A Study Of The Correlation Between Chinese High School Students’ English Achievements And Their Family Backgrounds

Investigating foreign language learning from social aspect is an important part ofsociolinguistics. It has already drawn many foreign and domestic researchers’attention for years. With the fast development of globalization, more and more peopleare realizing the importance of English language. Under the education system inChina nowadays, English is an inevitable subject for almost every students. But theprocess of learning language is a complex process which cannot do without socialenvironment as well as family’s support, especially in China, where all families hopetheir children to receive good English achievement.This thesis first historically describes various researches on the correlation oflanguage achievement and family background abroad and at home. Although manyresearches have been published on the correlation between family background andlanguage learning, they cannot catch up with the fast development of Chinese familybackground. But on the basis of these researches, the author carries out an empiricalresearch on the correlation between family background and students’ Englishachievement in the special Chinese context. The theoretical basis of this research issociolinguistics, which focuses on the relationship between society and language. Theresearch chooses two social variables in sociolinguistics and explores the correlationbetween Chinese high school students’ family background and their Englishachievement. The author collected a large amount of statistics, includingquestionnaires from parents of fifty students in Zaozhuang and the interviews withstudents. These statistics are then analyzed and discussed through computer softwareSPSS17.0. Two social variables are taken into account: education background ofstudents’ parents, social status of students’ family. One conclusion comes out from allthese exploration: there is correlation between students’ family background and theirEnglish achievement. There is low correlation between high school students’ Englishachievement and their parents’ education. There is medium correlation between highschool students’ English achievement and their family’s social statuses. Althoughfamily background has influence on students’ English learning, it cannot determine students’ English achievement. There are various factors influence Chinese highschool students’ English achievement under the complex Chinese background, such asstudents’ internal factors, parents’ attitudes towards English study and theirexpectation on their children’s English study and so on. Only by combining students’internal and external factors can they receive good English achievement.The result of the study is instructive in directing parents, English teachers andstudents themselves. Parents need to make full advantage of their educationbackground to guild children’s English learning, attach greater importance to students’English learning and provide a better English learning environment for students. Asfor English teachers, they need to emphases parents’ influence in directing students’English learning. Students themselves need to make full advantage of theiradvantageous family background to improve their English achievement.