Comparing high school students’ online self-regulation and engagement in English language learning

Online self-regulation and engagement are key factors that facilitate student language learning in the physical absence of teachers. Few investigations have explored the potential impact of demographic variables such as urbanicity or ethnicity on online self-regulated learning. Such studies, however, can play a significant role in ensuring equity in education. We compared online self-regulation and engagement among three groups of secondary students from a metropolitan city and a rural area with mixed ethnicities. The ANOVA results indicated that there were significant differences between rural and urban groups, as well as between rural ethnic and urban non-ethnic groups. Partial least squares path analyses revealed commonalities and differences in the predictive relations. The rural-urban divide appears to be an important determinant of students’ online self-regulated learning. Cross-ethnic differences were also found regarding the relations between online self-regulation and engagement. This study deepens our understanding of secondary English learners from different socio-cultural- and economic backgrounds who are receiving online instruction. It calls for more efforts to close the digital divide between rural and urban education.