Does teacher support boost high-school English engagement?
Among 314 Chinese senior high school students, perceived English-teacher support predicted engagement both directly and through motivation, with a larger path via intrinsic than extrinsic motivation.
Source
The relationship between perceived teacher support and student engagement in Chinese senior high school English classrooms: the mediating role of learning motivation
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — Stratified school survey with structural equation modeling of self-report scales; Harman CMB check and bootstrap mediation.
- N
- N=314 · 314 valid questionnaires (~90% of 349 planned); 152 male (48.3%) and 162 female (51.7%).
- Population
- Chinese senior high school students in four schools (urban and county) in a southeastern province.
- Outcome
- Perceived English-teacher support, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, and student engagement (SEM paths).
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What they did
Stratified random sampling of four schools, paper Likert surveys of teacher support, motivation, and engagement, then confirmatory factor analysis and SEM with 5,000 bootstrap draws for mediation.
What they found
Means were moderate-to-high (teacher support M=3.79; engagement M=3.55). Direct β from support to engagement = 0.173 (30.6% of total). Indirect via intrinsic motivation = 0.225 (39.8%); via extrinsic = 0.099 (17.5%). Model fit was acceptable (χ²/df=1.83, RMSEA=0.05).
The limits
What it doesn't show
Cross-sectional self-reports cannot prove causality; common-method bias was only partly ruled out; findings are English class in one Chinese province, not all subjects or countries.
Key terms
- Perceived teacher support
- Students’ ratings of English-teacher emotional, autonomy, and cognitive support.
- Student engagement
- Behavioral, emotional, and cognitive involvement in English class.
- Intrinsic motivation
- Learning English because one likes the language/activity itself.
- Extrinsic motivation
- Learning English for external reasons such as jobs or exams.
- SEM mediation
- Structural equation model testing indirect paths from support → motivation → engagement.
Flashcards
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Quiz yourself
Valid n was:
Common questions
How many students?
314 valid questionnaires after dropping 35 invalid ones.
Direct effect of teacher support?
β = 0.173, about 31% of the total effect.
Which mediator was larger?
Intrinsic motivation (0.225) beat extrinsic (0.099).
Average teacher-support score?
M = 3.787 on a 5-point scale (SD 0.802).
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