**3. Research method**

#### **3.1 Teaching tools**

In this study, the curriculum of the Xingzhi Experimental Class was implemented in September 2020. After two semesters of operation, the curriculum team observed changes in students' learning motivation and competition outcomes. Therefore, the teaching group organized by the teaching and research office of the Broadcasting and Hosting Arts department of the college had theorized and optimized the operation plan and lecture content of the Xingzhi Experimental Class according to the Triadic Reciprocal Determinism framework. It aimed to stimulate students' learning motivation through achievement goals and achieve better teaching effects for enhancing students' professional practice ability. The specific operating mechanism and content of the curriculum program are described below.

#### *3.1.1 Operating mechanism*

Selection phase: Participants were recruited through three channels: existing students in the Xingzhi Experimental Class; one to two participants from each class recommended by the head teacher of the class of the major; and open recruitment from all undergraduate students in the School of Arts. The tryouts were both a selection of personnel for the next course cycle and a screening of existing members in this phase. The tryouts were based on creating a positive learning atmosphere and an open and competitive external environment. The intent was to guide students continuing the experimental curriculum to maintain or change their achievement goals orientation, and to promote the involvement of new students in achieving their goals. The recruitment was expanded to include all undergraduate students in the School of Arts to encourage participation by more students, expand the influence of the external environment, and stimulate students' learning motivation.

The tryouts were conducted in two rounds, with the first round being a ranking round for all contestants. Teachers served as judges and students on site as viewers cast their votes and they were ranked according to the total number of votes. The top 1–7 ranked contestants advanced directly, while the 8–23 ranked contestants went into the second round of the challenge. In this challenge round, the contestants ranked 16–23 challenged the contestants ranked 8–15 one-on-one, and those who succeeded in the challenge qualified for the Xingzhi Experimental Class. After

two rounds of competition, 15 participants were selected to attend the Xingzhi Experimental Class for a study period of 4 weeks.

Teaching phase: Teachers taught from 12:30 to 14:30 on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with 4 weeks as a teaching cycle. The instructional mechanism and course schedule focused on the interaction of the instructor, students, environment, and behavior. Participant screening was conducted at the end of the 4-week course. Students ranked in the top 6 of the screening were recommended to participate in off-campus competitions on a priority basis, and could receive two credits if they won a prize in a professional competition at the municipal level or above. Students who maintained a top 6 ranking in each screening and renewal for more than three terms would get priority recommendations for internship.

#### *3.1.2 Curriculum content*

According to the key points of the Broadcasting and Hosting Arts program, the basic course content was determined as impromptu commentary, mock hosting, and news-casting. The curriculum team theoretically optimized the curriculum content and teaching tools based on Triadic Reciprocal Determinism and achievement goal theory. The curriculum spotlighted the interaction among people, environment, and behavior, and emphasized the role of students as individual variables in determining behavior. Teachers reinforced the shaping of the classroom environment and atmosphere, and focused on the overall development of knowledge, ability, and quality. Experts' suggestions to modify the monolithic teacher review into a combination of one-on-one precise review, public teacher review, and student–student review were adopted to stimulate students' interest and discernment [34]. Teachers and students worked together to create an open and more interactive classroom environment.

The curriculum was designed with students' self-efficacy development in mind. Bandura [13] suggested that individuals acquire self-efficacy information in four ways: past successes and failures, vicarious experiences, persuasion by others, and physiological arousal. In addition to the modeling and guiding role played by teachers, similarity is one of the most important variables in determining whether the inspiration from role models is effective. Based on this, the curriculum introduced vicarious experiences of peers to a greater extent, and played the role of inspiration by role models. A number of observation and learning sessions were also set up, including outstanding broadcast and hosting productions and experience sharing by media practitioners. Individual goals varied [18], and the curriculum was designed to meet overall needs while increasing individualized guidance to progressively push students to reach their goals. The curriculum was designed to improve students' professional competence and self-efficacy by creating a healthy learning environment of cooperation and competition, contributing to the establishment of proper mastery goals, and stimulating learning motivation.

#### **3.2 Research steps**

A single-group quasi-experimental design was chosen for this study. The curriculum of the Xingzhi Experimental Class was theorized and optimized. A complete curriculum cycle was administered, and a questionnaire was distributed to the 14 participants of the Experimental Class at the end of each week from the first to the fourth week of the experimental curriculum using purposive sampling. At the end of the curriculum, a semi-structured interview outline was developed based on time

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

series data analysis after the collection of the questionnaires, and in-depth interviews as well as a thematic analysis of the interview content were conducted. To effectively control irrelevant variables and ensure the scientific validity of the quasi-experiment [35], some incidental and uncontrollable irrelevant variables were statistically controlled for at the end of the experiment.

#### **3.3 Research subjects**

The subjects of this study were a total of 14 undergraduate students (5 male, 9 female) in grades 1 ~ 4 in the field of broadcasting and hosting arts in a college in Chongqing, China. They were selected through the selection mechanism of the Xingzhi Experimental Class. Both the quantitative study in the first phase and the qualitative interview in the second phase were conducted with these 14 participants. A total of 56 valid questionnaires and a corpus of 14 interviews were collected for this study.

#### **3.4 Questionnaire**

The quantitative part of this study was a validation study, and a total of 37 questions were formed by using a modified classical scale based on the study of previous theories. A quantitative study of the curriculum effectiveness was conducted based on the achievement goal theory and Triadic Reciprocal Determinism, according to five dimensions: self-efficacy, learning interest, learning anxiety, student engagement, and Learner's Perceived Value. The questionnaire was measured on a 5-point Likert scale.

#### *3.4.1 Self-efficacy*

This study adopted the self-efficacy scale of Nguyen et al. [36], with six questions selected to measure the participants' self-efficacy. An example question is: I am confident in the selection contest for the Xingzhi Experimental Class.

#### *3.4.2 Learning interest*

This study adopted the learning interest scale of Hong et al. [37], with nine questions selected to measure the participants' learning interest perceptions of the plan of the Experimental Class. An example question is: I like the operation mechanism of the Xingzhi Experimental Class very much.

#### *3.4.3 Learning anxiety*

This study chose to adopt the learning anxiety scale of Hong et al. [38], with 10 questions selected from this scale to measure the participants' learning anxiety perceptions of the plan of the Experimental Class. An example question is: Even though I am well-prepared, I am still worried that I will fail the Xingzhi Experimental Class.

#### *3.4.4 Student engagement*

This study adopted the UWES-S scale of Fang et al. [39], with nine questions selected to measure the participants' student engagement. An example question is: I usually arrive at the classroom on time when I take the Xingzhi Experimental Class.
