Effects of Perceived Autonomy on Student Engagements and Academic Performance in Japanese University Students

In this paper, in order to assess the effect of perceived autonomy on student engagement and academic performance in Japanese university students, we conducted two studies. In Study I, we created the Japanese student engagement scale. We then conducted surveys using this scale and, based on the resulting data, confirmed that the items in the scale functioned well and that the subscales of this scale had high internal consistencies and validity. In Study II, we conducted a randomized experiment whereby we operated the degree of perceived autonomy, and compared the degrees of student engagement and academic achievement between participants with high and low degrees of perceived autonomy. The results revealed that student engagement in the participants with low degrees of perceived autonomy was higher, which suggests that, unlike American university students, it was not advantageous for Japanese university students to have a perception of autonomy. From these results, it appears that culture may moderate the effect of perceived autonomy on student engagement and academic achievement.