Student engagement in the multilingual classroom
The project
This FWF-funded ESPRIT project examines the engagement of learners in Middle School (MS) in the English class in Austria, with a special focus on learners with linguistically diverse backgrounds.
The project has three main aims:
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To explore learners’ engagement in the English language classroom.
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To examine learners’ engagement with school more broadly.
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To understand learners’ engagement with their whole language repertoire within and beyond school.
By means of this project, we hope to gain a better understanding of MS students' individual learning needs and the dynamics of their engagement within and beyond school.
This study adopts a two-phase sequential mixed-method research design, in which the initial exploratory phase (Phase I) will be followed by a large-scale quantitative survey (Phase II). The two sequential stages will complement each other and lead to the refinement of a theoretical model of engagement by generating rich insights into the construct.
Currently, we are in Phase II of the project. We are piloting our research instruments for the quantitative phase of the study, and we aim to complete data collection by February 2025.
