Kejelasan Instruksional Dosen Dan Keterlibatan Mahasiswa Dalam Perkuliahan Bahasa Jerman: Peran Mediasi Learner Empowerment

Abstract

Teacher clarity is one of the most consistently documented instructional communication behaviors associated with student learning, yet the mechanism linking it to student engagement in foreign language classrooms remains underexplored. This study examines whether learner empowerment mediates the relationship between teacher clarity and student engagement in German as a foreign language (DaF) courses at Indonesian universities. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 186 students of German language education programs using the Teacher Clarity Short Inventory, an adapted Learner Empowerment Scale, and the Student Engagement Scale. Data were analyzed with simple mediation analysis (PROCESS Model 4) using 5,000 bootstrap samples. Teacher clarity positively predicted learner empowerment (B = 0.416, p < 0.001), and learner empowerment positively predicted engagement (B = 0.461, p < 0.001). The indirect effect of clarity on engagement through empowerment was significant (B = 0.191, 95% CI [0.107, 0.292]), while the direct effect remained significant (B = 0.217, p = 0.003), indicating partial mediation that accounted for 46.8% of the total effect. The findings suggest that clear instruction promotes engagement partly because it makes students feel that learning German is meaningful, achievable, and consequential. Lecturers are encouraged to pair structural clarity with communication that strengthens students’ sense of competence and impact.