Student's Perception of Teacher's Autonomy Support and English Self-efficacy: The Meditational Roles of Basic Psychological Needs

Having understood the role self-efficacy beliefs play in student's learning and motivation, teachers and educators have extensively attended the ways one might develop as well as enhance such beliefs in academic settings. Social cognitive theory posits self-efficacy beliefs are influenced by environmental (teacher characteristics, direct and indirect reinforcement and class atmosphere) as well as personal factors. Based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this research investigated the effect of such factors on self-efficacy beliefs.Self-determination theory, a theoretical perspective of the social-cognitive approach to motivation, emphasizes three basic psychological needs necessary for individuals to satisfy their inherent motivation, personal well being and self-regulation. These needs (need for competence, autonomy, and psychological relatedness) are said to be universal, innate and psychological (Ryan & Deci, 2000). SDT argues that social contexts that enhance or forestall such needs will invariantly impact one’s satisfaction of basic psychological needs, which will in turn produce different motivational, cognitive and behavioral outcomes (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Along the same lines, research has indicated that teachers’ motivational style (controlling versus autonomy-supportive) affects the ways students might be motivated towards engaging in academic tasks (Khoshbakht & Khayyer, 2004). Students with autonomy-supportive teachers are more intrinsically motivated (Khoshbakht & Khayyer, 2004) with higher perceptions of competence and self-esteem (Deci, Nezlek, & Sheinman, 1981; Ryan & Grolnick; 1986; and Reeve, 1998). Using Structural Equation Modeling, the present study seeks to investigate the relationships of teachers’ autonomy support with students’ psychological needs and self-efficacy in a specific domain (English course). Gaining insight into contextual predictors of self-efficacy can lay the grounds for an improved understanding and knowledge of how teachers’ motivational styles influence students’ self efficacy.Research Hypotheses: 1- Teachers’ perceived support of students’ autonomy directly influences students’ basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness).2- Basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness) directly influence students’ self-efficacy3- Teachers’ perceived support of students’ autonomy indirectly influences self-efficacy in students through autonomy, competence and relatedness. This research was Structural Equation Modeling in design, which is considered descriptive-correlation in nature. The population of the study included all the male and female students of grade one in high schools of Qom City in the academic year 2010-2011. Overall, 310 students (177 male and 133 female) were selected from the population through random cluster sampling. The instruments in this research included Learning Climate (Williams & Deci, 1996), Basic Psychological Needs (Ilardi et.al, 1993) and Self-efficacy (Middleton & Midgley, 1997) questionnaires. The psychometric properties of the instruments were confirmed by Chronbach' Alpha and confirmatory factor analysis. Results indicated that the relationship between all the variables of the study (perceived autonomy support by teacher, need for autonomy, competence and self-efficacy) was significant at 0.01. The results of structural equation modeling showed the direct influence of autonomy support on autonomy need (β=0.86), competence, (β=0.74) and relatedness (β=0.50) was significant at 0.01. Teacher’s autonomy support accounted for 73 percent of variance in need for autonomy, 54 percent of variance in need for competence and 25 percent of variance in need for relatedness. The direct influence of need for autonomy on self-efficacy (β =0.17) was significant at 0.01. In addition, direct influence of need for competence on self-efficacy (β=0.67) was significant at 0.01. Furthermore, basic psychological needs accounted for 41 percent of variance in self-efficacy. Finally, the results indicated that teacher autonomy support exerted an indirect influence upon students’ English self-efficacy; this influence is exerted through basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness), and therefore, the meditational role of these variables in the relationship between autonomy support by the teachers and self-efficacy is also confirmed. Goodness of fit indices for the model showed the data had good fit with the model (RMSEA, 0.06; GFI,. 90; AGFI,. 86; CFI,. 90; PNFI,. 74, X2/df, 2.09). The results of this study indicate when academic settings are autonomy- supportive, students feel they are autonomous; hence, they are inherently motivated to initiate, maintain and regulate their activities and they regard themselves as the cause of their behaviors; that is to say, satisfaction of basic psychological needs will make students enjoy their learning practices.Another finding of this study was the direct, positive influence of autonomy and competence on self efficacy. This finding is consistent with Furrer & Skinner (2003) and Reeve (2006). Teachers foster such intrinsic motivational resources through autonomy-supportive classrooms.The results also revealed that autonomy-support by teachers indirectly influenced student's self-efficacy through psychological needs. This finding accords with SDT (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Perception of an autonomy-supportive classroom by students will help them develop valuable intrinsic motivation variables (such as autonomy, competence and relatedness) and therefore increase their self-efficacy. Accordingly, it is suggested teachers pave the grounds for the satisfaction of their student's psychological needs; it is believed this will lead to positive outcomes in terms of the student's academic achievement. As self-efficacy beliefs entail the development of sense of agency, on the one hand, and positive attitudes towards one's abilities, on the other, teachers can enhance self-efficacy in students by satisfying their need for autonomy and competence. Teachers might also help students satisfy their need for relatedness through fostering positive classroom communications and cooperative learning.