The continuity of college students’ autonomous learning motivation and its predictors: A three-year longitudinal study

Effects of perceived teacher support on motivation and engagement amongst Chinese college students: Need satisfaction as the mediator

College students' motivation and engagement are regarded as essential factors to promote their academic development and wellbeing. However, motivation and engagement among college students appear to decline after they enter the university. Guided by the framework of self-determination theory, this study attempted to explore a motivational model of how three dimensions of perceived teacher support (autonomy, structure, and involvement) related to student motivation and class engagement, using need satisfaction as a mediator. Drew on a survey of the perceptions of 705 Chinese university students, the results showed that besides structure, both autonomy support and involvement positively related to students' need satisfaction. Further, need satisfaction was positively associated with autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and class engagement and negatively linked with amotivation. Yet, only autonomous motivation was positively predicted for class engagement. Need satisfaction and the chain from need satisfaction to autonomous motivation were found to be the significant mediators. The practical implications of educational practices are discussed.

Social Integration in Higher Education and Development of Intrinsic Motivation: A Latent Transition Analysis

This study, based on the self-determination theory, investigates the link between university students' social peer and teacher integration and intrinsic motivation development. Both integration contexts are expected to contribute to the student's development, either additive or compensatory. The analyses rely on a nationally representative sample of 7,619 German university students (NEPS data set) and cover the time between the 3rd and 5th semesters in a longitudinal design. Person-centered analytical tools were applied to tap interindividual differences in the motivational trajectories as well as in integration profiles. Latent transition analyses revealed distinct links between the motivational trajectories (Increase [n = 532], Moderate Decrease [n = 2580], Decrease [n = 4,507]) and the integration profiles (Highly Integrated [n = 2,492], Moderately Integrated [n = 3832], Isolated [n = 1,144], Peer Deprivated [n = 151]), pointing to additive effects of teacher and peer integration. Positive trajectories were more likely in the Highly than in Moderately Integrated profiles. The two profiles pointing to below-average integration levels (Isolated and Peer Deprivated) showed the same probabilities for rather negative trajectories. The results are discussed against the backdrop of self-determination theory and additive vs. compensatory effects of teacher and peer integration, proposing a threshold model.

Latent motivation profiles for choosing teaching as a career: How are they linked to self-concept concerning teaching subjects and emotions during teacher education training?

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have explored pre-service teachers' motivation for choosing teaching as a career and the relations of pre-service teachers' motivation profile membership to long-term consequences. In contrast, little is still known about certain predictors and the more proximal consequences of pre-service teachers' motivation profile membership.

AIMS

Using the conceptualization of motivation proposed by Pohlmann and Möller (2010, Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 24, 73-84), the present study aimed to identify pre-service teachers' motivation profiles for choosing teaching as a career and to explore the relations of those profiles to certain individual characteristics (i.e., gender, age, specific school type, number of semesters, scholastic grade point average, self-concept concerning teaching subjects) as predictors and emotions pertaining to the teacher education programme (i.e., enjoyment, anger, anxiety) as outcomes.

SAMPLE

A total of 559 pre-service teachers from a mid-sized university in the North of Germany participated in this study.

METHODS

To identify pre-service teachers' motivation profile for choosing teaching as a career, latent profile analysis (LPA) with one to eight profile solutions was performed. Furthermore, to explore the specific relations of pre-service teachers' motivation profile membership to the predictors and outcomes under study, several multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Results of LPA revealed four distinct motivation profiles labelled 'Educationally Motivated' (26.9%), 'Utility Oriented' (14.9%), 'Motivationally Balanced' (55.4%), and 'Extrinsically Motivated' (2.7%). Higher self-concepts concerning teaching subjects increased almost twice the membership into the 'Educationally Motivated' profile relative to the 'Utility Oriented' and 'Extrinsically Motivated' profiles but decreased the membership into the 'Utility Oriented' profile relative to the 'Motivationally Balanced' profile. The 'Educationally Motivated' profile showed the highest level of enjoyment and lowest levels of anxiety and anger, while the 'Utility Oriented' profile exhibited the least enjoyment and highest levels of anxiety and anger.