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The impact of developmental feedback on international students' learning engagement: a mixed-methods study based on
1College of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China.
Introduction:
The rapid internationalization of higher education underscores the critical role of instructional support in facilitating international students' academic integration. However, the underlying mechanisms through which teacher feedback strategies influence these students' learning engagement in cross-cultural contexts warrant further investigation.
Methods:
Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design within a Chinese Culture course. In the quantitative phase, 53 international students from two intact classes were assigned to either a developmental feedback condition (experimental group) or a traditional evaluative feedback condition (control group). This phase examined the differential effects of feedback strategies on learning engagement and the mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction. Subsequently, in-depth interviews (N = 8) were conducted to unpack how students' psychological needs were awakened and to identify the cognitive or environmental factors hindering the translation of psychological satisfaction into robust learning engagement.
Results:
Quantitatively, while developmental feedback significantly enhanced students' psychological need satisfaction (autonomy and relatedness), it did not translate into increased learning engagement, indicating a disconnection between motivational satisfaction and behavioral investment. Qualitative findings illuminated the barriers to this translation, identifying cross-cultural cognitive overload, the "emotional comfort zone" effect, and the displacement of engagement into implicit forms. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that developmental feedback often functioned as a direct "task checklist" bypassing psychological mediation, while perceived over-feedback could trigger resistance.
Discussion:
The study challenges the linear assumption of Self-Determination Theory in cross-cultural contexts and provides nuanced insights for designing effective feedback in internationalized education.
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