Teacher-student interaction and lower secondary school students’ situational engagement

Background: Prior research has shown that engagement plays a significant role in students’ academic learning. Aims: The present study sought to expand the current understanding of students’ engagement by examining how situational engagement during a particular lesson is associated with the observed teacher–student classroom interactions (i.e., emotional support, instructional support, and classroom organization) in the same lesson. Sample: The participants were 709 Grade 7 students (47.7% girls) from 59 classrooms in 26 lower secondary schools and 51 teachers. Methods: The data consisted of 155 video‐recorded lessons (90 language arts and 65 mathematics lessons) coded using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System – Secondary (CLASS‐S) observational instrument. Students’ self‐ratings of their situation‐specific engagement were collected using the mobile‐based In Situations (InSitu) Instrument at the end of each lesson. The data were analyzed with cross‐classified two‐level hierarchical modelling. Results and conclusions: The results indicated that emotional support in the classroom was positively associated with students’ emotional engagement and help‐seeking, whereas classroom organization was associated with students’ behavioural and cognitive engagement. Overall, the findings provide novel evidence suggesting that students’ engagement can be fostered by supportive teacher‐student interactions.