THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND TERTIARY LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between student engagement andachievement. The study sample was composed of 296 at Ufuk University in Ankara, Turkey.The participants were enrolled in the intensive English language program of the foreignlanguage Preparatory School of the institution. Data collection was carried out with theMazer’s (2012) Student Engagement Scale, which was adapted to Turkish by Uğur and Akın(2015). Students’ English achievement was measured by their mid-term exam results.Statistical analysis revealed participants to be more engaged in silent in class behaviorsfollowed by out of class behaviors, thinking about course content, and out-of-class behaviors.Moreover, it was found that participants had low engagement levels in oral in classbehaviors. All types of engagement had a positive correlation with mid-term exam scores.Among all types of engagement behaviors, oral in class behaviors was the only predictor ofstudents’ exam scores.