Classroom Relationship Profiles: Links with English-as-a-Foreign-Language Students’ Academic and Social Goals and Self-Regulated Learning Strategy Use

Abstract

Classroom relationships represent a complex and dynamic system, in which students’ relationships with teachers and peers are intertwined with each other. A person-centered approach was used to investigate how multiple characteristics of a good-quality relationship (i.e., validation, caring, and instrumental guidance) with teachers and peers combined to form English-as-a-foreign-language primary school students’ classroom relationships profiles. Four distinct profiles of classroom relationships were identified: Supportive, Teacher-oriented, Moderate, and Isolated. Whether students’ gender and English proficiency level significntly predicted their likelihood of belonging to each profile was tested. The profiles were analyzed to see if there was a link to academic and social achievement goals and self-regulated learning in English language learning. The results indicated that the students in the Supportive and Teacher-oriented profiles were more likely to have a higher English proficiency who adopted achievement goals and used self-regulated learning strategies more frequently than those in the Moderate and Isolated profiles in English learning.