The role of Teachers’ Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Competencies in Enhancing Students’ Engagement and Learning Outcomes

Abstract

Grounded in constructivism and considering the context of literature studies, the current research examines the direct and indirect impact of students’ perception of their teachers’ indigenous knowledge and cultural competencies on their learning outcomes via an underlying mechanism of student engagement.  The current study aims to provide insightful recommendations for academicians and school administrative bodies to provide necessary teacher training and development facilities so they can better transfer their knowledge to the students. Furthermore, the current study brings several theoretical and practical advances in the context of literature studies. Utilizing a time-lagged quantitative research design, data were collected from the 536 literature students from the higher educational institutions of Indonesia. Moreover, data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in SmartPLS3 software.  The results revealed that students’ perception of their teachers’ indigenous knowledge and cultural competency positively influences their learning outcomes in terms of cognitive, social, and interpersonal skills. Besides, no significant differences were found between the impact of teachers' indigenous knowledge and cultural competencies on students learning outcomes reflecting the utmost importance of both study constructs in enhancing students’ abilities. Moreover, results also revealed the significant mediatory role of students' engagement between their perceptions of teachers’ indigenous knowledge and cultural competencies to enhance their learning outcomes.