LEARNERS’ ENGAGEMENT IN EFL CLASSROOMS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE EMOTIONAL DIMENSION

Ulrich Orlando Sèna Hindeme

Abstract


For decades, education professionals and researchers have been reflecting on the measures that need to be implemented to promote learners’ success and the factors that encourage engagement in the classroom for all students. Learners’ engagement in language classes is now seen as a real challenge in teaching and a necessary condition for learning. The aim of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of the factors that affect the engagement and performance of learners in the EFL classroom. The survey, therefore, is going to examine what this engagement represents, as well as the factors that encourage it, and the implications of this engagement for education as well as learners’ performance, in order to be able to apply it in the language classrooms. In language learning environments, the level of engagement appears to be linked to learners’ performance. This research was modelled on a standard framework that treats academic engagement in terms of affective, behavioural and cognitive dimensions. In addition, this essentially interpretative and descriptive study used a mixed methodology for data collection and analysis. The results highlight: the influence of the learning context and the learners’ age on their behavioural, cognitive and social engagement as well as their performance, and the influence of the learners’ gender on their cognitive engagement. The findings thus make it possible to highlight the mediating role of engagement, which occurs between the variables of age, the learning context and performance, and to highlight the positive effects of engagement in terms of behavioural, cognitive and social dimensions on learners’ performance in language classes. Without being able to generalise, this study also provides a better understanding of the quality and evolution of learners' academic engagement in EFL classrooms.

 

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impact, students' engagement, EFL learners, emotional dimension, EFL classrooms

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejfl.v9i3.6086

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