A Study On Assessing Oral English Classroom Environment Of Non-English Major Postgraduates

In recent years, the study of classroom environment has become a hot issue in the field of education. It defines classroom environment in terms of the shared perception of the students and sometimes the teachers in that environment. Researchers and teachers attach great importance to the development of new instruments of high validity and reliability for assessing the classroom environments of different subjects.This study aims at exploring the oral English classroom of non-English major postgraduates by using a new English classroom environment inventory, in the hope that it will provide significant enlightenment for the teaching of oral English in China. The survey consisted of 593 non-English major postgraduates and 20 foreign teachers from 23 classes in the Postgraduate Intensive Training Program for Oral English in Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Non-English Major Postgraduate English Classroom Environment Inventory, a newly developed questionnaire with 72 items was used as instrument to assess students and teachers'perception toward their classroom environment. Data obtained from the questionnaire were processed in SPSS 11.5. The data were used as the basis of the qualitative study by means of interviews and classroom observation and to explain patterns and differences in mean scale in each subgroup.The result of validity analysis of questionnaire supports eight scales out of nine in the original questionnaire, including 62 items. That is to say, the original 72-questionnaire is modified into 62-item inventory. Based on these eight scales, the data of reliability of questionnaire support each scale's internal consistency with only one item deleted. Finally, the 62-item questionnaire has a good ability to differentiate between classrooms. In addition, it reveals interesting differences between average scale score in subgroups. Compared with postgraduates, foreign teachers perceive the classrooms more favorably in almost all scales; in particular, relatively significant differences lie in scales of Equity, Student's responsibility, Cooperation, Involvement and Teacher's support. Meanwhile, statistically significant differences emerge between postgraduates of different genders and abilities. In specific, compared with male postgraduates, female postgraduates perceive more positively on the classroom environment, and they differ in scales of Cooperation and Task Orientation. On the basis of their final scores for speaking in this training program, a contrast is made between students with high scores and students with low scores. The results are that postgraduates with high scores perceive the classroom more positively than postgraduates with low scores, and the significant differences are found in the scales of Cooperation and Involvement. Interviews with postgraduates and foreign teachers as well as classroom observations also give corresponding information about their understanding of some items and their perceptions to confirm the results. This survey implies that classroom environment assessment should be included as part of teacher assessment system, and to be utilized for improving postgraduate English education.