High School

Generally,people will live healthier and happier in a good ecological environment.Similarly,teachers and students can better conduct teaching and learning activities within a good classroom ecological environment,thereby improving teaching and learning effectiveness.Senior high school English classroom is one of the main places for students to learn English.Whether there is a correlation between English classroom ecology and students’ behavioral engagement is an issue which triggers the author’s interest and motivates her to conduct a study on it.In order to make clear the current situation of English classroom ecology and students’ behavioral engagement in English learning and the correlation between the two,this study employs questionnaire survey,classroom observation and interview to find out the answers.In Hekou Senior High School,the author conducted a questionnaire survey among 588 students and 13 teachers,observed 15 English classes,and interviewed 12 students and 6 English teachers.The research questions are:(1)What’s the current situation of English classroom ecology and students’ behavioral engagement in English learning in a senior high school?(2)For students with different demographic information(gender,grade,nationality,English achievements,member of class committee),are there any differences in their satisfaction of classroom ecology and their behavioral engagement in English learning?(3)Is there any correlation between English classroom ecology and students’ behavioral engagement in their English learning?(4)For students with different demographic information(gender,grade,nationality,English achievements,member of class committee),are there any differences in the correlations between English classroom ecology and their behavioral engagement in English learning?SPSS22.0 was employed to execute descriptive statistics,comparison mean,correlation analysis and simple linear regression analysis on the questionnaire data.Based on the analysis of the data and information from questionnaire investigation,classroom observation and interview,the following findings were reached:(1)The current situation of the English classroom ecology in the senior high school is good,but there is still room for improvement.The physical environment in the classroom is good,but the classroom space should be larger.The teacher-student relationship and the student-student relationship are harmonious in class.In class,most English teachers are lively,cheerful,and approachable.The teaching process in English classis also acceptable.But the current classroom climate in English class is not satisfactory.Most of the students don’t like learning English due to their poor English foundation.(2)Students’ behavioral engagement in English learning is at a medium level.They don’t have much classroom participation.Most of them are unwilling to either ask or answer questions.The students cannot concentrate quite well in class and can be easily distracted.But they can attend English classes on time and spend a certain amount of time studying English after class.(3)There are significant differences in students’ satisfaction of classroom ecology in terms of different grades,different English achievements and whether they are members of class committee.The satisfaction of students in Grade One is the highest,while that of the students in Grade Two is the second,and Grade Three,the lowest.The higher the students’ English achievements are,the more satisfied they are.Those who serve as members of class committee are more satisfied than those who don’t.No significant difference is found in the satisfaction of classroom ecology between students of different genders and among students of different nationalities.(4)There are significant differences in the overall level of students’ behavioral engagement in English learning in terms of different genders,grades,English achievements and whether they are members of class committee.Girls have a higher level of behavioral engagement than boys.The students from Grade Two have the highest level of behavioral engagement,while those from Grade One rank the second,and those from Grade Three,the third.Among all the students,the higher achievers show more behavioral engagement than the lower achievers.Students who are members of class committee have a higher level of behavioral engagement in English learning than those who are not.There is no significant difference in the level of students’ behavioral engagement in English learning among students of different nationalities.(5)In general,there is a moderate positive correlation between English classroom ecology and students’ behavioral engagement in English learning in the Senior High School.English classroom ecology can explain 22.1% of students’ behavioral engagement in English learning.This reveals that there are other factors influencing students’ behavioral engagement in English learning,which is worthy of further research.(6)In terms of different demographic information,English classroom ecology has moderate positive correlations with both boys’ and girls’ behavioral engagement in English learning,but classroom ecology is more correlated with girls’ behavioral engagement.There are moderate positive correlations between classroom ecology and the behavioralengagement of students in Grade One and Grade Two,but only a low positive correlation is found in Grade Three.Classroom ecology has positive moderate correlations with the behavioral engagement of Yao,Miao and Zhuang students.The highest correlation is revealed for Zhuang students.Only a low and positive correlation is found for Han students.Classroom ecology has a positive moderate correlation with the behavioral engagement of students with a score of 0-49,and a low positive correlation with the behavioral engagement of students with a score of50-89.Classroom ecology has no significant correlation with the behavioral engagement of students with a score of 90-150.There are moderate positive correlations between classroom ecology and the behavioral engagement of students who are members of class committee and those who are not,but classroom ecology correlates more with the behavioral engagement of students who are not members of class committee.This study is helpful for educators to better understand the current situation of English classroom ecology and students’ behavioral engagement in English learning,particularly the correlation between them in a multi-ethnic border area.This study also provides some evidence and suggestions for educators and students to improve the English classroom ecology and increase the behavioral engagement in English learning.