Examining Latent Factors of Learning Environment Survey as Predictors of Bilingual Students’ Academic Performances

• In Event: Insights and Innovations for Supporting Emergent Bi-/Multilingual Learners

Abstract

The present study investigates the latent factors of a learning environment survey and the relationships among the identified latent factors. The survey was developed to collect information about various aspects of students’ learning environment. The data consisted of 644 bilingual students’ responses, collected in an urban independent school district in a southern state of the United States. The factor analysis identified four latent factors: students’ relationship with parents/teachers/others, perceptions toward school, academic performance, and anxiety, which are correlated with each other in different ways. A multilevel modeling analysis showed that students’ intimacy, perception toward school, and anxiety significantly predicted students’ academic performance while controlling for students’ ages. The study discusses the implications of its findings and directions for future research.

Authors

• Hector H. Rivera, Texas A&M University

• Heesun Chang, Texas A&M University

• Amin Raeisi-Vanani, Texas A&M University

• Yiming Zhu, Texas A&M University

• David Daniel Jimenez, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi