Available online at www.jlls.org JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTIC STUDIES ISSN: 1305-578X Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(1), 17-33; 2021 © 2021 Cognizance Research Associates - Published by JLLS. Students’ cognitive engagement during emergency remote teaching: Evidence from the Indonesian EFL milieu Audi Yundayani a 1 , Fuad Abdullah b , Soni Tantan Tandiana c , Bejo Sutrisno d a STKIP Kusuma Negara, Jakarta, Indonesia b Universitas Siliwangi, Tasikmalaya, Indonesia c Universitas Siliwangi, Tasikmalaya, Indonesia d Sekolah Tinggi Bahasa Asing IEC, Jakarta, Indonesia APA Citation: Yundayani, A., Abdullah, F., Tantan Tandiana, S., & Sutrisno, B. (2021). Students’ cognitive engagement during emergency remote teaching: Evidence from the Indonesian EFL milieu, 17(1), 17-33. Doi: 10.52462/jlls.2 Submission Date: 03/01/2021 Acceptance Date: 13/03/2021 Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has influenced various dimensions of higher education systems globally, including English language learning. To illustrate, the pedagogical practices should be altered from face-to-face to online modes. This move affects students' learning engagement, notably cognitive engagement. Although myriad studies have focused on probing students' cognitive engagement, little is known about how students engage cognitively during emergency remote teaching (ERT). To fill this void, this study investigated students' cognitive engagement in English language learning activities in an ERT environment. Sixty students from three Indonesian higher educational institutions were involved as participants. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview and analyzed with thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The findings revealed that students, (1) deploying metacognitive language learning strategies, (2) possessing self-regulated learning, (3) designating English language learning motivation, (4) showcasing critical thinking as a manifestation of students’ cognitive engagement, and (5) connecting teaching materials to the students’ daily life. The implications of this study call for emphasizing students’ English language learning needs and teachers’ continuous professional development. Keywords: emergency remote teaching; Indonesian EFL context; online learning; students’ cognitive engagement 1. Introduction COVID-19 or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has raised considerable impacts on the entire aspects of life, such as public health, economy, education, industry, tourism, politics, and cultural and religious facets (Carr, 2020; Guan, Deng & Zhou, 2020; Hasan & Bao, 2020; Koenig, 2020; Rundle, Park, Herbstman, Kinsey & Wang, 2020; Sintema, 2020; Yen, 2020; Yezli& Khan, 2020). The virus was initially diagnosed in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Since then, it has scattered globally (Guan, et al., 2020; McKelvey, 2020; Sintema, 2020; Yezli & 1 Corresponding author. E-mail address: audi_yundayani@stkipkusumanegara.ac.id