College Student Academic Motivation and Engagement in the College English Course

This research examined the relationship between student academic motivation and engagement in the college English course. Based on the current study on communicative language teaching, student academic motivation, and engagement, we hypothesized that student motivation in the English course could predict their engagement. We used the MUSIC model of academic motivation inventory (Jones, 2016b) to explore students’ course perceptions, and we added engagement items to the survey. The participants were 101 first-year college students who were enrolled in this English course. The descriptive statistics data presented the main problems the course in terms of empowerment, success, and interest. The stepwise regression results indicated that the components of empowerment and success in the MUSIC model predicted student engagement. The findings revealed that it is possible for Chinese college EFL teachers to use the strategies in the MUSIC model to redesign their instruction to motivate and engage their students in the English coursework.