A Study of the Relationship between Self-Determination, and English Learning Outcome to Junior College Students in Taiwan-The Mediating Effect of Learning Engagement

Students in junior colleges in Taiwan seem to have lower achievement in English, comparing with those in junior high schools and universities, but they’d like to put more efforts on it as long as they are motivated. The purpose of the study was to ascertain self-determination motivators towards the learning outcome mediating by learning engagement and secondarily to test the hypothesis that, from evaluation of English learning outcome, sled-determination motivators are mediated by learning engagement by the students. About 339 completed questionnaires were received from a junior college in Eastern Taiwan in the 2015 academic year. The Motivation Scale–College Version (AMC-C28) and the Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (SCEQ) are the research instruments as well as students’ academic records. The results showed that self-determination motivators have a significant indirect influence on learning outcome by learning engagement, while only attitude indicator has a significant indirect influence. The conclusion is that selfdetermination, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation causes English learning outcome and the effect is mediated by learning engagement and attitude engagement. The suggestions are that students can change their attitudes toward English learning for better performance and teachers can help student focus on what their favorite ways to learn English