Enrollment motivation and student engagement behaviors: disparity among freshmen of an education department from three universities with different academic levels

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study attempted to answer two questions: (a) Are there significant differences in students’ motivation for enrollment among freshmen of an education department between universities with high, medium, and low academic levels? and (b) Can the academic level of the universities and enrollment motivation significantly predict students’ engagement behaviors and teacher career aspiration? The sample consisted of 106 freshmen in education departments of three 4-year research universities of different academic levels in Taiwan. The findings indicated that the academic level of universities was not a factor for enrollment motivation. Participants from the university with a low academic level chose the education department less often for the university environment compared with the other participant groups, and participants from the university with a high academic level reported significantly lower task value than the other participant groups. Intrinsic motivation was the most essential variable when predicting certain engagement behaviors and teacher career aspiration.