Abstract

• The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between teacher immediacy and academic engagement of student teachers. The quantitative research design and cross sectional survey method were used in this study. Data were collected by using simple random sampling method. A total of 412 student teachers from Yangon University of Education participated in this study. The Chinese Teacher Immediacy Scale (Zhang & Oetzel, 2006) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students (Schaufeli et al., 2006) were used as research instruments in this study. The results stated that student teachers could be classified into three groups of teacher immediacy: high group, moderate group and low group. The results revealed that there was no significant gender difference in teacher immediacy and its subscales. However, the findings indicated that there were significant differences in teacher immediacy and its subscales by education level and age. Regarding academic engagement, the findings indicated that student teachers could be classified into three groups: high group, moderate group and low group. The results revealed that the mean scores of male student teachers were higher than those of female student teachers in vigor, absorption and academic engagement. In addition, there were significant differences of academic engagement and its subscales by education level and age. Moreover, teacher immediacy was positively correlated with student teachers’ academic engagement. Furthermore, teacher immediacy can predict student teachers’ academic engagement.