The Mediating Model of English Achievement and English Cognitive Load in Secondary Education

Abstract

Adopting questionnaires of English cognitive load and English academic factors, this study takes 416 Chinese students in secondary education as the research object. The purposes of this study are to analyze current situation of students' English cognitive load, to find out the characteristics of English cognitive load in different genders and grades, to explore the correlation among English cognitive load, English academic factors and English achievement, and to analyze the mediating roles of cognitive load between academic factors and achievement. The results are as follows: (1) students' English cognitive load is at medium level on the whole. The scores of three factors of cognitive load from high level to low level are: "emotional investment", "mental investment" and "time investment". (2) There are significant differences in English cognitive load between different genders, and the cognitive load of female students is higher than that of boys. (3) The cognitive load of the second grade students is higher than that of the other grades, and the second grade of senior students have the lowest English cognitive load. (4) There is a significant positive correlation between English cognitive load and English academic factors and negative correlation between English cognitive load and achievement. (5) English cognitive load play a mediation effect between English academic factors and English achievement. Finally, based on the results of the study, this study puts forward suggestions from both teachers and students to reduce students' English cognitive load and improve their English achievements.