Measuring Saudi Arabian Students' Engagement in Synchronous Online Learning of Chinese as a Foreign Language

IF 5.1 2区教育学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Pub Date : 2025-02-05 DOI:10.1111/jcal.70000

Peijian Paul Sun, Zeqi Ren, Xian Zhao

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Student engagement has been conceptualised and operationalised in various learning environments. However, there is currently a lack of established scales to measure student engagement in synchronous online learning. One possible reason is the existence of the conceptual and structural ambiguity regarding student engagement.

Objective

With its context situated in Saudi Arabian students' synchronous online learning of Chinese as a foreign language (L2 Chinese), this study attempts to find out the best representation and measure of synchronous online engagement based on four competing statistical modelling methods, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM), bi-factor CFA (B-CFA) and bi-factor ESEM (B-ESEM).

Methods

A total of 167 Saudi Arabian students voluntarily participated in this online questionnaire-based study. A 19-item online questionnaire was adaptively developed to measure students' engagement in synchronous online learning of L2 Chinese from behavioural, cognitive, affective and social dimensions. CFA, ESEM, B-CFA and B-ESEM were employed to determine the optimal structure model for representing students' synchronous online engagement in L2 Chinese learning.

Results and Conclusion

The results revealed that the B-ESEM model was the best structure model for both measuring and accounting for the generality and specificity of students' engagement in synchronous online learning of L2 Chinese. More specifically, student online engagement was found to be a general unity with four distinctive subdimensions including behavioural, cognitive, affective and social engagement. This study not only reconciles the construct inconsistency of student engagement in the literature from the synchronous online learning perspective but also provides an optimal representation for measuring students' synchronous online engagement in L2 learning.

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来源期刊

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-

CiteScore

9.70

自引率

6.00%

发文量

116

期刊介绍： The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning is an international peer-reviewed journal which covers the whole range of uses of information and communication technology to support learning and knowledge exchange. It aims to provide a medium for communication among researchers as well as a channel linking researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. JCAL is also a rich source of material for master and PhD students in areas such as educational psychology, the learning sciences, instructional technology, instructional design, collaborative learning, intelligent learning systems, learning analytics, open, distance and networked learning, and educational evaluation and assessment. This is the case for formal (e.g., schools), non-formal (e.g., workplace learning) and informal learning (e.g., museums and libraries) situations and environments. Volumes often include one Special Issue which these provides readers with a broad and in-depth perspective on a specific topic. First published in 1985, JCAL continues to have the aim of making the outcomes of contemporary research and experience accessible. During this period there have been major technological advances offering new opportunities and approaches in the use of a wide range of technologies to support learning and knowledge transfer more generally. There is currently much emphasis on the use of network functionality and the challenges its appropriate uses pose to teachers/tutors working with students locally and at a distance. JCAL welcomes: -Empirical reports, single studies or programmatic series of studies on the use of computers and information technologies in learning and assessment -Critical and original meta-reviews of literature on the use of computers for learning -Empirical studies on the design and development of innovative technology-based systems for learning -Conceptual articles on issues relating to the Aims and Scope