The Influence Of Teachers’ Emotional Support On Student Engagement Of Middle School Students

In the current macro-education context,which emphasizes connotative development,improving talent training quality has become a shared concern across all sectors of society.However,for a prolonged period,basic education in China has been plagued by an imbalance between "emotion" and "cognition." This is due to teachers’ heavy workload,which focuses mainly on imparting knowledge in the classroom,resulting in an ineffective utilization of emotional factors in their teaching practice.Consequently,the emotional nurturing function of the classroom has dwindled,leading to negative emotional experiences for students in school.Currently,China’s basic education is undergoing a new phase of improvement,and there is an urgent need to realize the "emotional turn" in education.This would enable teachers to transition from "teaching for knowledge" to "teaching for people," whereby teachers’ emotional support fosters the development of cognitive and emotional symbiosis in education.To achieve this goal,it is crucial to identify the mechanisms by which teachers’ emotional support influences learning engagement,a pivotal indicator of schooling quality.Based on control-value theory,this study aimed to investigate the impact of teachers’ emotional support on student engagement of secondary school students and the mediating role of students’ academic emotions.The research measured 697 middle school students in City A,Province S,using the Adolescent Academic Emotion Questionnaire,the Student Engagement Scale,and the Teacher Emotional Support Scale.The study employed SPSS.20 and AMOS.26 to analyze the data.Additionally,structural equation modeling was performed using Mplus 8.0 to examine potential mediating effects.The results are as follows:(1)Secondary school students generally perceived teachers’ emotional support levels as high,but more attention to students’ perspectives needed to be improved.Students reported high levels of student engagement,but emotional engagement was low.Positive academic emotions were more prevalent,with anxiety being the most common negative emotion.(2)Teachers’ emotional support differed significantly based on students’ gender,only-child status,whether they serve as class leaders,and fathers’ educational level.Significant differences in student engagement were found based on students’ gender,grade,whether they serve as class leaders,and parents’ educational level.All positive academic emotions significantly predicted student engagement,while low-arousal positive academic emotions significantly and negatively predicted student engagement,and high-arousal negative emotions did not significantly predict student engagement.(3)Teachers’ emotional support was a significant positive predictor of student engagement and a significant negative predictor of negative academic emotions,while being a significant positive predictor of positive academic emotions.All positive academic emotions significantly predicted student engagement,while low-arousal positive academic emotions significantly and negatively predicted student engagement,and high-arousal negative emotions was not significantly predicted student engagement.(4)the four types of academic emotions significantly mediated the relationship between teacher s’ emotional support and student engagement of secondary school students.Based on these findings,the study proposes three recommendations.Firstly,to fully harness the potential of teachers’ emotional support,a multi-stakeholder system for emotional care should be established.School authorities should enhance the professional development of teachers,establish effective mechanisms for managing negative emotions,and foster a caring school culture.Teachers should prioritize students’ subjectivity and provide emotional support that is grounded in understanding,while also making use of emotional support strategies in their teaching practices,and paying attention to individual differences and equity considerations.Families should seek student-centered home-school cooperation,engage in open communication with teachers,and actively cultivate a supportive and collaborative climate,thus creating an environment of emotional reciprocity between families and schools.Additionally,it is crucial to pay attention to students’ academic emotional experiences in teaching practice,in order to foster effective teaching and learning through emotions.Teachers should be attentive to the dimensions,modality,and scope of students’ academic emotions,and be responsive to changes in their emotional states.Different strategies should be employed to help students express their emotions in a constructive manner.Furthermore,comprehensive measures should be taken to promote student engagement and foster the high-quality development of talent.All stakeholders should reexamine their educational philosophies and implement support measures that take into account the behavioral,cognitive,and emotional aspects of learning.Employing student engagement theory to develop locally relevant evaluation tools,empirical research can be conducted to provide schools with targeted improvement strategies.