**4.2 Qualitative research**

Whether the research is "data-driven" or "theory-driven" determines the coding process. Data-driven coding requires coding of as many potential themes as possible in order to more fully explore the meaningful themes in the data. Theory-driven coding, on the other hand, depends more on the research question of interest, and only codes the relevant data content in detail and in-depth [42]. The data for this study were coded in a theory-driven manner. After coding, 15 sub-themes of three themes were produced. The thematic analysis coding for this study is shown in **Table 2**.



**Table 2.**

*Theme analysis and coding.*

### **5. Research results**

#### **5.1 Results of the quantitative study**

A time series is a chronological sequence of numbers [43], and time series analysis can be used to describe, explain, predict, and control the temporal changes of selected variables [44]. Therefore, this study employed time series analysis to examine the trends of changes in students' self-efficacy, learning interest, learning anxiety, Learner's Perceived Value, and student engagement performance in the first, second, third, and fourth weeks. In this study, the changes in students' performance of selfefficacy, learning interest, learning anxiety, Learner's Perceived Value, and student engagement in the first, second, third, and fourth weeks are shown in **Figure 1** and **Table 3**. The values of each construct had a tendency to increase gradually from week to week. In other words, students' self-efficacy, learning interest, learning anxiety, Learner's Perceived Value, and student engagement improved constantly over time.

The data showed that the implementation of the curriculum of the Xingzhi Experimental Class had a continuous impact on the self-efficacy, learning interest, Learner's Perceived Value, and student engagement of individual learners, and the impact effect exhibited an exponential and continuous growing trend. It indicated that learning individuals had positive development and improvement in their selfefficacy, learning interest, Learner's Perceived Value, and student engagement. The learning anxiety index also showed a gradually increasing trend, but the value remained below the low level of 4. This implied that the learning subject's learning

**Figure 1.** *Time series analysis.*

*Effects of an Experimental Broadcasting and Hosting Class: A Triadic Reciprocal Determinism… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113355*


**Table 3.**

*Time series analysis.*

anxiety was in a controllable state from the first to the fourth week. However, its rising trend should be noted.

### **5.2 Results of the qualitative study**

#### *5.2.1 Environment*

The theme of the environment in this study was mainly expressed in the atmosphere formed in the process of implementing the experimental curriculum. It is the learning environment formed by people, things, and objects other than individual factors such as teachers and peers. There were five sub-themes, namely: teacher influence, others' vicarious experience, competition, support from others, and learning atmosphere.

According to the interview results, teachers are an important part of the learning environment and have a broad and deep impact on students' perceptions and behavior. Teachers assume a variety of roles in teaching and learning, functioning as mentors, leaders, and models. Teachers' personal charisma and professional competence have a crucial influence on the elements of learning motivation, learning interest, student engagement, and Learner's Perceived Value. This is the same as the findings of Sun and Tian [45]. Teacher influence may also be a key reason for whether or not college students' learning motivation declines [46]. It was also found that regardless of strengthening or weakening of learning motivation, students are eager to be affirmed and encouraged by teachers, and teachers' emotional engagement has a great impact on students' learning motivation. For example:

*The ways my teacher taught me would ease my distress and he would always encourage me, so I felt much better. (S14)*

Classmates, roommates, and seniors, as important members of the learning process, are also key components of the learning environment. Bandura [13] believed that vicarious experiences of role models can serve as an inspiration in the information pathway to self-efficacy. The study found that the positive effect of inspiration from classmates or senior role models was more pronounced and contributed to both learning motivation and learning interest. This coincides with Wu and Fan's [47] view that the closer the students' ages are to that of their role models, the greater the role models' influence. It was also observed that vicarious experiences through others may not all be positive. As Bandura described, self-efficacy may also decline because of vicarious experiences. For example:

*I also want to attend the Experimental Class, because my classmates around me have gotten a lot of opportunities in the Experimental Class. I also feel that they get what they want, like internships and so on. (S2)*

A competition mechanism was introduced as appropriate in this experimental curriculum. Previous studies have shown that those with a mastery-approach goal orientation are prone to develop a benign competitive attitude, and when a person recognizes that he or she has the ability to compete, he or she will be active and strive for success [48]. When one believes that one is not competitive, one's self-esteem is threatened and thus one is more likely to avoid competitive situations. For example:

*Also, if I suddenly get notified that I will soon have to participate in the screening competition again, I will feel very nervous and feel that I will be eliminated soon, and then feel quite scared. (S13)*

Teachers should create a moderately competitive atmosphere for students in the classroom. An overly competitive environment can inhibit or weaken students' learning motivation and creativity, which fits with the view of Cai et al. [49]. In addition to the competition factor, support from significant others also has a great impact on students' learning motivation [50]. For example:

*The enjoyable part is that I think it's nice to have friends I know in the class who can help each other out. (S5)*

The learning environment directly affects students' learning engagement. Not only does the physical spatial environment enhance students' learning ability and learning engagement, but the learning atmosphere is closely related to college students' academic performance. Bakker et al. [51] found that the learning atmosphere as an implicit environment also affects student engagement. An active learning atmosphere where teacher-student interaction is more positive is more conducive to students' self-actualization, and students are able to work harder and be more proactive in their learning [52]. For example:

*I think this atmosphere is very good because everyone is very sincere and I can hear different opinions. (S3)*

The study showed that during the implementation of the experimental curriculum in the Xingzhi class, teachers, supports from others, vicarious experiences of others, and competition jointly constructed the learning context and atmosphere of the class. The environment influenced both students' cognition and behavior, while students' new cognition produced new behavior. Behavior is embedded in the environment and influences the changes in the environment, realizing the role of Triadic Reciprocal Determinism.

#### *5.2.2 People*

As learning subjects, students are also the people in Triadic Reciprocal Determinism. In this study, the people theme had eight sub-themes: learning expectations, achievement goal orientation, learning interest, self-efficacy, attribution of success or failure, academic emotion, Learner's Perceived Value, and willingness to continue learning.

### *Effects of an Experimental Broadcasting and Hosting Class: A Triadic Reciprocal Determinism… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113355*

Learning expectation is closely related to learning goals, but it is not the same. It is the reaction to learning goals in the mind [53]. This study found that students' learning expectations changed before, during, and after the implementation of the experimental curriculum. Students have expectations about the content and learning style of the course, and most of the subjects described their expectations first when describing their goals, such as "I hope I …" and "I expect to … … during learning." This is in line with the aforementioned view that learning expectations are easier to describe than specific goals, and express learners' anticipation about their learning strategies and learning outcomes. Researchers can learn more about students' learning goals and learning motivation through learning expectations. For instance:

#### *I look forward to more practice opportunities in the Xingzhi Experimental Class. (S9)*

It was found that participants generally demonstrated a stronger willingness to learn when narrating questions about achievement goal orientation, showing a mastery-approach goal. A few participants also showed a goal-avoidance orientation during the interviews. The study observed that participants' achievement goal orientations were not necessarily singular or set in stone. During the learning process, individual achievement goal orientations may shift due to influences such as environment and changes in self-competence, or they may have both mastery and achievement goal orientations. This is consistent with Hulleman's et al. [54] finding that multiple goal orientations are beneficial to improving student academic achievement.

*I found out that the students who were able to attend the Xingzhi Experimental Class were very talented and capable, and I was a little timid. Then I thought I would at least not fall behind and keep up with them. But after I was here, I wanted to be outstanding, and I didn't want to be looked down upon. (S2)*

Attribution plays an important role in people's development. It directly influences people's emotions, expectations, and behavior, which in turn affects their achievement motivation [55]. This study found that participants all generated inferences of attribution of success or failure about their ability to achieve the learning objectives during the course of the study. The causes fit well with the four factors proposed by Frieze and Weiner [56], Weiner [57] to explain the causes of success and failure. These factors are ability, effort, difficulty of the task, and luck. Ability and effort are intrinsic causes that describe personal characteristics, while difficulty of task and luck are extrinsic causes that indicate external circumstances. For example:

## *My thought was that if I improved my professional ability, I would be able to perform better when I compete. This was my goal. (S13)*

Quantitative data from the first phase showed an upward trend in the learning interest index of the students in the experimental class, but to a lesser extent. It was found that the mechanism and content of the curriculum stimulated learning interest to varying degrees. However, there was also a lack or waning of interest. The researchers found that, during the curriculum implementation, students showed more interest in the unknown and new content as well as that not available in books, whereas they exhibited a lack of interest or waning interest in exercises or tasks that required multiple repetitions, and tasks they were not good at. This is in line with the findings of Zheng et al. [58].

*The Xingzhi Experimental Class will teach things that will not be taught in ordinary classrooms, and the content of the Experimental Class is biased toward hosting, which happens to be my weakness. So, for me, it was a new learning experience to be in the Experimental Class. (S10)*

The quantitative results of the first phase of this study revealed that students developed self-judgments about their own learning beliefs and competence levels after 4 weeks of context-specific learning in the experimental class. The self-efficacy index showed a continuous upward trend and the largest increase. The qualitative analysis revealed that people with a high sense of self-efficacy were confident in their abilities and the results of their activities. They were willing to take on challenges and were interested in them. Their self-evaluation and perceptions were not easily constrained by external factors such as others' evaluations and rewards [59]. On the contrary, people with a low sense of self-efficacy may tend to choose easy tasks. For example:

*I think the biggest reason for being able to stay in the Experimental Class comes from the fact that I am very confident in performing on stage. (S8)*

Self-efficacy is an important factor influencing academic emotion [19]. This study expanded the focus on students' emotions from learning anxiety to academic emotion. The study found that the main sources of students' positive emotions during the experimental period were self-efficacy and teachers' evaluations. When negative emotions arose, the reasons articulated by participants were almost always directed to lower self-efficacy ratings. Researchers have found that negative emotions do not necessarily have a significant negative impact on student learning when they are followed by emotion control and regulation. Guiding students to have effective emotion regulation can be helpful for academic achievement.

*This positive emotion is actually there. I actually feel a little bit more self-confident when I can still get some affirmation from the teacher in an area that I don't feel very good at. I will feel very happy. (S10)*

Positive high-arousal emotions such as happiness only occur when students are interested in the learning task, have high self-efficacy, and believe that what they are learning is valuable [60]. From emotional responses, we can know something about the Learner's Perceived Value. Throughout this study, students' Learner's Perceived Value index maintained a high level. The qualitative analysis revealed that students described the overall perceived value of learning utility after weighing the benefits of learning against the cost they paid in obtaining the learning outcomes [33]. They generally affirmed the value of the curriculum. For example:

*I think it was definitely the right thing to take the Xingzhi Experimental Class, as I have learned a lot in the class. I think it will help me in my acting career. (S11)*

This study specifically set up mechanisms to encourage students to strive for continuation in the experimental class, and the researchers found in the interviews that the students' descriptions revealed their willingness to continue learning. Willingness to continue learning refers to the learners' willingness to continue with the current learning task on the one hand, and their willingness to move on to the next course on

*Effects of an Experimental Broadcasting and Hosting Class: A Triadic Reciprocal Determinism… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113355*

the other [61]. As the study by Wang [62] showed, students' perceived value and student satisfaction have a significant effect on college students' willingness to continue learning. The higher the satisfaction with learning, the higher their willingness to continue learning. For example:

*I would definitely want to continue the course. Even though I was eliminated, I think it's still very helpful to be able to take a course like this. (S11)*

#### *5.2.3 Behavior*

Learning behavior can be understood as the sum of activities that learners perform to obtain certain learning outcomes under certain motivational guidance [63]. According to Triadic Reciprocal Determinism, learning behavior should have a positive interaction with the learning individual and the learning environment, and they should be mutually reinforcing and developed in a harmonious way. Good learning behaviors have a positive effect on the learning individual. There are two sub-themes in the behavior theme in this study: Student Engagement and Learned Helplessness.

Student engagement refers to the amount of time, effort, and ability that students put in during their participation in classroom and out-of-classroom learning activities, and the developmental resources they experience [64]. The data from the first phase of this study showed an upward trend in students' engagement index during the implementation of the experimental curriculum. The qualitative data also confirmed that those with mastery goal orientations were more likely to improve their student engagement in later learning, while those with achievement goal orientations may be relatively deficient in their student engagement [65]. For example:

*The teacher was stricter with me when I did my recording in the experimental class. Then I also felt that I couldn't be as lazy or slack in my studies as usual. I had to be more diligent. (S6)*

In this study, descriptions of learned helplessness behavior were found during the coding process. Learned helplessness is a state of mind in which a person or an animal is powerless and at the mercy of fate due to successive setbacks [66]. Although occurring infrequently, researchers have concluded that because the sense of learned helplessness or actually learned helplessness is associated with depression, it is a noteworthy emotion and behavior issue. For example:

*When I record a commentary or a mock hosting, I may record it many times and still feel unsatisfied. It's even more agitating when it happens that I can't even do it right after recording it 40 or 50 times. Once I recorded it 70 times and still didn't get it right. I became irritated and bored. (S7)*
