A Study Of High School Students' English Achievements And Their Family Backgrounds-A Chinese Cultural Perspective

The study of foreign language learning from a social perspective is an important field in linguistics. It has attracted more and more researchers'attention recently. English is recognized to be much more important as a carrier of information with the emergence of information age and global village. Under the current educational system in China, foreign language learning is an obligatory course during the period of compulsory education. But language is basically a social phenomenon; it cannot be separated from the social environment. Microcosmically, family background and the factors concerning parents are very important for foreign language learners. This empirical study aims to explore the correlation between high school students'English learning achievements and their family backgrounds in specific Chinese context.The investigation is carefully designed and objectively analyzed. Two facets investigated are familial cultural background and familial economic background. Five research questions are proposed after a review of related studies both at home and abroad. These questions are concerning the influence of parents'educational background, familial English learning environment, parents'English educating ideas and patterns, parents'cultural contributions, and familial economic background on their children's English learning achievements. All the questions are answered subsequently.Subjects are grade one students randomly selected from senior high schools in Weifang. There are two instruments employed in the study—a questionnaire, which is designed to investigate subjects'family background and an interview, which is designed to find out the reasons for subjects'low or high English achievements.After correlation analysis by using SPSS software, it is proved that many factors of family background investigated in this study have significant influence on high school students'English learning achievements, only with several exceptions. They are familial English cultural activities, mothers'English educating ideas and patterns, the frequency of parents'promoting children to listen to English programs or read English books, and familial economic background.The results of this empirical study have instructive significance both for parents and Chinese foreign language educators, as well as language learners themselves. Parents are supposed to improve their educational background so as to ameliorate their familial English learning environment and enhance their ability in helping children with English learning. Foreign language teachers and educators are suggested to pay attention to learners'family backgrounds and cooperate with parents effectively.