An Investigation Into Junior High School Students’ Perception Of English Classroom Environment

In China,English teaching and learning occur in the classroom.Therefore,English classroom environment has a certain influence on students’ English learning(Wen Qiufang& Wang Lifei,2004)and is a factor that cannot be ignored by educators who want to improve the quality of English teaching.Houstan,Fraser & Ledbetter(2008)have proposed that students’ perception of the classroom environment can provide useful criteria for evaluating educational alternatives,which emphasizes the importance of students’ perception as references for improving the classroom environment.Based on this,this research investigates the perception of English classroom environment of a total of 388 junior high school students and 8 English teachers in Subsidiary High School Of Taiyuan Normal University through questionnaire,interview and classroom observation based on Lewin’s Field Theory,Murray’s Needs-Press Theory,Moos’ s Human Environment Theory,and Constructivist Learning Theory,aiming to explore the following four questions:1.What’s the current situation of junior high school students’ perception of English classroom environment?2.What are the differences in the perception of English classroom environment among students of different grades and genders?3.What are the differences in the perception of English classroom environment among students in low,middle and high English level groups?4.What’s the correlation between students’ perception of English classroom environment and English academic achievements?From the quantitative and qualitative analyses of the collected data of questionnaire,classroom observation and interview,the following conclusions are drawn from the research:1.Junior high school students’ overall perception of English classroom environment is at a high level.Students’ perception of Teacher Support is the highest,and of Task Orientation is the lowest.2.There are significant differences in overall perception of English classroom environment between male and female students,and between students in Grade 8 and Grade 9.Specifically,differences in perception of Task Orientation,Student Cohesiveness,Cooperation and Situational Support between male and female students are significant,while there are no significant differences in their perception of Teacher Support and Class Order.And there are significant differences in perception of Teacher Support,Student Cohesiveness,Cooperation and Situational Support between students in Grade 8 and Grade 9.While there are no significant differences in their perception of Task Orientation and Class Order.3.Generally,there are significant differences in overall perception of English classroom environment among students in high level,middle level and low level groups.The differences in their perception of Teacher Support,Task Orientation,Student Cohesiveness,Cooperation and Situational Support are significant,while there is no significant difference in their perception of Class Order.Specifically,the differences in perception of each dimension between groups are different.4.The is a relatively significant positive correlation between students’ perception of English classroom environment and their academic achievements.Based on the findings of the research,English teachers should consider the differences in the perception of English classroom environment among students of different genders,grades,and English level groups to improve the English classroom environment from the aspects of Teacher Support,Task Orientation,Student Cohesiveness,Cooperation,Class Order and Situational Support,and try to add new elements to the classroom environment with the combination of students’ descriptions of the ideal classroom environment,so as to stimulate students’ interest in learning English and improve their English academic achievements.