A Comparative Study On College English Learners’ Agentic Engagement In Online And Offline Teaching Modes From The Perspective Of Self-determination Theory

As one of the new perspectives of looking into learning engagement,agentic engagement emphasizes that learners make constructive contributions to classroom teaching and learning by virtue of active interaction with the learning environment in order to improve the level of engagement in their learning process.This exactly coincides with the view of self-determination theory which is viewed to be a motivational process theory related to human self-determination behaviors.Specifically,the self-determination theory with the focus on organic integration holds that human beings are equipped with the potential to develop themselves in a constructive way.Simultaneously,the social environment plays a role in the development of self-determination motivation.In other words,motivation and learning engagement exert an influence on each other.Motivation is one of main sources of learning engagement,and learning engagement is regarded as the outcome of motivation.Therefore,self-determination theory provides a comprehensive theoretical basis for investigating agentic engagement.At present,the online teaching mode has been adopted by many college English courses in China.While,the research into agentic engagement in online and offline teaching modes is still under-explored.This study looks into agentic engagement of college English learners in online and offline teaching modes from the perspective of the self-determination theory with the focus on three questions as follows:1)How is the state of college English learners’ agentic engagement in online and offline teaching modes? Are there any differences between them?2)What is the relationship between college English learners’ self-determination motivation and their agentic engagement in online and offline teaching modes?3)From the perspective of self-determination theory,what are the factors influencing the agentic engagement in online and offline college English teaching modes?To answer the questions above,this study employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods,adopting questionnaires,semi-structured interviews and classroom observation as the way of collecting data.The main findings are presented as follows:Firstly,the college English learners’ agentic engagement in both online and offline teaching modes are at the medium level.The level of agentic engagement in the online teaching mode is significantly lower than that in the offline teaching mode.Secondly,the four orientations of self-determination motivation(external regulation,introjected regulation,identified regulation and integrated regulation)are significantly positively correlated with online agentic engagement.In the offline teaching mode,except for external regulation that does not positively correlate with agentic engagement,the other three orientations present significantly positive correlation with offline agentic engagement.Thirdly,both internal and external factors play a role in agentic engagement.The internal factors mainly include learners’ characteristics,personal development(credit acquisition,English tests,employment),personal interests(interest in English,interest in course content)as well as learner’s belief.The external factors consist of environmental factors(social environment and facilities),teacher-related factors(supervision,teaching design,teaching quality and teacher-student interaction),and peer-related factors(peer personal factors and relationship).Based on the findings above,this study puts forward the following teaching suggestions.At first,an increase of teacher-student interaction and peer-peer interaction should be seen in college English classroom.In the process of interacting,college English learners can be stimulated to produce more English output along with their passion for learning English and learner autonomy to be generated.In addition,a learner-centered teaching atmosphere should be created,during which students are enabled to become the builders of the teaching environment and process.This can be achieved by various teaching activities.Thirdly,teachers should fully stimulate learners’ self-determination motivation in class,especially in the online teaching mode.Last but not least,the channels for curriculum feedback,especially towards the problems in online college English teaching should be provided for learners so as to accumulate precious experiences for further advancement of college English teaching and learning.