Engagement versus Motivation: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Motivation and Engagement Wheel

Abstract

Both engagement and motivation have been identified as constructs that are critical to student success and are linked with later academic achievement. However, the multitude of conceptualizations around these constructs and how they relate to one another has become a point of contention within the field. The primary aim of the current study is to examine a model of academic engagement and motivation, the motivation and engagement wheel (MEW), using the Motivation and Engagement Scale (MES; Martin, 2009; Martin, Ginns, & Papworth, 2017) and replicating the model structure with a more diverse, elementary-aged American population. Secondarily, the current study aimed to expand the MEW by examining an adapted model structure that included alternate components of motivation and engagement as measured by the Engagement Versus Disaffection with Learning-teacher and student reports and Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scale. Participants included 270 students in 3rd - 6th grade (predominately African American, 67.4%), from an urban area in the Midwestern United States. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) techniques were used to compare the higher order structure across models. As hypothesized, the four-factor higher order models, comprised of adaptive engagement, adaptive motivation, maladaptive engagement, and maladaptive motivation, which best align with the MEW, demonstrated best fit across both the replication and adaptability models. Thus, this study provided additional support for the structure of the MEW, and preliminary evidence for its adaptability as a theoretical model.