Exploring the relationship between the middle school students' interaction with their teachers and their classroom engagement and success

Knowing a foreign language is a plus in social, business and education life. Being able to communicate in foreign languages is among the most required qualifications when we consider the developing world. English is among the most preferred foreign languages for professional and personal goals. So far, many institutions, schools, and universities have been searching for new methods and views for reaching to advanced level of teaching foreign languages one of which is English. When teaching English, it should be considered by teachers that students have different proficiency levels, purpose, and style of learning. Because of these differences, teachers develop different types of interaction with their students. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the 5th and 6th grade students' interaction with their teachers and their participation levels and their English lesson grades. In this research, to determine the interaction levels of secondary school students with their teachers in the English class, the average results of the two English exams were used. Also, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) and Agentic Engagement Scale were administered to 5th and 6th grades at TED Adana College. The questionnaires were applied to 120 students. The results were subjected to quantitative analysis. Results indicated that students perceive their teachers as exhibiting high levels of understanding, helping/friendly, and leadership behaviours rather than uncertain, admonishing dissatisfied and strict behaviours. The results also showed that students' perceptions of their English teachers' interpersonal behaviours were linked to their cognitive, emotional, behavioural and agentic engagements towards English and their English achievement. Whereas the leadership, helpful/friendly, and understanding behaviours had positive correlations with agentic engagement scores of students, the uncertain, dissatisfied, admonishing and strict behaviours had negative correlations.