Sociality and Student Engagement in Online Learning: Engagement Stories of First-Year University Students in Vietnam

There has been increased interest in the understanding of how to maximise student engagement in online learning environments, particularly in English Language Teaching (ELT) courses. While many have scholars have recently explored the statistical relationship between student engagement and students’ course satisfaction, there has been limited research exploring the stories of students’ engagement experiences. Drawing upon a conceptual framework of student engagement and sociality, the reflective writing of seven students studying General English in a Vietnamese university was analysed using (Clandinin and Connelly, Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. Jossey-Bass, 2000) three-dimensional narrative inquiry analysis framework. The study examined how the relationships with others, such as teachers, peers and family, shaped the engagement experiences of ELT students at the beginning, middle and end of their course. The findings reveal that there is a powerful relationship between sociality and student engagement, with students’ stories capturing the important role of teachers’ purposeful instruction and facilitation of course content and activities, engaging students cognitively, emotionally, behaviourally and agentically. A sense of belonging and/or connection with teachers and peers, alongside the support of their families, were mediators of their engagement within their ELT courses. The study found that while there are place-based challenges relating to online teaching, many of these challenges can be overcome when teachers create meaningful opportunities for connection and interaction.