EFL Learners’ Affect, Engagement, Misbehaviours, and Achievement: A Classroom Observation Perspective

Abstract

Most previous research examining the correlation between affect and achievement of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) has relied on questionnaire and/or interview data. The current study, conducted in a Chinese EFL context, chose to explore this relationship on the basis of quantitative and qualitative classroom observation data, with a special focus on learners’ classroom engagement and misbehaviours. The participant sample involved the EFL learners and teachers in six classes at a key and a non-key university in Northwest China. Data in relation to participants’ affect, engagement, and misbehaviours were collected via classroom observations, including some video-recording. The participating students’ College English Test-Band 4 (CET-4) scores were used as a measurement of EFL achievement. Participants’ affect, engagement, and achievement formed a reciprocal relationship; the latter was negatively connected with misbehavious. Rather than gender, type of school (key vs. non-key university) had significant effects on the variables being examined. Data revealed that teachers, peers, and classroom environment were also influential factors in explaining the differences in the relationship between the identified variables.