Dissertation
Task Engagement in Higher Education
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000002403
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/119739
Abstract
This dissertation explored student task engagement in two different higher education settings; a language classroom and a synchronous remote learning-based teacher education classroom. The two studies for this dissertation both focused on student task engagement. The first study applied the Language Task Engagement (LTE; Egbert et al., 2021) model to investigate language task engagement facilitators and task preferences of students from different cultural backgrounds. The study revealed that, in general, the students preferred tasks that were commonly implemented in language classrooms. Their reasons for these preferences indicated essential LTE facilitators such as authenticity, social interaction, and interest. When integrating a cultural lens to observe these preferences and LTE facilitators, the study demonstrated that students from the two culture types based their preferences on different task elements. However, the most frequently indicated LTE facilitator by the two groups was the same; it was authenticity.
The transition chapter between the two studies introduces the possibility to apply the LTE model in another academic classroom, especially in a synchronous remote learning (SRL) setting, which became a more common mode of teaching and learning in many countries around the world because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This second study indicated that SRL tasks could engage the future teacher participants when pedagogical knowledge relevant for a teaching career was incorporated into the tasks. Moreover, the study revealed that the Zoom breakout room function or an opportunity to converse in a small group facilitated the participants’ task engagement (TE); however, unenthusiastic peers could impede group interaction. Further, the data suggested that discussion topics and the content of tasks could spark the participants’ interest that supported their TE.
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Details
- Title
- Task Engagement in Higher Education
- Creators
- Pruksapan Bantawtook
- Contributors
- Joy Egbert (Advisor)Sarah Ulrich-French (Committee Member)Jane Kelley (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Teaching and Learning, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 120
- Identifiers
- 99900606653701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation