Momentary Engagement as a Complex Dynamic System

Abstract

This article answers a call for increased scientific precision in student engagement research by contributing a definition of engagement at the microlevel grain size of individual students’ momentary involvement in academic tasks. We build on the classroom engagement framework to create a conceptualization of momentary engagement as a dynamic system comprised of parts (emotion, motivation, mental action, and physical action) existing within an overarching structure (co-action between parts) that develops as a process (a sequence of engagement triggers, non-linear action and disengagement). This new conceptualization is discussed in relation to methods of studying momentary engagement focusing on the notions of complexity, emergence and dynamics. We conclude by calling for a paradigm shift in research on student engagement.

Self‐talk in middle childhood: A mechanism for motivational resilience during learning

“…The first few questions aimed to uncover children's understanding of self-talk in the classroom. Next, children responded to vignettes, each designed to elicit children's anticipated self-talk during specific classroom situations that would challenge their momentary engagement in learning (Symonds et al, 2019).…”

“…The vignettes aimed to elicit classroom-based situations that would be familiar to the children, where the children might struggle to maintain their momentary engagement. Momentary engagement is conceptualized as the dynamic flow of an integrated and reciprocal system of shifting emotion, motivation, mental action, and physical action (Symonds et al, 2019). Within momentary engagement, emotion constitutes affect, mood, and emotional responses that arise from moment to moment: for example, anticipation, embarrassment, excitement, and nervousness (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012).…”

“…Physical action comprises goal‐directed behavior (e.g., motor skills and organismic processes like attention) that enables the task to proceed, and affects the individual's alertness, concentration, and mood (Sohlberg & Mateer, 2001). Mental action within momentary engagement involves a wide set of goal‐directed mental processes such as planning, memory retrieval, concentration, cognition, and reasoning (Symonds et al, 2019). In the study vignettes, the children had to harness their self‐talk to sustain their engagement in the face of challenges to these four elements of engagement.…”

“…At its core, engagement involves making a concerted effort toward achieving a goal. As a construct, engagement is multidimensional in nature with distinct behavioral, emotional, and cognitive components (Fredricks et al, 2004), which are shaped by interactions between an individual and their environment in momentary time (Symonds et al, 2019). Ongoing engagement provides energy and momentum to sustain and guide students when they encounter academic difficulties (Cleary & Zimmerman, 2012).…”

The Role of Nested Systems in EFL Students' Willingness to Communicate (WTC) and Engagement

“…Furthermore, due to its flexibility, engagement is affected by different phenomenological, demographic, and instructional factors (Guilloteaux, 2016). From a CDST perspective, the dimensions and underlying components of engagement and their subcomponents can have part-to-part, part-towhole, and whole-to-part coactions that generate the overall engagement of the student in the class (Symonds et al, 2021).…”