What motivates Chinese undergraduates to engage in learning? Insights from a psychological approach to student engagement research

Student engagement research has been dominated by a behavioral approach. Based on the Motivation and Engagement Wheel, a psychological interpretation of student engagement, this study examined the relationships among student motivation, engagement, and mastery of generic skills as a desired learning outcome. A sample of 2013 Chinese undergraduates from 11 universities in China participated in a survey. Although the results largely confirmed the relationships hypothesized between motivation, engagement, and students’ mastery of generic skills, this study revealed one path that was inconsistent with the hypothesis: maladaptive motivation had a positive or non-significant, rather than negative, effect on adaptive engagement. These findings reinforce the need for a psychological perspective on student engagement in the current international trend of student engagement research and indicate some characteristics of student engagement in the cultural context of China. Some implications for the enhancement of student engagement are discussed.