Teacher-Student Interaction and Perceived Learning Difficulties Among Chinese Students: Within-Class Difference Matters

Teacher-student interaction plays a crucial role in the learning process. While the importance of interaction was well-documented in developed countries, limited attempts were made in China, where the traditional learning Philosophy is more teacher-oriented, rather than student-oriented. This study aims to explore how teacher-student interaction influences the perceived learning difficulties of Chinese middle school students, it further explores the role of within-class differences and subject differences across Chinese, English, and mathematics.

The sample is drawn from nearly nationally representative data from the China Education Panel Survey. We extracted student information from the 2014-2015 wave of the dataset (N=9,188; boys:51.14%; M =13.93). Multilevel ordinal logistic regression was performed. We performed the models by subject to investigate whether the role of teacher-student interaction varies across different subjects.

The results suggested that higher levels of teacher-student interaction were significantly associated with a reduced likelihood of students’ perceived learning difficulties across all three subjects. The with-class difference in teacher-student interaction played an important role in influencing the perceived learning difficulties. Students from classes with higher levels of variation in teacher-student interaction were more likely to perceive learning difficulties. The subject difference was observed. The within-class difference was a more important indicator in influencing perceived learning difficulty in English, compared to mathematics and Chinese.

While highlighting the role of teacher-student interaction in influencing students’ perceived learning difficulty on the individual level, this study uncovered the importance of equal distribution of teachers’ attention in the teaching practice. To facilitate a more enjoyable learning process for students, teachers shall be aware of these differences and strive to provide high-quality interactions with all students in their classrooms. More training shall be provided to teachers to raise their awareness of equal attention distribution, more remarks shall also be made to distinguish the subject difference for teaching practice.