Understanding Classroom Engagement in Chinese Higher Education: A Student Perspective

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_14How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Student engagement; self-determination theory; higher education; humanities; STEM

Abstract

Student engagement has long been recognized as a key predictor of academic achievement in higher education. Fostering classroom engagement is essential for advancing the quality of higher education and cultivating high-quality talents in the contemporary era. Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), this study employed a questionnaire survey to explore how 166 undergraduates perceive and experience highly engaging classes. The findings indicate that students expect course content to be connected to their prior knowledge and real-world life. They believe that an approachable teaching style featuring humor and clear logical reasoning could enhance learner engagement. In addition, students highlighted the importance of supportive, transparent, and constructive feedback in fostering classroom engagement. Notably, students in the humanities and STEM fields differ in their perceptions of the most significant determinants of student engagement: humanities students tend to emphasize the value of course content and their personal preference, whereas STEM students attach greater importance to structured instruction and teachers’ guidance. These findings provide crucial insights into the understanding of classroom engagement and offer practical implications for instructional design and pedagogical reform in higher education.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Juezheng Wei
AU  - Shu Huang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/07
TI  - Understanding Classroom Engagement in Chinese Higher Education: A Student Perspective
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 12th International Conference on Digital Humanities and Frontiers in Social Sciences (DHFSS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 117
EP  - 123
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_14
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_14
ID  - Wei2026
ER  -