Learning and Study Strategies as Predictors of Undergraduates’ Emotional Engagement: A Cross-Validation Approach

Abstract

Although emotional engagement has received much attention in educational research, relatively little is known about its predictors among undergraduates. Accordingly, to predict emotional engagement, we used the learning and study strategies model, proposed and revised by Weinstein and Palmer, which has 10 strategies namely; information processing, selecting main ideas, test strategies, anxiety, attitude, motivation, concentration, self-testing, study aids, and time management. Thus, an adapted Arabic version of the learning and study strategies inventory-second edition and an emotional engagement scale were administered to 522 undergraduates. To ascertain the accuracy and generalizability of the final selected model in future samples, six candidate models were cross-validated using the leave-one-out approach. Results revealed that the final five-predictor model, which included information processing, anxiety, attitude, concentration, study aids, was the most parsimonious and had the lowest mean square error, explaining approximately 40% of the variation in undergraduates’ scores on emotional engagement. The study aids strategy was found to be the strongest predictor of emotional engagement. Educational implications, limitations, and directions for future research were also discussed.