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

Learning engagement refers to the level of effort involved in the learning process,previous studies have shown that it is a strong predictor of academic achievement,so it is necessary to examine the factors that influence and facilitate learning engagement.For students,teachers are the most important guides,and teacher support,as an important part of social support,has a non-negligible impact on students’ learning engagement.At present,the relevant research focuses on general teacher support,and only a few studies are based on specific subjects such as mathematics,while in the field of second language acquisition,researchers pay less attention to teacher support.In addition,General Senior High School English Curriculum Standards(2017 Edition 2020Revision)also provides guidance for teacher support.Therefore,this study deeply explores the relationship between perceived teacher support and learning engagement in the context of English subject.In this study,271 senior high school students in a county of Shanxi province were selected as subjects,and the relationship between perceived English teacher support and English learning engagement among senior high school students was deeply studied by quantitative and qualitative research methods.Data from the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS 26.0,and interview data were also combined to answer the following research questions: 1.What is the current situation of perceived English teacher support and English learning engagement among senior high school students? 2.What are the differences in the variables of perceived English teacher support and English learning engagement among students of different genders and grades? 3.What is the relationship between perceived English teacher support and English learning engagement among senior high school students?The results of the study indicated that 1.perceived English teacher support and English learning engagement among senior high school students were generally in the middle to upper range.Specifically,the dimensions of perceived English teacher support from high to low were autonomy support,cognitive support and emotional support.The dimensions of English learning engagement were,in descending order,behavioral engagement,emotional engagement and cognitive engagement.2.There were no significant differences between male and female students in perceived English teacher support and English learning engagement.Specifically,boys scored higher than girls in perceived English teacher support overall and each dimension;in English learning engagement,boys scored higher than girls in cognitive engagement,while girls scored higher than boys in overall,behavioral engagement and emotional engagement.There were significant differences in perceived English teacher support and English learning engagement between the first and second grades,and in both variables,overall and each dimension,the scores decreased as the grade level increased.3.There was a significant positive correlation between perceived English teacher support and English learning engagement,with emotional support being a significant predictor of English learning engagement,followed by cognitive support,while autonomy support was not a predictor of English learning engagement.In addition,perceived English teacher support was the greatest predictor of behavioral engagement,followed by emotional engagement,and finally cognitive engagement.Based on the above findings,this study gives pedagogical implications to promote English learning engagement from the school,English teacher and student perspectives.What’s more,the limitations of this paper and the prospects for future research are also pointed out.