Developmental trajectories of second language learner classroom engagement: Do students’ task value beliefs and teacher emotional support matter?

Abstract

Engaging students in the second language (L2) classroom is important, but sustaining and promoting L2 learner classroom engagement over time is even more crucial for the long-term acquisition of the target language. This study contributes to the L2 engagement literature by tracking L2 learner classroom engagement over the course of a semester and identifying personal and contextual factors that sustained their long-term engagement. Questionnaire data were collected over three time points during a semester from 389 EFL learners enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts in English language program at a university in Vietnam. Results of latent growth curve modeling showed that the participants displayed both intraindividual growth and interindividual differences in the rate of growth in their classroom engagement over the semester. These interindividual differences in engagement growth were attributable mainly to the interest value that they attached to learning English in the respective classroom and the extent to which they perceived their teachers to be responsive to their emotions and learning difficulties. The findings are discussed in light of engagement and motivation theories in both educational psychology and psychology of second language learning and teaching. Implications are also offered to inform relevant classroom-based practices to enhance students’ long-term engagement in the L2 classroom.