English Education and Applied Linguistics (EEAL) Journal 198 Vol. 3 No.3, 2020 CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO EFL STUDENT DISENGAGEMENT Dea Febriana 1 , Asep Suparman 2 SMPN 2 Garut, Institut Pendidikan Indonesia asep.suparman@institutpendidikan.ac.id 2 Abstract Student disengagement is certainly one of big issues in education. It is believed to be the factor linked to some serious problems such as low achievement, disruptive behaviors, and dropouts. The objective of this study was to discover the sources of student disengagement. This study was carried out by conducting in-depths interviews with 18 students who were identified to be disengaged in the university. The interviews took place for around two weeks in one of private universities in Garut. From the findings, it was shown that student personality and teacher-associated factors are the most influential factors among all. Moreover, student disengagement may be caused by other factors such as academic shaming culture, heavy workloads, inappropriate textbook selection, inadequate facilities, unfavorable environment, and class scheduling Keywords: Contributing Factors, Student Disengagement INTRODUCTION Student engagement is seen to be the pathway and consistent predictor toward students’ educational success (Carini, Kuh, & Klein, 2006; Jang, Kim, & Reeve, 2012; Ladd & Dinella, 2009; Reeve & Lee, 2014; Salamonson, Yenna, & Everett, 2009; Skinner, Kindermann, Connell, & Wellborn, 2009; Zhao & Kuh, 2004). On the contrary, student disengagement presents itself as a problem for academics on a daily basis. Student disengagement refers to students’ simultaneous withdrawal of themselves which conceptualized as negativity process by implication a failure to act, an absence of exercise of will, or at extremes a condition of passivity in which personal responsibility is neglected (Fergusson, 2013; Fulford, 2017; Kahn, 1990). Furthermore, whether obvious or subtle, disengagement may result in weakening relationship between the student and educational institutions, achieving lower grades, and even dropping out from the university (Alexander, Entwisle, & Kabbani, 2001; Archambault, Janosz, Fallu, & Pagani, 2009; Bennett, 2007). In the other words, student disengagement is certainly one of the big problems in education. The purpose of this study is to discover the sources of problems associated with student disengagement. However, on the prior review of the literatures, many studies tend to focus on the roles of engagement. These studies have abundantly highlighted about the role of student engagement which is seen to be important for improving student learning, performance, retention, persistence, experience and achievement (Appleton, Christenson, Kim, & Reschly, 2006; Bryson & Hand, 2007; Carini, Kuh, & Klein, 2006; Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004; Tinto, 2006). Moreover, some other studies suggested some observable actions of student disengagement, for instance; poor participation, frequency of absences and tardiness, inexpressive and disruptive behaviors, and lack of attention (Finn, 1993; Finn, Pannozzo, & Voelkl, 1995; Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004; Hockings, Cooke, Yamashita, McGinty, & Bowl, 2008; Mann, 2001; Reichenberg, 2017) without finding in-depth resut, namely the sources of disengagament. In order to fill this