Improving Chinese EFL learners’ engagement in online classes: the role of teacher scaffolding and teacher respect

ABSTRACT

Given the fact that learner engagement is a prerequisite for effective online education, identifying and comprehending the factors that enhance learners’ engagement in online classes seems necessary. To address this need, several studies have been conducted to identify the predictors of learner engagement in online classrooms. Nevertheless, factors enhancing learners’ engagement in online EFL classes have scarcely been explored. The present investigation sought to address this gap by looking into the role of teacher scaffolding and respect in improving Chinese learners’ engagement in online EFL classes. To this end, three valid measures of the constructs were virtually distributed among 356 Chinese learners. The correlation tests revealed close, direct connections between teacher scaffolding, teacher respect, and learner engagement. Moreover, multiple regression analysis uncovered the significant role of teacher scaffolding and teacher respect in improving Chinese EFL learners’ engagement. Taken together, both teacher scaffolding and teacher respect were identified as being considerably influential in English learners’ engagement in online classes. The insightful implications of the outcomes are finally mentioned.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher scaffolding
• teacher respect
• learner engagement
• EFL learners
• online classes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethical approval

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by People’s Republic of China University of Petroleum (East People’s Republic of China) Academic Ethics Committee. The author provided the written informed consent to participate in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by China Foreign Language Education Foundation Project: [Grant Number ZGWYJYJJ11A181]; The Teaching Research and Reform Project of China University of Petroleum (East China): [Grant Number KC-202063]; The Education and Science Planning Project of Shandong Province in China: [Grant Number 2021WYB014]; SFLEP National College Foreign Language Teaching and Research Project: [Grant Number 2021SD0605].