Improving Student Engagement and Motivation: Perspectives of Iranian EFL Learners

One critical problem most educators have possibly experienced is that some students drop out of school probably due to loss of enough motivation. Research indicates student engagement could not only increase motivation but help to sustain it at high levels. This relationship between these two constructs has already been researched quantitatively in language education. However, little research seems to have been done on exploring the ways of increasing student engagement and motivation in relation to each other using a qualitative design. The present study thus aimed at investigating the ways to improve student engagement as well as motivation with a qualitative design. The participants were 30 male, intermediate EFL learners of the Iran Language Institute (ILI) in Gorgan, Iran. These participants, selected through convenience sampling, attended the semi-structured interview sessions voluntarily. The findings of the study led to a model of determinants of student engagement and language learning motivation. These determinants include teacher behavior, teacher personality, and student behavior for student engagement, and teacher, self, and parents for language learning motivation. It is expected the outcomes will be to the benefit of language teachers, language learners, and materials developers.