Validating Students' Planned Engagement in Learning Arabic through Six Psychological Constructs

Abstract

Engagement measures in language education often mix what learners do with what they say they are prepared to do, and the two are not the same thing. This study treats readiness as a construct in its own right. Planned engagement was defined as the psychological preparation that precedes visible participation. This study examines that earlier stage through the concept of planned engagement among 213 learners of L2 Arabic at Indian universities. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the model combines intention, attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control with enjoyment and anxiety. These six Lower-Order Constructs (LOCs) were examined as indicators of a reflective-reflective Higher-Order Construct (HOC). Data came from a 26-item bilingual Arabic-English questionnaire and were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Intention, attitude toward behavior, and perceived behavioral control were most closely related to the HOC, followed by subjective norms and enjoyment, whereas anxiety showed an inverse relationship. The pattern suggests that planned engagement can represent a shared state of readiness before learners participate. Rather than treating readiness as engagement itself, the measure keeps the two apart. It may therefore help researchers and instructors examine how prepared learners feel to take part before their classroom behavior is observed.