A Study Of Academic Self-concept Of The Second-year English Majors Under Content-based Instruction

Based on Marsh and Shavelson’s theories and structural models of AcademicSelf-Concept, the present study aims to investigate and research on ASC of the SYEMs.Specifically speaking, the present study tries to measure the characteristics of ASC of theSYEMs, explore the differences in ASC between the SYEMs under CBI and the SYEMs underSBI and discover the influence ASC has on academic performance of the SYEMs under CBI.And it also focuses on finding out influencing factors of CBI on ASC.The present study combines quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and theparticipants are the SYEMs from School of English Studies and School of Applied EnglishCollege of Dalian University of Foreign Languages. The participants are classified into twogroups, the SYEMs under CBI and the SYEMs under SBI. And the study consists of two stages,to measure ASC of two groups by means of ASCS for English majors (after validity andreliability analysis) and to collect information on the influencing factors on ASC from theSYEMs under CBI by means of qualitative semi-structured interview.The major findings of the present study involve:First, the SYEMs under CBI are of fine self-concept. They have comparatively clearerknowledge and more proper evaluation on their academic performance, and they have positiveattitudes towards academic experience and future achievement. Moreover, the study revealsthat there is significant difference in ASC between males and females of SYEMs underCBI(p=0.019＜0.05).Second, there is significant difference in ASC between SYEMs under CBI and SYEMsunder SBI through the comparative study on ASC between SYEMs under CBI and SYEMsunder SBI(p=0.007＜0.05). The SYEMs under CBI are of stronger ASC than the SYEMsunder SBI. Furthermore, SYEMs under CBI are of better ABD, ACE, AEE and AAE than theSYEMs under SBI.Third, through the correlation study between ASC and academic performance of SYEMsunder CBI, the present study discovers that there are significant positive correlations betweenASC, ABD, ACE, AEE, AAE and academic performance(P=0.416,0.305,0.422,0.355,0.334).So ASC definitely has positive influence on academic performance. And ABD, ACE, AEE and AAE respectively have positive influences on academic performance.Fourth, by means of the qualitative semi-structured interview on the influencing factors onASC from the SYEMs under CBI, the present study tries to demonstrate the reasons why CBIhas positively influenced ASC of the SYEMs and it supports the previous comparative studyon ASC between SYEMs under SBI and SYEMs under CBI.The research results provide help researchers to further testify the related theoreticalmodels of ASC and improve its measure instrument. In addition, the present study reveals CBIdefinitely has positive influences on students’ ASC and finds out the relative influencingfactors of CBI on enhancing students’ ASC. More significantly, it provides empirical assistancein improving the teaching application of CBI.