Autonomy-supportive teachers: How they teach and motivate students.

TLDR

The study examined how teachers’ autonomy‑supportive versus controlling dispositions influence student motivation. The authors used three studies: a questionnaire validation with preservice teachers, a 10‑minute teaching vignette rated by observers, and self‑reports from elementary and high‑school teachers about recent motivational attempts. Autonomy‑supportive teachers displayed distinct conversational and interpersonal behaviors that fostered students’ intrinsic motivation and internalization compared to controlling teachers.

Abstract

The authors examined motivating style in terms of a teacher's disposition to control students or support their autonomy. In Study 1, 4 independent samples of preservice teachers completed the Problems in Schools (PS) questionnaire so the authors could critically evaluate the instrument to assess motivating style as an individual difference characteristic. In Study 2, preservice teachers taught a 10-min instructional episode as raters judged their language and style. In Study 3, elementary and high school teachers self-reported a recent attempt to teach and motivate one of their students. Compared with their controlling counterparts, autonomy-supportive teachers showed a distinctive motivating style as measured by their conversational behaviors, interpersonal style, and attempts to support students' intrinsic motivational and internalization processes.