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Engaging students in learning activities: it is not autonomy support or structure but autonomy support and structure
Jang, H. Reeve, Johnmarshall Deci, Edward
Jang, H.
Reeve, Johnmarshall
Deci, Edward
Abstract
We investigated 2 engagement-fostering aspects of teachers’ instructional styles—autonomy support and structure—and hypothesized that students’ engagement would be highest when teachers provided high levels of both. Trained observers rated teachers’ instructional styles and students’ behavioral engagement in 133 public high school classrooms in the Midwest, and 1,584 students in Grades 9 –11 reported their subjective engagement. Correlational and hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed 3 results: (a) Autonomy support and structure were positively correlated, (b) autonomy support and structure both predicted students’ behavioral engagement, and (c) only autonomy support was a unique predictor of students’ self-reported engagement. We discuss, first, how these findings help illuminate the relations between autonomy support and structure as 2 complementary, rather than antagonistic or curvilinear, engagement-fostering aspects of teachers’ instructional styles and, second, the somewhat different results obtained for the behavioral versus self-report measures of students’ classroom engagement.
Keywords
autonomy support, structure, engagement, self-determination theory, teacher behavior
Date
2010
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Educational Psychology
Book
Volume
102
Issue
3
Page Range
588-600
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Positive Psychology and Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Relation URI
DOI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled