The role of autonomous motivation for academic engagement of Indonesian secondary school students: A multilevel modelling approach

Abstract

Motivational theories coming originally from Western countries, like the self-determination theory, recognize that autonomous motivation provides energy for students to be actively engaged in academic learning. The theory assumes that the importance of autonomous motivation is cross-culturally generalizable. However, it remains inconclusive whether or not fi ndings from past Western research are valid for the Indonesian context. Particularly, it is unclear whether or not the two types of autonomous motivation as conceptualized by the self-determination theory (identifi ed and intrinsic) contribute equally strong to Indonesian students’ academic engagement. The present study was designed to examine the relationship between the two types of autonomous motivation and academic engagement in the Indonesian secondary education. Importantly, the hierarchical structure of the data was taken into account. A total of 4000 students (grades 7 to 12) from 200 classes/teachers from 15 secondary schools participated in the study. All students responded to the questionnaires on academic motivation and academic engagement in the middle of the school year. Multilevel modelling was used to analyse the data. Results show that autonomous motivation is signifi cantly and positively related to academic engagement. This means that the higher the level of autonomous motivation, the better the level of academic engagement. Both identifi ed motivation and autonomous motivation are important predictors for students’ academic engagement. However, identifi ed motivation could explain more variance in students’ academic engagement than intrinsic motivation. Findings suggest that schools should emphasize on providing a stimulating and safe learning environment that is conducive for sustaining students’ autonomous motivation (in the Indonesian context).