The Nature of Involvement in Academic Discourse Tasks

In 2 studies, the nature of the construct of involvement in discourse was explored. The studies focused on academic discourse in typical reading and writing tasks. In the 1st study, interviews with undergraduates about involving and uninvolving tasks were used as the basis for constructing items for questionnaires. Responses to these items were submitted to multidimensional scaling. Results indicated a 2-dimensional solution, with the dimensions of involvement being understanding and concentration. In Study 2, students were asked to report on their levels of involvement during a course writing assignment; significant differences were found in level of involvement and associated moods across phases of writing. Together, the studies suggest that discourse involvement is a state of engagement in a task, influenced by cognitive and motivational/affective factors.