| The junior high school stage is a critical and special period in an individual’s life.During this period,the individual undergoes "stormy" changes both physically and psychologically.Grasping this critical period will not only enable students to make great progress in their studies,but also promote the positive and stable development of individuals in various aspects such as future interpersonal adaptation and life pursuits.Teachers,as students’ close contacts,play a very important role in students’ school study and life.As the most common interpersonal relationship in the daily life of students and teachers,the teacher-student relationship accompanies the student’s entire reading career and even the whole life.Empirical studies have shown that a positive and harmonious teacher-student relationship is conducive to shaping students’ good attitudes towards school,establishing good emotional conn ections with peers,and promoting students’ positive perception of themselves.Self-determination theory believes that individuals have three basic psychological needs: autonomy,competence and sense of belonging.The need to belong reflects the individual’s desire to become a member of a certain stable group or groups,and hope to get the help,understanding and respect of other members in the team.It is the feeling that the individual experiences the connection from the heart in the relationship.The sense of belonging in the school is sorted out from the sense of belonging.Past studies have shown that the sense of belonging in the school has a positive impact on the individual’s academic performance and future pursuits.As a structure closely related to the relationship between teachers and students,the school’s sense of belonging has academic and social emotional implications.Empirical research shows that students with a greater sense of belonging in a school not only have better grades,but also show higher levels of academic participation.This also shows that the teacher-student relationship and the school’s sense of belonging may be the potential basis for future academic expectations and higher individual pursuits.Based on the above,this study designs the following two studies.Study 1 explored the relationship between teacher-student relationship and academic performance.Taking eighth grade students as the research object,using The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study(TIMSS)in 2015 to analyze the data of 58817 students in 10 countries/regions,including: China’s Taiwan,China’s Hong Kong,Singapore,South Korea,Japan;United States,United Kingdom,Russia,Canada,Australia.Use "Teacher-Student Relationship Scale","School Sense of Belonging Scale" and "Academic Expectation Scale" to measure the teacher-student relationship perceived by students in mathematics class,their sense of belonging to the school,and their own academic expectations.Academic performance is expressed in terms of average scores in mathematics.After controlling family education resources and gender,the results show that the teacher-student relationship perceived by eighth graders in East Asia and Western countries can significantly positively predict their mathematics academic performance and sense of belonging to the school;the sense of belonging to the school can positively guide the future academic expectations of the eighth grade students;the sense of belonging and academic expectations of the eighth grade junior high school students play a chain-like intermediary role in the influence of the teacherstudent relationship on academic performance.Study 2 explored the mediating role of school belonging and academic expectations in the relationship between teacher-student relationship and academic performance in China’s mainland.In the form of questionnaire survey,a total of 430 junior high school students in Neijiang,Sichuan,collected relevant data from a total of430 junior,second and third grades.Use the "Secondary School Belonging Survey Questionnaire" and "Teacher-Student Interaction Questionnaire" to measure students’ sense of belonging to the school and the relationship between teachers and students.Descriptive statistics show that the teacher-student relationship,sense of belonging to the school,and academic expectations of junior high school students in China’s mainland are different in grades.The teacher-student relationship showed a trend of "decline first and then increase" in the three grades.The sense of belonging to the school continued to decrease,and academic expectations began to change in the third grade.In addition,girls in the three grades are significantly higher than boys in terms of teacher-student relationship,school belonging and academic expectations.After controlling for family economic status,gender,age,and grade,the mediating effect analysis shows that the teacher-student relationship significantly predicts students’ mathematics academic performance,and the results obtained in Study 1 are also applicable to China’s mainland;school belonging significantly predicts junior high school students’ performance Mathematics academic performance plays an intermediary role between the teacherstudent relationship and academic performance;students’ sense of belonging and academic expectations play a chain-like intermediary role between the teacher-student relationship and academic performance. |
