The Effects of Contextual Factors, Self-Efficacy and Motivation on Learners' Adaptability to Blended Learning in College English: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Exploring the determinants on continuance participation of college students toward blended learning: the stimulating role of course characteristics and instructor support

Background

Blended learning (BL) has become an important learning method in the high education with the rapid advancement of "Internet + Education," however, college students face notable challenges, such as high dropout rates, low participation and low persistence, which largely reduce the learning effect of BL. Therefore, it is necessary to deeply analyze the question: "What factors will influence college students' continuance behavior in blended learning (CBBL)?"

Methods

Based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework and social cognitive theory, this study constructs an integrated model of "Contextual facilitators-Individual characteristics-Continuance behavior," to examine the relationships among the blended course characteristics (BCC), instructor support (IST), individual attributes, such as learning motivation (LM), self-efficacy (SEF) and learning engagement (LET), and college students' CBBL. Colleting 466 College students who participated in BL through Chinese university MOOCs, the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to test the proposed hypotheses.

Results

The empirical results indicating that, (1) this integrated model explains 62.85% of the variance in college students' CBBL, and LM, SEF, and LET emerge as the key determinants influencing college students' CBBL. (2) BCC positively affects LM and LET but has no significant on SEF, and it promotes college students' CBBL through LM and LET rather than SEF. (3) ITS exerts a significant influence on LM, SEF, and LET, with the most pronounced impact on LET. Moreover, ITS significantly facilitates college students' CBBL via LM, SEF, and LET.

Originality/value

This study theoretically contributes to literature on BL and extends the application scope of SOR framework. Also, it reveals the antecedents of college students' CBBL in the BL environment, which is crucial for guiding their continuance learning and promoting the sustainable development of BL education.

The Impact of Competitive and Collaborative Environments on Vocational Students' Competitive Attitudes, Task Motivation, and Adaptability: A Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

With the rapid changes in external environments, cognitive adaptability has become crucial for vocational students' personal growth and career development. However, previous research has predominantly focused on traditional single-level effects, overlooking the multilevel impacts of school climates. Hence, based on social cognitive theory and social-ecological systems theory, this study employs multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) to examine the effects of competitive and collaborative environments on vocational students' competitive attitude, task motivation, and cognitive adaptability at both the student level (Within) and school level (Between). This study utilizes data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, analyzing a sample of 814 vocational schools and 20,978 vocational students from 18 countries and regions. Using Mplus 8.10, we applied maximum likelihood estimation with robust standard errors (MLR) to validate the multilevel structural equation model (MSEM) and examine the hierarchical effects of competitive and collaborative environments on vocational students' competitive attitude, task motivation, and cognitive adaptability. The findings indicate that both competitive attitude and task motivation positively impact cognitive adaptability at both the student and school levels. While competitive environments enhance competitive attitudes at both levels, their effects on task motivation differ, as they are positive at the student level but negative at the school level. Conversely, collaborative environments positively influence task motivation at both levels but only affect competitive attitudes at the student level. A comparison between multilevel and single-level models suggests that multilevel modeling better captures the hierarchical effects within school environments. The results highlight that moderate competition at the student level fosters motivation and adaptability, whereas highly competitive school environments may suppress motivation. In contrast, fostering a collaborative school climate enhances task motivation and cognitive adaptability. These findings underscore the importance of balancing competition and collaboration in vocational education to support students' holistic development.

An analytical model of college students' self-assessed satisfaction with the effectiveness of online learning: a structural equation model integrating LICE and S-O-R models

Background

Nowadays, e-learning significantly affects college students' academic life. This study aims to examine the factors that influence college students' satisfaction with online learning outcomes.

Method

The study population consisted of undergraduate students from Dalian Medical University, with a total of 715 college students participating in the study. Out of these participants, 602 valid questionnaires were obtained. Demographic data was analyzed using SPSS.22, and the data was cleaned and prepared for testing the research hypotheses. The proposed research framework was examined using structural equation modeling (SEM) through Smart-PLS 3.0.

Results

The results of the study showed that student satisfaction with learning outcomes was positively correlated with several factors: quality of teacher instruction (β = 0.100, p < 0.0001), quality of e-learning platforms (β = 0.059, p < 0.0001), individual learner factors such as learning motivation (β = 0.112, p < 0.001), and e-learning environment (β = 0.469, p < 0.001). Additionally, self-learning efficacy (β = 0.081, p < 0.0001), learning strategies (β = 0.031, p < 0.001), and learning motivation (β = 0.039, p < 0.001) were found to have mediating effects.

Conclusion

Understanding the satisfaction of college students with the effect of e-learning holds great significance in coping with teaching methods in unexpected situations. It enables adjustments to teaching strategies, improvements to learning platforms, and mobilization of students' motivation. Thus, it serves as a valuable reference in addressing unexpected teaching scenarios.

The relationship between parent–child communication and English academic engagement among middle school students: a moderated mediation model

This study constructed a moderated mediation model to explore the impact of parent–child communication on English academic engagement. We conducted a questionnaire survey among 21,270 middle school students using various measurements: English Academic Engagement Scale, Adolescent Parent–Child Communication Scale, learning adaptability questionnaire, and English Learning Self-Efficacy Scale. The results showed that learning adaptability played a mediating role between parent–child communication and English academic engagement. Moreover, the relationships between parent–child communication and English academic engagement as well as between parent–child communication and learning adaptability were all moderated by English learning self-efficacy. These findings revealed the importance of parent–child communication in middle school students’ foreign language learning and suggested that more attention should be paid to improving middle school students’ English learning self-efficacy and learning adaptability and, therefore, English academic engagement.

Exploring the role of learner characteristics in learners' learning environment preferences

Purpose

This study intends to examine whether the reasons learners like or dislike a learning environment can help explain the differences in the characteristics of the learner and whether learner characteristics can influence a learner's preference for a learning environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design. The study first conducted focus groups with university students to uncover their learner characteristics by examining the reasons they liked or disliked a learning environment. This was followed by a questionnaire survey to explore how these learner characteristics influenced learner inclination for a learning environment. The survey data were analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (partial least squares structural equation modelling).

Findings

The findings showed that two types of learner characteristics, i.e. online learner characteristics and classroom learner characteristics, significantly affected learner inclination for a learning environment. Analyses also indicated that learner demographics had no major moderating effect between learner characteristics and learner inclination for a learning environment.

Practical implications

The findings can be useful for education institutions, learning designers and academics to design engaging learning activities to better support different learning needs.

Originality/value

This study makes a novel attempt to distinguish learner characteristics based on the reasons learners like or dislike a learning environment and establishes that individual learners' characteristics play a role in influencing their preference for a specific learning environment.

Toward a knowledge economy: Factors affecting the sustainable consumption behavior in the Chinese online education industry

Introduction

Buoyed by recent calls to research and advance the knowledge economy and sustainable development. This study explains how the role of the knowledge economy in influencing the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged with numerous opportunities for the global E-learning or online education industry. And, knowledge sharing behavior has been hugely driven by various sharing platforms concerning a new paradigm for diversifying education and learning. However, our study is to further extend the understanding and examine the related empirically correlations to deepen online education for sustainable development (OESD). Both advancing theoretical underpinnings and enhancing the online education industry are highly integrated and introduced toward a sustainable pathway. This study brings the perspectives from consumer value, social identity social exchange, and value-attitude-behavior to explain sustainable consumption behavior in the Chinese online education industry (SCBOEI). Thus, the relationship among factors in this study is statistically examined and the SCBOEI model as the new theoretical insight is introduced in a way of sustainable consumption behaviors in the Chinese online education industry. Finally, this study addresses managerial implications to practitioners, the government, universities, and markets.

Materials and methods

Employing a quantitative approach, about 559 valid questionnaire surveys are collected from Chinese higher education institutions. This study includes participants from four controlling variables (age, education level, family income, and gender) and six latent variables. The bootstrapping method was applied to validate mediating factors and their interacting relationships.

Results

The finding reveals that a set of classic psychological theories related fits the SCBOEI in higher education from the consumer value, contextual factors, social identity, sustainable consumption attitudes, and consumer engagement to explain SCBOEI. The mediating role of identity, sustainable consumption attitudes, and consumer engagement is highly concerned. The value and contextual factors directly make impact on SCBOEI through identity, sustainable consumption attitudes, and consumer engagement.

Implications

The study significantly contributes to enriching the theoretical bases for advancing the literature on sustainable consumption behavior and online education. Our research provides managerial insights into government policy about the online education industry and marketers to set more advertisements to wake awareness of SCBOEI. Furthermore, higher education institutions should encourage their employees and students to participate in SCBOEI actively. All the stakeholders are essential to lead the consumer to SCBOEI by shaping their internal psychology while paying more attention to social equality (education, gender), responsible consumption, and decent economic development. Overall, addressing these issues will help to provide scholars with novel theoretical insights and practitioners with managerial advice.