90 Chapter 4 Verbal participation and silence were both reported as a sign of engagement and disengagement. Also here intention was important. Verbal participation was reported as a means to contribute to the collaborative learning process, but also as a means to finish the class quickly. Silence was reported as a means to improve understanding of difficult topics (e.g., listening to peers), but also as a sign of not paying attention. However, students described how their tutors seemed to view verbal participation as good and silence as bad. Silent students were urged to ‘speak up more’ (Student 12) by their tutor. Talkative students reported that they received feedback that they ‘participate well’ (Student 9). This indicated to students that silence was perceived as a sign of disengagement. Students reflecting on their silence indicated that their silence often meant they were ‘thinking about questions’ (Student 2) and ‘curious to hear other people’s perspectives’ (Student 8). They also did not ‘want to repeat what another had said’ (Student 8) or ‘speak up when they were not sure enough about something’ (Student 2). DISCUSSION This study uncovered three main themes that illuminate the dynamic process of student engagement and explain the difficulty in recognizing and influencing this process in practice. First, the spiral pattern of student engagement and disengagement shows how the three dimensions of engagement interrelate in classroom settings. We found that when students engage or disengage on one dimension, other dimensions are likely to follow suit. The engaged become more engaged, and the disengaged become more disengaged. Second, students’ willingness to engage in class is dependent upon their perception of engagement antecedents before class. It is the combination of these antecedents that jointly influences the likelihood of a student being engaged during a meeting. Third, distinguishing engagement from disengagement can be difficult, as behavior can outwardly look the same for tutors, but have very different intentions. The intentions determine if a student is engaged or disengaged. Recognizing student engagement in a classroom Teachers look for indicators of engagement in the behavior of students. The amount of verbal participation and use of electronic devices are common examples (29–36). This study illustrates how behaviors are preceded by intentions, and the intentions determine if behavior fits engagement or disengagement. Students who are silent because they want to learn from their peers, are engaged. Students who verbally participate because they want to end class early, are disengaged. Students who type on their smartphone to look up information, are engaged. Students who type on their laptop to text a friend, are disengaged. Thus, in order to recognize student engagement, teachers need to look beyond the behavioral dimension of engagement. The combination of behavior, cognition, and emotion is what defines engagement (37). The difficulty for teachers is that they can observe the behavioral dimension of engagement, but
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