Students’ knowledge about the criteria for an upcoming test is a crucial component of assessment quality. Grounded in self-determination theory, we investigated whether knowledge about the criteria for an upcoming test related to students’ situational motivation and experienced anxiety during physical education (PE). We also examined whether these relations were: (a) mediated by need-based experiences; and (b) moderated by teachers’ motivating style. Participants were 659 students (55.54% boys, 44.46% girls, mean age 14.72 years, standard deviation = 0.94) out of 40 classes from 32 schools taught by 39 different PE teachers. Analyses through multilevel structural equation modeling showed that students with more knowledge about the criteria for an upcoming test valued and enjoyed the lesson more (i.e. autonomous motivation), and felt less aloof (i.e. amotivation). Relations between knowledge about the criteria and students’ situational motivation were mediated by experienced need satisfaction. Specifically, students who had more knowledge about the criteria for an upcoming test felt more in charge of their learning process (i.e. autonomy satisfaction), felt more effective in reaching their goals (i.e. competence satisfaction) and felt more connected to the teacher (i.e. relatedness satisfaction). Although relations between knowledge about the criteria and students’ motivation were not moderated by teachers’ motivating style, teachers’ motivating style displayed independent relations with students’ motivation. Implications for assessment quality and students’ motivation in PE are discussed.
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Grounded in self-determination theory, the present study examines the explanatory role of students' perceived need satisfaction and need frustration in the relationship between performance grading (versus non-grading) and students' motivation and fear in a real-life educational physical education setting. Grading consisted of teacher judgments of students' performances through observations, based on pre-defined assessment criteria. Thirty-one classes with 409 students (Mage = 14.7) from twenty-seven Flemish (Belgian) secondary schools completed questionnaires measuring students' perceived motivation, fear and psychological need satisfaction and frustration, after two lessons: one with and one without performance grading. After lessons including performance grading, students reported less intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, and more external regulation, amotivation and fear. As expected, less need satisfaction accounted for (i.e., mediated) the relationship between performance grading and self-determined motivational outcomes. Need frustration explained the relationship between performance grading and intrinsic motivation, as well as less self-determined motivational outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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Self-determination theory is hugely popular in peer reviewed psychology, while it is both a very general theory, and in nature common sense. However, it seems to be, as John Maynard Keynes argues. that “It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.” Psychology can hardly be blamed for being hyper-specialized, with a sloppy 370 peer-reviewed articles a day (!) on SDT, a 'common sense' theory. Two conclusions: (1) if intrinsic motivation were self-evident in our (hyperspecialized) society, not so much would be published about SDT and (2) peer review in psychology does not automatically lead to generally accepted scientific insights. For example, Newton's laws of physics don't need to be "proven" in publications hundreds of times a day.
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Self-determination theory is hugely popular in peer reviewed psychology, while it is both a very general theory, and in nature common sense. However, it seems to be, as John Maynard Keynes argues. that “It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.” Psychology can hardly be blamed for being hyper-specialized, with a sloppy 370 peer-reviewed articles a day (!) on SDT, a 'common sense' theory. Two conclusions: (1) if intrinsic motivation were self-evident in our (hyperspecialized) society, not so much would be published about SDT and (2) peer review in psychology does not automatically lead to generally accepted scientific insights. For example, Newton's laws of physics don't need to be "proven" in publications hundreds of times a day.
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Abstract: Technological innovation in the healthcare sector is increasing, but integration of information technology (IT) in the care process is difficult. Healthcare workers are important agents in this IT integration. The purpose of this study is to explore factors that feed motivation to use IT. Self-determination theory (SDT) is applied to study how motivational factors impact effective IT use among frontline caregivers in residential care settings. As the team is very important to these caregivers, the team is our unit of analysis. In an embedded single case study design, interviews were conducted with all nine members of a team effectively using IT. All three basic psychological needs from SDT - autonomy, competence and relatedness - were found to have impact on effective IT use, though autonomy was primarily experienced at team level. Conversely, the effective use of an IT collaboration tool influences relatedness.
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Background: The importance of clarifying goals and providing process feedback for student learning has been widely acknowledged. From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, it is suggested that motivational and learning gains will be obtained because in well-structured learning environments, when goals and process feedback are provided, students will feel more effective (need for competence), more in charge over their own learning (need for autonomy) and experience a more positive classroom atmosphere (need for relatedness). Yet, in spite of the growing theoretical interest in goal clarification and process feedback in the context of physical education (PE), little experimental research is available about this topic. Purpose: The present study quasi-experimentally investigated whether the presence of goal clarification and process feedback positively affects students’ need satisfaction and frustration. Method: Twenty classes from five schools with 492 seventh grade PE students participated in this quasi-experimental study. Within each school, four classes were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions (n = 121, n = 117, n = 126 and n = 128) in a 2 × 2 factorial design, in which goal clarification (absence vs. presence) and process feedback (absence vs. presence) were experimentally manipulated. The experimental lesson consisted of a PE lesson on handstand (a relatively new skill for seventh grade students), taught by one and the same teacher who went to the school of the students to teach the lesson. Depending on the experimental condition, the teacher either started the lesson explaining the goals, or refrained from explaining the goals. Throughout the lesson the teacher either provided process feedback, or refrained from providing process feedback. All other instructions were similar across conditions, with videos of exercises of differential levels of difficulty provided to the students. All experimental lessons were observed by a research-assistant to discern whether manipulations were provided according to a condition-specific script. One week prior to participating in the experimental lesson, data on students’ need-based experiences (i.e. quantitatively) were gathered. Directly after students’ participation in the experimental lesson, data on students’ perceptions of goal clarification and process feedback, need-based experiences (i.e. quantitatively) and experiences in general (i.e. qualitatively) were gathered. Results and discussion: The questionnaire data and observations revealed that manipulations were provided according to the lesson-scripts. Rejecting our hypothesis, quantitative analyses indicated no differences in need satisfaction across conditions, as students were equally satisfied in their need for competence, autonomy and relatedness regardless of whether the teacher provided goal clarification and process feedback, only goal clarification, only process feedback or none. Similar results were found for need frustration. Qualitative analyses indicated that, in all four conditions, aspects of the experimental lesson made students feel more effective, more in charge over their own learning and experience a more positive classroom atmosphere. Our results suggest that under certain conditions, lessons can be perceived as highly need-satisfying by students, even if the teacher does not verbally and explicitly clarify the goals and/ or provides process feedback. Perhaps, students were able to self-generate goals and feedback based on the instructional videos.
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A cornerstone of inclusive education is teacher’s readiness to respond adequately to different educational needs of students in their diverse classroom. Differentiated instruction, referring to the process by which teachers carefully monitor students’ needs and progress, and adapt their instruction according to these differences, is a means to meet the needs of students of different levels. High-quality differentiated instruction is a complex process for teachers which needs careful preparation. This makes teachers’ intentions relating to differentiated instruction particularly relevant. In this article we compare two theoretical models to explain teachers’ intentions to differentiate: the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Self-determination theory (SDT). Secondary school teachers (n = 180) responded to a questionnaire in which we measured their intentions and predictor variables relating to both of the theoretical models. Linear regression showed that both the TPB as well as the SDT model significantly predicted teachers’ intentions (p < .01), but that the TPB model showed a better fit with the data (48 versus 32% explained variance). We conclude that in addition to the factors included in the TPB, autonomy might be a relevant factor in explaining teachers’intentions.
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Acknowledging the knowledge gaps and novel paradigms outlined above within both coaching research and practice, the PhD research aims to investigate how need-supportive coaching—rooted in Self-Determination Theory (SDT)—effectively fulfils the satisfaction of beginning teachers’ basic psychological needs (BPNs) and autonomous motivation in pursuing their coaching goals within dyadic coaching relationships. To systematically explore this overarching objective, this PhD project and thesis adopt a structured, four-step approach, where each step investigates specific and complementary aspects of the coaching process. Collectively, these steps provide a comprehensive examination of how and under what conditions BPN-supportive coaching facilitates optimal motivational outcomes, enriching our understanding of the dynamic processes that shape coaching effectiveness among beginning teachers. Specifically, four research questions systematically guide the four research steps:1. What is the current state of empirical evidence linking BPN support, BPN satisfaction, and autonomous motivation within coach-coachee relationships?2. How do perceptual distances between coaches’ and coachees’ perceptions regarding BPN support relate to the coachees’ BPN satisfaction?3. How do coaches’ and coachees’ BPN satisfaction mutually predict autonomous motivation toward shared goals in their dyadic relationships?4. How do coaches and coachees dynamically co-regulate BPN interactions in real-time dyadic coaching conversations?Chapter 1 outlined a four-step empirical approach across Chapters 2 to 5 to understand BPN-supportive coaching. Chapter 2 meta-analysed the extant literature guided by a circular framework connecting BPN support, BPN satisfaction, and autonomous motivation for both parties. The results revealed that previous studies predominantly used individual-level data, neglecting the dynamic, reciprocal interactions in coaching. Chapter 3 investigated perceptual distance between coaches and coachees regarding BPN support using polynomial regression and response surface analysis. Results indicated that coachees reported greater BPN satisfaction when perceptions were closely aligned. Chapter 4 adopted the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to examine how both parties’ BPN satisfaction is associated with their own and each other’s autonomous motivation. We found a positive unidirectional association between coachees’ relatedness satisfaction and coaches’ autonomous motivation and bidirectional associations for autonomy satisfaction. Chapter 5 employed State Space Grid analyses to capture the moment-to-moment co-regulation of autonomy in coach-coachee dyads. Results revealed recurrent patterns of predominant functional co-regulation (e.g., autonomy support met with proactive autonomy expression), and occasional dysfunctional co-regulation (e.g., evaluative feedback met with disengagement). Temporal evolvement in autonomy co-regulation was identified across coaching sessions in response to changing goals. Chapter 6 synthesised the contributions of the thesis. Collectively, BPN-supportive coaching can be viewed as a context-sensitive, interdependent, co-regulatory, and dynamic process, and we provided guidance for adaptive and relationally grounded coaching practices.
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Background: The social identity approach proposes that the more older adults identify with the social group of “older adults,” the more they will conform to what they perceive as being normative exercising for their group. However, so far, it remains unclear why older adults adhere to these norms. Objective: This study evaluated whether perceived exercise norms are associated with higher levels of autonomous motivation according to the self-determination theory and actual exercise participation. Methods: A cross-sectional survey, either by regular mail or online, was conducted among 409 older adults in Flanders Belgium). Results: Our analyses revealed that older adults who perceived more positive older adult norms for exercising were more autonomously motivated to exercise. In explaining 24% of their exercise motivation, older adults’ perceptions of the exercise norms for older adults predicted 6% of their exercise participation. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that social identity approach and selfdetermination theory can be meaningfully integrated.
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Much research has been done into the relationship between students’ motivation to learn and their basic psychological needs as defined by the self-determination theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness). However, few studies have explored how these psychological needs relate to different types of maladaptive behavior in the classroom. To prevent or remedy such behavior, more insight into its relationships is required. The present study attempted to determine the relationship between maladaptive behavior of secondary school students (grades 8 and 9) and the degree to which both teachers and peers address their needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Results show significant, negative correlations between maladaptive student behavior in the classroom and the extent to which students’ basic psychological needs are met by teachers and fellow students. Both teachers and fellow students play a role in students’ maladaptive behavior toward school and withdrawn behavior. When it comes to unfriendly behavior, the perceived support of teachers appears to be particularly relevant, while the role of peers is an important factor in delinquent behavior.
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