Rethinking student engagement: Comparing behavioral and agentic orientations
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An analysis of existing research in the field of education suggests that the current conceptualization and operationalization of student engagement falls short of fully capturing the entire learning phenomenon. In particular, Reeve and Lee (2014) claimed that engagement “is a multi-dimensional construct that has been conceptualized as consisting of three, and sometimes of four distinct, yet intercorrelated and mutually supportive aspects of behavior, emotion, cognition, and agency” (p. 528). The current research serves two specific functions. First, the research seeks to further explore the development of the Student Engagement Scale by discriminately analyzing items related to behavior and agency to establish a difference between these concepts. Second, the research should extend knowledge surrounding classroom learning by providing a more meticulous and precise method of assessing students outcomes.