“Who Just Pushed My Metaphoric Button”? An Examination of Student-Related Factors Influencing Teachers’ Motivating Styles

Woon Chia Liu*, Leng Chee Kong, Chee Keng John Wang, Ying Hwa Kee, Betsy Ng, Karen Lam, Johnmarshall Reeve

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Teachers’ motivational strategies can be categorised into two types of motivating styles—autonomy-supportive style versus controlling style (Reeve in Educ Psychol 44:159–175, 2009). Several factors can affect the teachers’ use of motivational strategies, and student-related factors are some influential reasons. In this study, we focussed on identifying the student-related reasons that could affect the teachers’ motivating styles through 56 teacher interviews from 17 secondary schools across Singapore. From the teachers’ accounts, we identified “student profiles”, “students’ behaviours”, “students’ engagements”, and “students’ feedback” as the student-related factors that could affect the teachers’ motivating styles. By identifying these factors, we hope to raise awareness amongst the teachers (at the personal level) and their social environments (at the contextual level) on what can facilitate or thwart the expression of autonomy-supportive teaching. We also hope to provide useful information on what the social environments can do to support teachers in autonomy-supportive teaching.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1467-1480
Number of pages14
JournalAsia-Pacific Education Researcher
Volume33
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2024
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© De La Salle University 2024.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Education

Keywords

  • Autonomy-supportive motivating style
  • Controlling motivating style
  • Motivating styles
  • Self-determination theory
  • Student-related factors

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