Student Engagement: Developing a Conceptual Framework and Survey Instrument

Abstract

Student engagement is considered to be among the better predictors of learning, yet there is growing concern that there is no consensus on the conceptual foundation. The authors propose a conceptualization of student engagement grounded in A. W. Astin's (1984) Student Involvement Theory and W. A. Kahn's (1990) employee engagement research where student engagement is built on four components: emotional engagement, physical engagement, cognitive engagement in class, and cognitive engagement out of class. Using this framework the authors develop and psychometrically test a student engagement survey that can be used by researchers to advance engagement theory and by business schools to monitor continuous improvement.

Keywords:

• cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, engagement, engagement survey, physical engagement, student engagement