Xu Yufeng, Zou Yanfen
Institute of Foreign Languages, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China.
School of Business Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 10;13:1109032. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1109032. eCollection 2022.
This quasi-natural experimental study examined an online teaching intervention implemented in response to COVID-19 in China in 2020. It applied the difference-in-difference model to examine the impact and path of the intervention on students' learning performance of a college foreign language (LPCFL). Based on data from records of withdrawing and changing courses, classroom learning, and teaching evaluations; a questionnaire survey of teachers and students; and relevant school documents during the last seven terms, the results indicated that the online teaching intervention could significantly improve students' LPCFL. This finding remained robust after adopting a placebo test approach to mitigate possible endogeneity issues. Additionally, this study also conducted a group test through sub-sample regression based on students' discipline characteristics and intervention organization methods. The results showed that the students who participated in the intervention significantly improved in the three disciplines: humanities was most significantly affected, science and engineering were least significantly affected, and economics and management were in the middle. A range effect was observed for organizational methods. The two downward transmission methods by college teaching management terms had significant positive effects, whereas the other two methods of downward transmission by college student management had significant negative effects. An analysis of the action mechanism indicated that the online teaching intervention mostly improved LPCFL through two channels: students' learning input and learning support. Overall, these findings not only help expand the research framework on macro environmental intervention policy and micro-learning behavior but also have implications for the in-depth understanding of the real learning effect of online learning interventions for college students and their design in the post-COVID-19 era.
这项准自然实验研究考察了2020年中国为应对新冠疫情而实施的在线教学干预措施。它应用双重差分模型来检验该干预措施对大学外语学习表现（LPCFL）的影响及路径。基于过去七个学期的退课与换课记录、课堂学习及教学评价数据；对师生的问卷调查；以及相关学校文件，结果表明在线教学干预能显著提高学生的大学外语学习表现。在采用安慰剂检验方法以减轻可能的内生性问题后，这一发现依然稳健。此外，本研究还基于学生的学科特征和干预组织方式通过子样本回归进行了分组检验。结果显示，参与干预的学生在三门学科中均有显著提高：人文学科受影响最为显著，理工科受影响最不显著，经济管理学科则处于中间水平。对于组织方式观察到了范围效应。高校教学管理部门的两种下行传递方式有显著的积极影响，而高校学生管理部门的另外两种下行传递方式则有显著的消极影响。作用机制分析表明，在线教学干预主要通过两个渠道提高大学外语学习表现：学生的学习投入和学习支持。总体而言，这些发现不仅有助于拓展宏观环境干预政策与微观学习行为的研究框架，还对深入理解大学生在线学习干预的实际学习效果及其在新冠疫情后时代的设计具有启示意义。
