Student engagement has been used as one of the antidotes to solve declining academic achievement and motivation among American students, especially urban high school students. In addition, student engagement has focused the attention of higher education researchers and policy makers. The purpose of this study is to sharpen and refine student engagement theory in the context of Taiwanese higher education and how it may explain students' motivation in learning among undergraduates. In other words, this study intends to investigate the important factors in student engagement and enhance students' motivation in learning.
This study investigated student engagement among Taiwanese undergraduates by using a revised version of the 2008 College Student Report from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Structural equation modeling is applied to examine the nature of student engagement among 886 undergraduates.
This study found that the willingness to take on challenges was related to both cognitive and emotional engagement. In fact, the willingness to take on challenges was more related to emotional engagement than to cognitive engagement among Taiwanese undergraduates. In addition, the learning strategies experienced by students influenced their cognitive engagement more than did student willingness to take on challenges. This study also found that cognitive engagement is the most important indicator of overall student engagement for Taiwanese undergraduates. This study concluded that students are most engaged in learning when they use learning strategies and when they are emotionally and cognitively willing to take on challenges.