A Study On The Relationship Between Junior High School Students’ Perceptions Of English Classroom Environment And Academic Emotions

Academic emotions are the emotions that students experience in different learning contexts.They are reflected in any level of the teaching and learning process(Schutz & Lanehart,2002).All learners acquire a language in some specific environments,of which classroom environment is one of the important determinants that affect language learning(Williams & Burden,2000).Classroom environment has been a hot topic in second language teaching and learning research since the 1930 s.Most of them focus on the relationship between students’ perceptions of classroom environment and classroom behaviors(Anderson et al.,2014;Zhao & Xu,2012)and their relationship with academic achievements(Baek & Choi,2002;Liu & Liu,2012),while few explore the relationship between students’ perceptions of classroom environment and academic emotions(Xia & Xu,2018).Based on Moos’ s(1974)human environment theory and Pekrun’s(2006)control-value theory,this study conducted the empirical research on the relationship between 286 junior high school students’ perceptions of English classroom environment and their academic emotions utilizing two questionnaires and semi-structured interview.The first questionnaire was adapted from Middle School English Classroom Environment Inventory designed by Liu Liyan and Liu Yongbing(2010),which included seven dimensions.The second questionnaire was adapted from the Academic Emotions Questionnaire complied by Dong Yan and Yu Guoliang(2007)that included positive-high arousal emotions,positive-low arousal emotions,negative-high arousal emotions and negative-low arousal emotions.Nine students were interviewed to have a better understanding of their English academic emotions and perceived English classroom environment.The study aimed to answer the following questions:(1)What is the current situation of junior high school students’ perceptions of English classroom environment and their academic emotions respectively?(2)Are there any correlations between junior high school students’ perceptions of English classroom environment and their academic emotions? If yes,to what degree?(3)Are there any differences in academic emotions among students with different levels of classroom environment perceptions?According to the investigation,this thesis reached the following conclusions:(1)Junior high school students perceive their English classroom environment positively.The academic emotions that they get the most in English classes are positive-high arousal emotions,followed by positive-low arousal emotions,negative-high arousal emotions and negative-low arousal emotions.(2)Students’ perceptions of English classroom environment have significant positive correlations with their positive-high and positive-low arousal emotions at moderate levels.There are significant negative correlations between students’ perceptions of classroom environment and negative-high arousal emotions at a low level,while they are correlated with negative-low arousal emotions significantly and negatively at a moderate level.Among seven dimensions of classroom environment,task orientation and involvement are major predictors of students’ positive-high and positive-low arousal emotions.Student cohesiveness and task orientation have the greatest predictive effects of students’ negative-high and negative-low arousal emotions.(3)There are significant differences in academic emotions among students with different levels of English classroom environment perceptions.Compared with the students with medium-level and low-level perceptions of classroom environment,the students with high-level perceptions experience more positive-high and positive-low arousal emotions.In light of the above findings,the author proposed some suggestions for improving the English classroom environment,such as developing students’ awareness of task orientation,attaching importance to cultivate students’ cooperation spirit,giving learning support,ability support and emotional support to students and improving students’ involvement in English classroom by designing multilevel questions and various classroom activities.