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BECE, Vol.10, No.1, 2022 1339 

 

 

 

 

Who Matters, Teacher or Parents? 

By Zhao, N. N., Li, W. T., Chen, X. H., & Chen, F. M. 
Correspondence to: Zhao, N. N., Beijing Normal University, China. E-mail: 

zhaonn@xaut.edu.com  

UBLISHED in Tsinghua Journal of Education, the study examines the 

influence of parents and teachers on students’ academic performance in 

Chinese through a survey of more than 4,000 students in grades 3 to 6. Based 

on the achievement goal theory, this study constructs a theoretical model of 

the relationship between students’ perceived achievement goals and their ac-

ademic achievements in Chinese and takes learning style as a mediator vari-

able to explore the influence of students’ perceived achievement goals from 

teachers and parents on their academic achievements in Chinese. The re-

search question of this study is: How do students’ perceived achievement 

goals from parents (Including acquisition goals, referring to students’ per-

ceived parental hopes that they should develop new skills, improve their abil-

ities and acquire new knowledge; Results goals, referring to students’ per-

ceived high parental standards in terms of scores and rankings) and achieve-

ment goals from teachers (Including acquisition goals, referring to the stu-

dents’ perception that the objective of learning emphasized by teachers is to 

cultivate skills and abilities; Avoidance goals, referring to the students’ per-

ception of teachers’ request for their avoidance to show low ability; Targeted 

goals, referring to students’ perceived requests for high performance from 

teachers to exhibit their abilities and talent) affect students’ academic per-

formance in Chinese? 

Research Methods:  

This study takes more than 4,000 students in grades 3-6 as sample, us-

ing students’ academic achievements in Chinese, learning style, goal percep-

tion and family factors as research tools, to explore the impact of parents’ 

and teachers’ goals perceived by students on their learning style and academ-

ic achievements in Chinese and the mediating effect of learning style. 

Research Results: 

 Correlation analysis among variables indicates: (i) There is a sig-

nificant positive correlation between students’ academic 

achievements in Chinese and surface learning style, parents’ ex-

pectations, teachers’ acquisition goal, teachers’ targeted goal and 

parents’ results goal at the level of 0.01. (ii) There is a significant 

P 

mailto:zhaonn@xaut.edu.com


 

BECE, Vol.10, No.1, 2022 1340 

negative correlation between students’ academic achievements in 

Chinese and physical capital and teachers’ avoidance goal at 0.01 

level. There is a significant positive correlation between students’ 

academic achievements in Chinese and deep learning style, and a 

significant negative correlation between students’ academic 

achievement in Chinese and cultural capital at 0.05 level. 

 This study uses structural equation model to model variables that 

affect students’ academic performance and draws the following 

conclusions: Surface learning style (β = 0.175, P < 0.001) and 

perceived acquisition goals from teachers (β = 0.148, P < 0.001) 

have significant positive influence on students’ academic 

achievements in Chinese. Students’ perceived parental acquisition 

goals (β = -0.101, P < 0.05) have a significant negative impact on 

students’ academic achievements in Chinese. Students’ percep-

tion of acquisition goal from teachers (β = 0.211, P < 0.001) and 

parental acquisition goal (β = 0.63, P < 0.001) have a significant 

positive impact on surface learning style. There is an interaction 

between students’ perceived parental acquisition goal and per-

ceived acquisition goal from teachers (β=0.506, P <0.001). Par-

ents’ expectations interact with students’ perception of acquisition 

goal from teachers (β = 0.171, P < 0.001). Parents’ expectations 

have a significant positive effect on students’ perceived parental 

acquisition goal (β = 0.157, P < 0.001), surface learning style (β = 

0.071, P < 0.001) and academic achievements in Chinese (β = 

0.111, P < 0.001). Students’ perception of acquisition goal from 

teachers and parental acquisition goal has an impact on academic 

achievements in Chinese through the mediating effect of surface 

learning style. 

 There are two ways to influence students’ academic performance 

in Chinese, and the results of the effect test are as follows: i) 

Teachers’ acquisition goal → students’ surface learning style →

academic performance in Chinese, the effect value is 0.037, 99% 

confidence interval is [0.015, 0.054]; ii) Parental acquisition goal 

→ students’ surface learning style →academic achievements in 

Chinese, the effect value is 0.11, 99% confidence interval is 

[0.045, 0.16]. The results indicate that the two paths are not com-

pletely valid mediation effect, and acquisition goals from teachers 

have a more direct impact on students’ academic achievements in 

Chinese than parental acquisition goal. 

Based on the above analysis, the following conclusions are reached: i) 

Achievement goals from teachers and parents can predict students’ academic 

achievements in Chinese. However, whether there are other mediating varia-

bles needs to be further examined. ii) Compared with parents, teachers have a 



 

BECE, Vol.10, No.1, 2022 1341 

stronger direct influence on students’ academic performance, which suggests 

that in improving students’ academic performance, teachers should take the 

initiative. iii) Compared with teachers, parents have stronger influence on 

students’ motivations and strategies, which suggests that parents should play 

a more direct and important role in the cultivation of students’ learning styles. 

Their influence on students is implicit and internalized, focusing on thoughts, 

behaviors, and methods. iv) Surprisingly, parental acquisition goals have a 

significant negative impact on students’ academic performance in Chinese, 

which may be attributed to the fact that emphasis on academic achievements 

can cause excessive stress to children. Further research is needed in this re-

gard. v) There should be a clear division of responsibility between parents 

and teachers in home-school partnership to achieve students’ healthy and 

comprehensive development. 

 

Source: Tsinghua Journal of Education, 2021; 42(4):130-140.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 


