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Enhancing Students’ Motivation with Autonomy-Supportive Classrooms

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Development of Self-Determination Through the Life-Course

Abstract

Motivation is one of the most important factors that influences how students will approach learning. This chapter introduces the importance of autonomy-supportive classrooms, and why it is important to promote students’ autonomy in learning. First, we describe how students can be motivated to learn from the viewpoint of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the factors that may support students’ motivation in learning. Second, we present five practical guidelines on how to promote student-centered teaching practices that support student’s autonomy: (a) communication of teacher’s expectations and acknowledgement of student’s feelings; (b) provision of more choices and removal of controlling events for learning; (c) student’s active participation; (d) positive and informational feedback, and (e) structured guidance. Finally, the factors negatively contribute to insufficiency of teacher’s autonomy are also examined.

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Authors’ Note

This work was partially supported by grant NSF 1053160 (Wei Wu & Todd D. Little, co-PIs) and by the Institute for Measurement, Methodology, Analysis, and Policy (Todd D. Little, Director) at Texas Tech University. Correspondence should be directed to Rong Chang (Rong.Chang@ttu.edu) or Todd D. Little (yhat@ttu.edu or yhat@statscamp.org).

Todd D. Little is founder and director of the annual Stats Camp (statscamp.org) and the director of the Institute for Measurement, Methodology, Analysis, and Policy (IMMAP) at Texas Tech University. He is a professor in the Research, Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistic Program of the Educational Psychology Department at TTU. He owns and receives remuneration from Yhat Enterprises, LLC, which runs educational workshops such as Stats Camp (statscamp.org), and processes his royalties and his fees for consulting on statistics and methods with life-science science researchers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Rong Chang, Eriko Fukuda & James Durham

  2. Educational Psychology and Leadership, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Todd D. Little

Authors
  1. Rong Chang
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  2. Eriko Fukuda
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  3. James Durham
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  4. Todd D. Little
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Correspondence to Rong Chang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Special Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA

    Michael L. Wehmeyer

  2. Special Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA

    Karrie A. Shogren

  3. Educational Psychology and Leadership, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    Todd D. Little

  4. Gallup and The Clifton Strengths School, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

    Shane J. Lopez

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Chang, R., Fukuda, E., Durham, J., Little, T.D. (2017). Enhancing Students’ Motivation with Autonomy-Supportive Classrooms. In: Wehmeyer, M., Shogren, K., Little, T., Lopez, S. (eds) Development of Self-Determination Through the Life-Course. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1042-6_8

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