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Student engagement and its associations with academic achievement and subjective well-being : a systematic review, meta-analysis, and conceptual recommendations
Author
Wong, Zi Yang
Supervisor
Liem, Gregory Arief D.
Abstract
Student engagement has gained substantial attention in education research, policy, and practice. This is largely due to its purported associations with desired scholastic and non-scholastic outcomes like academic achievement and subjective well-being (SWB), both of which are considered as key indicators of effective schooling. While ample evidence suggests that student engagement is indeed empirically related to both academic achievement and SWB, the magnitude of the reported effect sizes is inconsistent between individual studies. Furthermore, there is also a dearth of systematic review and meta-analysis research that seeks to ascertain the strength of association between student engagement and the outcomes of interest.
One likely explanation for this observation is that student engagement is not a singular or unidimensional construct. Instead, it is a meta-construct consisting of multiple subcomponents that operate in varying contexts and timescale. In addition to its multifaceted and complex nature, student engagement is also plagued with the issue of conceptual haziness. As a result, it is difficult for researchers to interpret, synthesise, generalise, extend, and apply the findings obtained from student engagement research. To understand the current state of the construct and ascertain the widely proclaimed benefits of student engagement, the present thesis aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to address three overarching research questions: (1) What is student engagement? (2) To what extent is student engagement associated with academic achievement? (3) To what extent is student engagement associated with SWB?
A total of 124 quantitative studies, which consisted approximately 144,521 participants, were retrieved through a systematic review. Upon analysing the student engagement measures that were employed in these studies, it was revealed that each type of student engagement dimension (i.e., affective, behavioural, cognitive) has been operationalised disparately in the literature. In fact, they could be further differentiated into (at least) seven conceptually distinct engagement subtypes. A series of meta-analyses were subsequently conducted on studies involving 3rd to 12th grade students. Using meta-regression with robust variance estimation, it was revealed that student engagement has a large average correlation with academic achievement (r = .34) and
SWB (r = .36). Upon closer inspection, academic achievement was found to have the strongest association with behavioural engagement (r = .40), followed by cognitive (r = .33) and affective engagement (r = .27). SWB was most closely related to affective engagement (r = .40), followed by cognitive (r = .35) and behavioural engagement (r = .32). Moderation analyses indicated that the magnitude of these effect sizes was influenced by the way engagement was operationalised in the primary studies, as well as other factors like the informant source of engagement and type of achievement measure.
While the present study showed that student engagement is associated with positive student outcomes, it also illustrated how student engagement is, at the current point in time, overgeneralised and in need of conceptual refinement. To advance the field of student engagement, therefore, the thesis concluded with the proposition of the Dual Component Framework of Student Engagement. Informed by extant student engagement perspectives, the framework posits that student engagement is composed of two separate but related constructs—learning activity engagement and school community engagement—that differ in their conceptual definitions, boundaries, object, and dimensionality. The theoretical, research, and applied implications of the newly proposed framework were discussed.
One likely explanation for this observation is that student engagement is not a singular or unidimensional construct. Instead, it is a meta-construct consisting of multiple subcomponents that operate in varying contexts and timescale. In addition to its multifaceted and complex nature, student engagement is also plagued with the issue of conceptual haziness. As a result, it is difficult for researchers to interpret, synthesise, generalise, extend, and apply the findings obtained from student engagement research. To understand the current state of the construct and ascertain the widely proclaimed benefits of student engagement, the present thesis aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to address three overarching research questions: (1) What is student engagement? (2) To what extent is student engagement associated with academic achievement? (3) To what extent is student engagement associated with SWB?
A total of 124 quantitative studies, which consisted approximately 144,521 participants, were retrieved through a systematic review. Upon analysing the student engagement measures that were employed in these studies, it was revealed that each type of student engagement dimension (i.e., affective, behavioural, cognitive) has been operationalised disparately in the literature. In fact, they could be further differentiated into (at least) seven conceptually distinct engagement subtypes. A series of meta-analyses were subsequently conducted on studies involving 3rd to 12th grade students. Using meta-regression with robust variance estimation, it was revealed that student engagement has a large average correlation with academic achievement (r = .34) and
SWB (r = .36). Upon closer inspection, academic achievement was found to have the strongest association with behavioural engagement (r = .40), followed by cognitive (r = .33) and affective engagement (r = .27). SWB was most closely related to affective engagement (r = .40), followed by cognitive (r = .35) and behavioural engagement (r = .32). Moderation analyses indicated that the magnitude of these effect sizes was influenced by the way engagement was operationalised in the primary studies, as well as other factors like the informant source of engagement and type of achievement measure.
While the present study showed that student engagement is associated with positive student outcomes, it also illustrated how student engagement is, at the current point in time, overgeneralised and in need of conceptual refinement. To advance the field of student engagement, therefore, the thesis concluded with the proposition of the Dual Component Framework of Student Engagement. Informed by extant student engagement perspectives, the framework posits that student engagement is composed of two separate but related constructs—learning activity engagement and school community engagement—that differ in their conceptual definitions, boundaries, object, and dimensionality. The theoretical, research, and applied implications of the newly proposed framework were discussed.
Date Issued
2023
Call Number
LB1117 Won
Dataset
https://doi.org/10.25340/R4/8MPSBD
Date Submitted
2023