Comparing Students' Engagement in Classroom Education Between China and Germany.

Shu Deng

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.754637

Abstract

Since the mid-1980s, there has been an academic shift toward students’ involvement in the learning process. A great number of studies have focused on the relationship between student engagement and educational achievement. They have highlighted that appropriate educational input and a supportive classroom environment are necessary, but optimum learning should occur when students are engaged with the curriculum as well as the institution, particularly in higher education institutions. Many scholars claimed that higher levels of engagement will help students deal with academic anxiety and develop a sense of belonging, which may lead to higher academic success. Educational experts and policymakers have begun to propose nationwide and international strategies and programs to promote student engagement in the classroom, which has led to the proposal of well-known programs such as the National Survey of Student Engagement, the UK Engagement Survey, and Program for International Student Assessment. Such engagement-centered international measures have been used across the globe (e.g., Germany) and translated into different languages (e.g., Chinese). Although the findings of relevant studies confirm the effectiveness of engagement on learning achievement, there is still the need to conduct further (cross-sectional) studies considering the implementation of such programs in a different context. The present study is an attempt to review the related literature regarding student engagement among Chinese and German students across a variety of disciplines. The findings suggest that researchers should devote more time and budget to investigate the significance of learner engagement, especially in Germany and China.

Highlights

Schaufeli et al (2002) asserted that engagement has been originally implemented in occupational settings, and scholars and practitioners have decided to include this concept in the academic environment
After the proposal of positive psychology, many scholars and practitioners decided to investigate the effectiveness of learners and teachers’ characteristics such as motivation, happiness, enjoyment, and engagement, as the influential factors leading to successful learning outcomes (Gardner and Lambert, 1972; Trowler, 2010; Wang et al, 2021)
Egbert (2020) declared that successful learning happens if only students are eagerly involved in the learning process, and they are passionate about exploiting the learning opportunities in the classroom

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Schaufeli et al (2002) asserted that engagement has been originally implemented in occupational settings, and scholars and practitioners have decided to include this concept in the academic environment. Ross et al (2011) claimed that there is a growing tendency in China toward higher education, and China is regarded as an educational destination for a great number of students in the world They are trying to establish a multitude of private higher education institutions whose major objective is to involve and engage students in the learning process so that the quality of the Chinese educational system can be assessed and recommended reformist ideas can be perceived. The German government and especially educational executives were informed of the students’ dropout rate and low educational engagement in the sense of belonging and connectedness as a result of comparing the results of PISA 2000 scores with students from other countries (Ertl, 2006) It is regarded as the beginning of the exploitation of academic and curricular development reform in Germany focusing on providing more appropriate materials and support to students and fostering learners’ autonomy and engagement in the classroom. Cognitive engagement: It focuses on meaningful learning through conceptual perceptions in curricular development activities; and

Agentic engagement

Task difficulty