Sustaining the desire to learn: Dimensions of perceived instructional facework related to student involvement and motivation to learn

Abstract

Instructional communication research about student motivation generally fails to explain the mechanism by which communication influences learning motivations, while motivational theories in psychology and education focus almost exclusively on cognitive and structural explanations. Addressing that interdisciplinary exigency, this study explains and tests a mechanism by which the facework dimension of instructional communication (specifically teacher feedback about student work) addresses important learner identity needs and thus predicts students’ intrinsic learning motivations, interaction involvement, and task‐mastery orientation toward their schooling. Instructional face‐support was found to predict each of the outcomes tested, with solidarity and tact facework as generally the best specific predictors. The discussion extends existing research and theory about classroom communication's influence on student motivations and involvement.