Abstract: Objective To investigate the current status of classroom silence of medical students as well as its relationship with the perception of classroom environment, to promote students' active attitude in classroom teaching, so as to provide reference for achieving participatory training model. Methods This study was performed by questionnaire investigation. In October 2020, an online survey was conducted among 7 202 medical students from four medical schools in Heilongjiang Province. The relationship between classroom silence and perception of classroom environment was analyzed by Pearson correlation tests and multiple linear regression. Results The total score of classroom silence was(2.95±0.66)which was negatively correlated with perception of classroom environment's six dimensions [teacher's positive expectation(3.77±0.72), size of class (3.05±0.89), classroom atmosphere (2.71±0.80), classroom conversation (3.06±0.73), teaching method(3.14±0.86), course setting (2.23±0.66), all P＜0.01]. After controlling the demographic variables, teachers' positive expectation predicted classroom silence(β=0.034,P＜0.01),and the other dimensions negatively predicted classroom silence(β=-0.214~-0.043,P＜0.01). Conclusions The classroom silence was identified at a moderate level and it was influenced by the perception of classroom environment. A dynamic classroom environment should be created, so as to decrease the level of classroom silence and encourage the participation of medical students in learning process.

Key words: Medical students, Classroom silence, Perception of classroom environment, Correlation