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What motivates Chinese undergraduates to engage in learning? Insights from a psychological approach to student engagement research

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Abstract

Student engagement research has been dominated by a behavioral approach. Based on the Motivation and Engagement Wheel, a psychological interpretation of student engagement, this study examined the relationships among student motivation, engagement, and mastery of generic skills as a desired learning outcome. A sample of 2013 Chinese undergraduates from 11 universities in China participated in a survey. Although the results largely confirmed the relationships hypothesized between motivation, engagement, and students’ mastery of generic skills, this study revealed one path that was inconsistent with the hypothesis: maladaptive motivation had a positive or non-significant, rather than negative, effect on adaptive engagement. These findings reinforce the need for a psychological perspective on student engagement in the current international trend of student engagement research and indicate some characteristics of student engagement in the cultural context of China. Some implications for the enhancement of student engagement are discussed.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Chinese University of Hong Kong under Grant No. 4058040.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, SAR, China

    Hongbiao Yin

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  1. Hongbiao Yin
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Correspondence to Hongbiao Yin.

Appendix

Appendix

The Generic Skills Scale used in the study

  1. 1.

    University learning has helped me to develop my problem-solving skills.

  2. 2.

    University learning has sharpened my analytic skills.

  3. 3.

    My university experience has helped develop my ability to work as a team member.

  4. 4.

    As a result of my university experience, I feel more confident about tackling unfamiliar problems.

  5. 5.

    University learning has improved my written communication skills.

  6. 6.

    My university experience has helped me develop the ability to plan my own work.

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Yin, H. What motivates Chinese undergraduates to engage in learning? Insights from a psychological approach to student engagement research. High Educ 76, 827–847 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0239-0

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