The Influence Of Peer Interaction On College Students’ English Learning Engagement:The Mediating Role Of Academic Self-efficacy

Learning engagement is an important index to evaluate the quality of students’ learning,and the analysis of its influencing factors has always been the focus of research in the field of second language acquisition.Peer interaction,as one essential type of interactions among college students,has an important impact on their learning engagement.Meanwhile,academic self-efficacy,which refers to students’ self-judgements and beliefs,can significantly influence students’ learning engagement.However,few scholars have explored the influence of peer interaction on students’ cognitive,behavioral,emotional and social engagement inside and outside the classroom.And few studies have explored academic self-efficacy as a mediator to construct the effect mechanism of college students’ peer interaction on their English learning engagement.In view of the shortcomings of previous literature,the thesis aims to investigate the functional path of peer interaction on English learning engagement by using academic self-efficacy as the mediator.Altogether 1112 non-English majors from two universities in Shandong Province were invited to conduct the questionnaire survey,with 1010 samples being valid.The quantitative data were analyzed through correlation analysis,multiple regression analysis and mediating effect test,by using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 25.0.Subsequently,semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight students,and the content was transcribed in a timely manner.The results showed: 1)Peer interaction content and mode can both positively predict four dimensions of learning engagement,while perception of peer resources could positively predict behavioral and social engagement but not cognitive and emotional engagement.The results indicated that though positive peer perceptions had certain predictive power on learning engagement,the practical experiences of communicating language knowledge and practicing language skills with peers were more conducive to learning engagement.2)Peer interaction content and mode can indirectly influence learning engagement through academic behavior efficacy,which indicated that students improved their effective control of learning plans during peer interaction and thus deepening their learning engagement;peer interaction mode can indirectly influence behavioral,emotional and social engagement through the mediating power of language use efficacy,which indicated that peer interaction activities provided students with communicative contexts for second language acquisition and facilitated deeper learning engagement;negative coping efficacy had no mediating effect on the influencing path,which may be influenced by cultural backgrounds and psychological factors.The above quantitative results were supported by the content of the interviews.In conclusion,the results of the thesis revealed that peer interaction can directly or indirectly influence English learning engagement in and outside the classroom through academic self-efficacy.Based on the results,the thesis suggested that college English teachers should construct a“communicative-orientation” English learning pattern inside and outside the classroom,and create an environment for peer interaction;the interaction mode should be strategic and diversified to develop students’ cooperative and independent learning abilities;ideological and political education should be integrated into English teaching,and teachers should guide students to establish a correct attribution view.At the same time,the thesis also had certain limitations,such as only college students from two universities in Shandong province participated in the survey,and other college students in China were not covered,etc.The limitations can be remedied by expanding the research sample size and scope in the future.