ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1598513
This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging Issues in English Language Education with Psycho-Emotional Traits in the Spotlight: Futurology in Language StudiesView all 9 articles
Investigating EFL Students' Engagement in Project-Based Speaking Activities: From a Multi-Dimensional Perspective
Provisionally accepted
- 1Putra Malaysia University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
- 2Yangjiang Polytechnic, Yangjiang, China
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Student engagement is essential for improving academic performance and achievement. While previous studies have highlighted the benefits of project-based learning (PBL) in enhancing student engagement in the field of English learning, little research has explored its impact across multiple dimensions. This quasi-experimental mixed-methods study investigated the effects of PBL on EFL students' engagement in speaking activities, with a particular emphasis on behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic engagement. This study comprised 96 first-year students from a Chinese polytechnic who were separated into an experimental group (n=49) and a control group (n=47). The control group was instructed using a conventional teaching method, whereas the experimental group was taught using PBL. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were implemented to accumulate data. The questionnaires evaluated the four engagement dimensions both prior to and following the use of PBL. The interviews were conducted to explore the students' perspectives on the implementation of PBL in enhancing student engagement. The questionnaire results revealed that the experimental and control groups exhibited substantial differences in behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement. However, the two methods had no discernible effects on agentic engagement. The interview results show that students regarded PBL as highly effective in improving engagement, emphasizing themes of strong interest and enjoyment, focused concentration and effort, active application of cognitive strategies, and proactive contribution to learning. These findings indicate that PBL has the potential to substantially enhance emotional, behavioral and cognitive engagement. This study provides significant insights for educators working to promote student engagement in EFL classes.
Keywords: Behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, cognitive engagement, Agentic engagement, project-based learning, Speaking activities
Received: 23 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhong, Ismail and Lin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianer Zhong, Putra Malaysia University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, 43400, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
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