Iranian Journal of Educational Research

en Examining Psychological Needs, Active Engagement and Individual Satisfaction of Students through Self-Determination Theory Educational Studies پژوهشي Original <div style="text-align: justify;">Objective: This study aimed to examine whether Iranian EFL learners’ agentic engagement significantly predicts their psychological needs and self-actualization. It also investigated whether self-actualization significantly predicts psychological needs. Additionally, the study explored common engagement practices among Iranian language learners. Methods: An explanatory correlational design was employed. A total of 300 EFL learners from three private language institutes in Mahallat, Iran, participated in the study. Data were collected using the Oxford Placement Test, the Basic Psychological Needs Scale, the Agentic Engagement Scale, and the Self-Actualization Questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics, including Pearson correlation and regression analyses. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was further applied to refine the structural model by removing non-significant paths and indicators with low factor loadings. Results: The findings indicated that agentic engagement was a positive and statistically significant predictor of both psychological needs and self-actualization among Iranian EFL learners. Furthermore, self-actualization significantly predicted learners’ psychological needs. Conclusions: The results highlight the central role of agentic engagement in fostering psychological needs satisfaction and self-actualization among EFL learners. These findings suggest that promoting agentic engagement in language classrooms may enhance learners’ psychological development and overall learning experience. Pedagogical implications for language educators are discussed.</div> Agentic Engagement, Engagement, Iranian EFL learners, Psychological Needs, Self-actualization 0 0 http://ijer.hormozgan.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-193-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mehdi Abbasvandi m_abbasvandi@yahoo.com 0000-0003-6652-5262 Yes Ph.D, Candidate, English Language Department, Mar.C., Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran Soraya Behroozizad vaaasma2@gmail.com 0000-0002-4844-7245 No Ph.D, English Language Department, Mar.C., Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran Davood Kuhi davud.k@gmail.com 0000-0002-8705-9093 No Ph.D, English Language Department, Mar.C., Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran Roya Ranjbar Mohammadi royaaranjbar@gmai.com 0000-0003-0090-4834 No Ph.D, English Language Department, Bon.C., Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran