A Structural Motivational Systems Perspective on Student Engagement

Abstract

Student engagement is a critical factor in academic success and persistence, particularly in undergraduate STEM courses where students frequently encounter demanding coursework and an elevated risk of attrition. Although prior research has demonstrated that students' perceptions of the motivational climate in a course are associated with their motivation and engagement in the course, less is known about the underlying mechanisms and how additional factors, such as perceived course difficulty, operate within these motivational processes. Grounded in the MUSIC Model of Motivation, this dissertation examines engagement as the outcome of interconnected motivational processes shaped by students' perceptions of their learning environments. This dissertation consists of two empirical studies that progressively examine motivational pathways influencing engagement. The first study investigates whether course motivation serves as a mediating mechanism linking students' perceptions of the motivational climate to behavioral engagement (i.e., effort) across undergraduate STEM courses. Using a multiple-group structural modeling approach, the study establishes motivation as a key explanatory process through which instructional environments translate into student engagement and provides evidence supporting the robustness of these relationships across instructional contexts. Building on this foundation, the second study integrates perceived course difficulty into the established motivational framework to develop a more nuanced understanding of engagement processes in challenging learning environments. This study examines how perceived difficulty operates alongside students' motivational climate perceptions and motivation to influence engagement, offering insight into how students interpret academic demands and sustain effort. The findings of this dissertation advance theoretical understanding of motivational processes underlying engagement and provide practical implications for instructional design by identifying factors that instructors can manipulate to foster student motivation and engagement.