Sense of Belonging and Autonomous Learning Ability as Determinants to Students’ Engagement

Abstract

The research studied how sense of belonging and autonomous learning ability impact student engagement at Lorenzo S. Sarmiento Sr. National High School. The study measured engagement through the two factors which predict engagement through sense of belonging and autonomous learning ability. The research included 134 students who were studied through a quantitative-correlational design. The researchers used mean values together with Pearson r and multiple regression analysis to conduct their study. The results demonstrated that students established their strongest sense of belonging through three social connections which included peer connections and teacher support and school community experiences. Students demonstrated their ability to learn independently through their capacity to establish goals and which tasks to concentrate on and how to measure their progress. Students showed high engagement through their active participation and emotional involvement and mental concentration. The study showed strong positive relationships between sense of belonging and engagement and between autonomous learning ability and engagement which resulted in the null hypotheses being rejected. Students believed that all elements of sense of belonging and autonomous learning ability which they possessed were important elements which determined their level of engagement with others. Educators need to develop students' skills in belonging and autonomous learning to generate active participation which will lead to better results.