An Overview of Language Engagement: The Importance of Student Engagement for Second Language Acquisition

Abstract

Student engagement has become a frequently used term in the vocabulary of Higher Education, and particularly among those involved in research associated with teaching and learning. It has been shown that despite the passage of time, the importance of engaging all students in their education continues to resonate strongly with families, students, educators, and researchers (Appleton, 2008). Student engagement in education has been gathering more and more attention; however, most of the studies in this field focus on the school engagement in general. It is currently argued among educators that student engagement is very significant concept, where individual differences between students in terms of their ability, cultural background and motivation are more considerable (Brown, 2005; Biggs, 2003; Prosser and Trigwell, 1999). This study investigates the importance of language engagement in second language acquisition. One of the significant roles of engagement in language acquisition is its perspective on reading. Much research has focused on engagement and it is clear from these studies that as students are more engaged academic performance is hence improved.