The study was carried out during the crisis of pandemic of Covid-19 when almost all educational institutions were forced to move to online learning. SelfDetermination Theory (SDT) is adopted as the theoretical framework in the thesis. The narrative frame was adopted in the research as a research tool to gain a deep understanding of student engagement and factors affecting their engagement as a multidimensional construct. The participants in the study include freshmen of both genders in a Vietnamese university. It is revealed in the study that most students displayed clearly behavior engagement while their cognitive and affective engagement is rather vague. The findings also indicated that student engagement in online learning is influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Among the extrinsic factors, an unstable internet connection and the flexibility of time and location in the virtual environment had the most significant effects on engagement. Despite limitations as a qualitative study, the research had some significant contributions to the understanding of engagement as a multidimensional, contextdependent construct and how it is related to Self-Determination Theory (SDT). It also contributes to the knowledge of authentic engagement in the context of non-major EFL students in higher education in Vietnam, which has pedagogical implications to EFL teachers in online teaching even after the pandemic. All of these are discussed in detail in the thesis.
Readership Map
Content Distribution
The study was carried out during the crisis of pandemic of Covid-19 when almost all educational institutions were forced to move to online learning. SelfDetermination Theory (SDT) is adopted as the theoretical framework in the thesis. The narrative frame was adopted in the research as a research tool to gain a deep understanding of student engagement and factors affecting their engagement as a multidimensional construct. The participants in the study include freshmen of both genders in a Vietnamese university. It is revealed in the study that most students displayed clearly behavior engagement while their cognitive and affective engagement is rather vague. The findings also indicated that student engagement in online learning is influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Among the extrinsic factors, an unstable internet connection and the flexibility of time and location in the virtual environment had the most significant effects on engagement. Despite limitations as a qualitative study, the research had some significant contributions to the understanding of engagement as a multidimensional, contextdependent construct and how it is related to Self-Determination Theory (SDT). It also contributes to the knowledge of authentic engagement in the context of non-major EFL students in higher education in Vietnam, which has pedagogical implications to EFL teachers in online teaching even after the pandemic. All of these are discussed in detail in the thesis.
