Influence of Classroom Environment and Family Environment on Students' Potential and Performance in the Chinese Society

Abstract

This research proposal aims to analyze the influence that classroom environment and family environment has on students' potential and performance in the Chinese society.

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Throughout the world, children spend most of their time in school classrooms as well as in homes where they interact with their families. It is in schools where children learn the essential skills required to achieve success in the outside world. On the other hand, it is in the family setting where children acquire the paramount values that allow them to merge well with the society. As such, with families and classrooms being important in the development of children as students, it is important to fully comprehend how the respective environments affect and influence student's potential as well as establishing how these environments can be altered to maximize the potential of student's, particularly in China. Just like the rest of the world, most Chinese students are affected by their classroom environment and family environment. The two factors are reported to have a massive influence on the development of student's. There is a great association between student performance with family background and classroom environment. The associations between performance, classroom environment, and family environment are driven by the great differences that arise due to the difference in quality. Most of the times, children who are taken to good schools may benefit compared to those who are taken to schools that are classified as not "so good". Similarly, children who come from families that can be classified as good families benefit more than those that come from families classified as not good.

Various previous researchers have found out that family environment and classroom environment are strongly correlated with the potential and performance of a student in school and the outside world. However, there are gaps in their researches because a correlation between the family environment and classroom environment and student potential does do not tell whether the relationship between the three variables is dependent on each other or independent of each other. As such, it is paramount to major on both quasi-experimental and experimental research that pinpoints the effects of classroom environments that operate in totality from the effects of family environments. This research is important and different from others in that it will separately analyze the different environments and their association with the potential of student's. Additionally, the research will provide the relationship between all the variables that are under study and what drives the associations of the two variables with the performance and potential of students.

The aim of this research proposal is to carry out an extensive analysis of the influence that the different environments have on students. The research will identify the effects of family and classrooms that operate separately and that affect the potential of student's. This proposal will outline and extrapolate more on the influence of family income, family education, family structure, and parent's activities. Also, the essay will outline the various variables that may influence student achievement in relation to the classroom; school subjects, classroom activities, classmates and class teachers. The research will play a pivotal role in defining and outlining the correlation between the success of a student in the Chinese society with the classroom and family environments. Via comprehensive primary and secondary research, there will be sufficient evidence that shows many students are greatly affected by the family and classroom environments that they spent their time in.

To facilitate the research, various methods were adopted which include Classroom learning Environment Questionnaire, Academic motivation scale, Engagement scales and Aurora Battery that are used to assess learning related issues among different background children. All the mentioned methods of research are integrated well with the results obtained unified to come up with effective and efficient answers to the various research questions. Through the mentioned methods of research, assessment of student's physical and emotional development will be easy which is an effective tool for determining the performance of a student. Performance of a student is then a productive measurement tool for the potential of the various students. Also, mixed methods will be employed in the results which will allow both quantitative and qualitative data to be collected. Interviews and questionnaires will be provided to students, parents and also teachers with an aim of qualitatively and quantitatively assessing the effects of the two variables on the performance of student's. The mixed methodology will allow for the collection of data in an efficient way as well as a collection of wide range of data.

There are three questions to be discussed: (Research Question 1) explore the whole conceptual model and find out the mechanism of how classroom environment and parenting style influence successful intelligence respectively; (Research Question 2) explore the mechanism of learning among different types of children; (Research Question 3) analyze how does each component of learning at Time 1 influence future learning activities (Time 2) by cross-lagged regression analysis. Based on the research questions proposed above, it is assumed that each component of classroom and family environment predicts the two types of academic motivation and three types of learning engagement differentially and thus influence their successful intelligence (Hypothesis 1). Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation predicts learning engagement in a different way (Hypothesis 2). The three types of students have different learning mechanism, to be more specific, different classroom and family environment might be experienced, a different attitude towards learning motivation as well as learning engagement might be discovered, and finally, the learning outcomes might vary (Hypothesis 3). It is expected that each aspect of learning issues would have some change as time goes by, and the factor at Time 1 would bring changes to future learning activities at Time 2 (Hypothesis 4).

There are many unique and significant contributions the research will make to the field. First, the research will act as a source for comprehensive information on the influence of classroom environment and family environment on the potential and performance of Chinese students. The research will uncover the levels of achievement and potential of different students in regards to the differences in family and classroom environments. Also, the research will attempt to bridge the information niche that normally appears as a result of the uncertainties that result from their not being a clear definition of the relationship between the three variables. The research will provide a distinctive evaluation of the association between family environment and classroom environment as well as identify family influences that operate separately from any classroom influences. Separate identification of the influences will provide a productive informational background that will allow for the effective creation of recommendations. The recommendations will be effective in uncovering the various influencers of the success of students.

Key Words: classroom learning environment, parenting style, academic motivation, learning engagement, successful intelligence

Introduction

Learning is a complicated concept that has to be decomposed into interconnected components which may be analyzed at different levels. In order to investigate the cognition and motivation in classroom contexts, a series of general components has already been distinguished in social-cognitive models of learning in terms of the (social) environment, the learner (as self-system including processes, motivation and competencies), and the effects (e.g. achievements like knowledge or other products). Recently, similar high-level, three-term componential models have been proposed by Koedinger et al. (2012; KLI model), and Phillips et al. (2010; LEPO model) as frameworks for learning demonstration and designing instruction. In the present study, the recommendations given by Phillips et al. (2010) to integrate the three general components "learning environment", "learning processes", and "learning outcomes" (LEPO) would be followed in investigating the learning of students with different labels (family backgrounds) such as ordinary children, migrant children and left-behind children in Chinese elementary and middle schools.

Literature Review

Learning Environment

Classroom environment and family environment are crucial for the social climate of learning, and have consequences for processes and outcomes of students' learning in such contexts. A large number of researches have noted that high-quality relationships play an important role in young people's capacity to function effectively, including their learning activities. Concerning classroom environment, Trickett and Moos provided a classical conception for categorizing such variables by distinguishing it into three general dimensions, including personal growth, relationship and system maintenance. Numerous findings that are similar to Trickett's research provide us with sufficient reasons to evaluate the relationship dimensions of classroom learning environments through the perceived quality of students' relations to peers as well as to teachers in classrooms. Parenting style is another typical variable when assessing family environment. Baumrind's category of parenting style has been widely used when examining the impact of different parenting styles (authoritative parenting and authoritarian parenting) on students' achievements. Furthermore, Macoby and Martin (1983) expanded Baumrind's theory and framework to a three-dimensional model, which added permissive parenting style in addition to the other two parenting styles. Therefore, the new model contains authoritative, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles. First, authoritative parents are considered as guardians who have a high degree of responsiveness and warmth, and treat their children with freedom in setting rules and restrictions. Additionally, they usually express a low moderate level of control and demandingness. Second, authoritarian parents are extremely strict, with no openness toward their children's input regarding rules and limits. Third, permissive parents are categorized as indulgent. In most cases, this kind of parents are characterized by a high level of responsiveness and warmth, but exhibit no control or requirements on children's behavior. Parenting style has been examined in several studies as a strong predictor of adolescents' achievements. Findings have indicated that there is a significant relationship between the parenting style and academic achievement. In fact, some researchers have proposed that the authoritative parenting is positively related to higher academic achievement.

Learning Process

Learning processes of students, as the second component in the three-term framework have been included in only few studies on learning environments. Although academic achievement is important, there has been increasing awareness and empirical interests in psycho educational constructs that can be considered as key outcomes in education, including motivation and engagement. Active engagement in school is crucial to students' educational success. Academic engagement has been conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct encompassing two or three components. The double-component model typically comprises affective/emotional and behavioral dimensions, whereas the triple-component mod...