Student Perceptions of Autonomy-Supportive Instructional Interactions in the Middle Grades

Autonomy support in classrooms is believed to coordinate students' inner motivational resources in ways that enhance student engagement (e.g., Jang, Kim, & Reeve, 2012). Yet, to our knowledge, no study has investigated student-generated interpretations of the motivational significance of their teachers' autonomy-supportive practices. Interpretations gathered from students' responses to video clips of their own teacher were studied with a diverse sample of students (N = 59, 50.8% male, 64.4% African American) in six urban classrooms from fourth-to eighth-grade class sections. Through this method of cued video response, we explore whether or not students experience the significance of autonomy-supportive instructional events or interactions as motivational theory predicts. Our results suggest that consideration of the social and relational features of the classrooms within which teachers enact autonomy support may identify influential contextual factors relevant to how and why autonomy support is linked to positive outcomes.