The prime aim of this study was to examine the effects of contextual factors and cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies on secondary school students’ academic engagement by employing an ex-post facto prospective research design. The data were gathered through self-report questionnaires from a sample of 700 (348 females and 352 males) students selected via a multi-stage random sampling technique from nine secondary schools. To examine the direct and indirect effects of contextual factors and cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies on academic engagement, Structural Equation Modeling/SEM with Analysis of Moment Structures/AMOS test was used. The findings of Structural equation Modeling analysis revealed that contextual factors had a significant direct effect on academic engagement (β=.475, p=.000.001). Additionally, the results showed that contextual factors had a significant indirect effect on academic engagement through the mediation of metacognitive strategies (β = .356, p = .002). In contrast, the indirect effect of contextual factors on academic engagement through cognitive strategies was not statistically significant (β = .094, p = .505).
Tesfaye Girma Weldetsadik (Mon,) studied this question.