A Study On The Relationship Between Senior High School Students’ English Learning Engagement And Perceived Teacher Support

Learning engagement can examine learning effects,evaluate teaching results and predict academic achievements and has attracted more and more attention from education researchers at home and abroad.According to Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological system theory,teacher support,as one of the most direct factors in the microenvironment that affect students’ learning,is closely related to students’ learning engagement.However,in the field of foreign language teaching,there are few research results on the relationship between students’ perceived teacher support and English learning engagement.Most of the current research focuses on elementary schools,middle high schools,or some non-English majors in vocational colleges and universities.The research on the senior high school stage is scarce and the research depth is not enough.Therefore,based on Bronfenbrenner’s Ecosystem theory,Bandura’s Social cognition theory,and Rogers’ Humanistic learning theory,this research will explore the status quo of students’ perceived teacher support and English learning engagement in senior high school and the relationship between the two.In this study,260 students from an ordinary senior high school in Ganzhou,China,were studied using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods,adopting Schaufeli’s learning engagement questionnaire and Chai Xiaoyun’s perceived teacher support questionnaire.Meanwhile,12 students are interviewed and through the analysis of the collected data using SPSS statistical software,the following research questions are to be answered: 1)What is the current status of high school students’ perceived teacher support and English learning engagement? 2)Is there any correlation between students’ perceived teacher support and their English learning engagement in senior high school? If so,to what extent do the three dimensions of students’ perceived teacher support contribute to the prediction of their English learning engagement? 3)Are there any differences in English learning engagement among students with different levels of perceived teacher support in senior high school? If so,what’s the difference?The research results show that: 1)High school students’ English learning engagement is at a moderate level,and among the three dimensions,dedication is at the highest level followed by vigor and absorption.The teacher support perceived by high school students is at a moderate level,and among the three dimensions,cognitive support is at the highest level followed by autonomy support and emotional support.2)Students’ perceived teacher support is positively correlated with their English learning engagement.After multiple linear regression analyses of its three dimensions,the results show that emotional support,autonomy support,and cognitive support all predict students’ English learning engagement and emotional support contributes most.3)By comparing students with different levels of perceived teacher support,there are obvious differences in students’ English learning engagement and students with higher level of perceived teacher support are more likely to get more engaged in English learning.Therefore,English teachers are supposed to care for students in time to help improve students’ learning confidence,adopt diversified teaching methods to guide students to learn by themselves,interact more with students,give more positive feedback and use process evaluation system to encourage students to get more engaged in English learning.