Testing a Three-Phase-Model of the Relationship Between Motivational Appraisals, Observable Engagement, and Subjective Engagement: Insights From Combining Mobile Learning Data and Daily Diaries

We postulate a model of how students' motivational appraisals (expectancy, value, cost) before learning influence their observable engagement during learning and subsequent subjective perceptions of engagement after learning. The key hypothesis than can be derived from the model is that observable engagement during learning explains the relationships between motivational appraisals and perceived engagement at an intra-individual level. For an initial test of this model, we used log data from a mobile learning app that 189 fifth-graders (mean age 10.82 years) used to learn vocabulary, along with daily questionnaires over five weeks. In partial support of the model, expectancy and value appraisals explained unique variance in observable engagement, which in turn explained day-to-day variation in reported satisfaction and task delay. However, perceived effort was not related to observable engagement, and the associations between self-reports and observable engagement were generally rather weak. In sum, the model provides a promising platform for understanding the interplay between motivational appraisals, observable engagement and its subjective perception, which should be a key objective of motivation research.