On Integrated Influence Of Family, School And Student On English Education At Compulsory Stage

The functionalism in sociology of education believes that all phenomena in society are interrelated with each other so that Phenomenon Y is the function of Phenomenon X. In China, basic English education has been increasingly strengthened. Meanwhile, the factors of family, school and student which are closely correlated with the effects of English education at the compulsory stage have been gaining attention from the scholars in recent years. However, the research in this field, especially in the minority areas in China, is scarce.The paper reports on the integrated influence of family, school and student on compulsory English education in the context of a relatively backward western area, Hezhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, based on the random, stratified and cluster sampling from which 260 ninth graders in three middle schools, including an urban public school, a rural public school and a private school, together with their parents, are selected. The results are as followed:1) Four variables in the family factor are found to account for the variances in the students'English outcomes:"family economic condition","parent educational level","parent social status"and"family expenditure on English learning". The general trend in this case is that the better family background, the more expenses on English learning, and the better test score as a result.2) Three variables in the school factor have a lot to do with the English performance. Actually they are:"school types","teacher's commitment to teaching"and"initial time to learn English at school". The effect made by the variable of"teacher's age"is very little.3) As for the student factor, the variables of"interest","motivation","number of paid English learning forms"and"English performance in primary schools"have effect on student's English learning.4) Six variables are identified as powerful predictors of English learning:"interest","school types","number of paid English learning forms","parent educational level","teacher's commitment to teaching"and"family expenditure on English learning".5) The variables affecting students'English at the compulsory stage are of multiple-facet. Student's English performance is the outcome of mutual effect by the family factors, as well as by the school and the student factors.Based on the findings, this paper suggests that since high-quality school resources can partially offset the disadvantages of the family and the student factors, it's vital for the educational authority to develop excellent educational resources for the whole society, and that it's necessary to start regular English education at the primary school, and that paid English training, to some degree, can compensate for the current lack of excellent resources in regular English education and facilitate the effectiveness and efficiency of English learning.