Intensity and perceived quality of L2 engagement: Developing a questionnaire and exploring engagement of secondary school language learners in England

Abstract

Learner engagement has gained increasing interest in recent years in general educational psychology and the field of language learning. However, challenges in defining and operationalising the concept have resulted in overlapping notions and large variation in its measurement, making it challenging to compare findings across studies (Fredricks & McColskey, 2012). This study aims to address some of these challenges by developing and piloting a questionnaire measuring intensity and perceived quality of engagement in L2 classrooms. The questionnaire was piloted with 378 learners in England and the findings suggest that engagement could be measured with five scales: intensity of effort in learning, intensity of social engagement, perceived quality of engagement with the teacher, perceived quality of engagement with peers and perceived quality of engagement with learning activities. A further examination of the data indicates that learners score higher in the intensity of effort than the social aspects of learning or the perceived quality of their participation. Overall, this study shows that the proposed instrument may provide a reliable tool for measuring L2 engagement in this context, providing a new, clearer way to further our understanding of the concept and ensuring greater validity of research.