Disadvantaged students are socioeconomically inferior, and their English academic achievements tend to lag behind, which is not conducive to their comprehensive and long-term development. It is necessary to find the influencing factors of these students’ English learning and implement intervention. A total of 4082 Grade 8 disadvantaged students in a southern city in China enrolled in this study, and an analysis was conducted about how their English reading engagement predicted their reading performance and reading resilience. It was revealed that disadvantaged students’ English reading performance is significantly lower than that of non-disadvantaged students, and their reading engagement is significantly less too. Their pleasure reading time, reading attitude and metacognitive strategies can significantly predict the reading performance and English reading resilience. Theoretically, this study supports the three-element model of reading engagement. Practically, this study has significance for disadvantaged students’ English teaching and intervention, and may contribute to equity in English education for junior high students.