Abstract:

Student engagement has been considered as one of the most important issues faced by the contemporary educational system in general and independent educators in particular. Such attention to the concept of student engagement easily understandable, as students who are engaged into the learning process are more likely to succeed academically and less likely to drop out of school. Engaged students usually pursue academic degrees, while those, who do not engage in learning, are more likely to drop out of school. Evidently, educators are primarily aimed in enhancing student engagement because it is one of the major strategies for student retention and academic performance improvement. This study aimed to investigate factors affecting student engagement in learning and the model depicting how and why students learn through those factors. The instrument of the study was the questionnaire adapted from the College Student Report of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) of the United States. The participants of this study including 919 second-year and fourth-year undergraduate students of Vietnam National University, Hanoi were selected by stratified sampling technique. The collected data were summarized and analyzed by using SPSS software and other statistic software. The findings of the study shows that the student engagement in learning of the students participated in the study was presented in six engagement scales, namely: academic challenge, active learning, student - staff interactions, enriching educational experiences, supportive learning environment, work integrated learning; and five educational outcome scales including high-order thinking, general learning outcomes, general development outcomes, career readiness, and overall satisfaction. Lastly, a proposed model of student engagement using the Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) procedures was accomplished. This model depicts how and why students learn and engage in learning.

Keywords:

Student engagement, engagement scales, educational outcome scales, model of student engagement.