The Influence Of Autonomous And Supportive Teaching On The Learning Input Of High School Students

Academic engagement plays a crucial role in students’ academic and social development.However,many recent studies have indicated that academic engagement generally declines with age,reaching a nadir in high school.To address this issue and extend prior research,this research based on Self-Determination Theory and employed questionnaire method to:(1)examine the utility of an autonomy-supportive teaching strategy–teaching in students’ preferred teaching styles(by assessing the consistency between students’ preferred teaching styles and teachers’ teaching styles,students whose preferred teaching styles match their teachers’ teaching styles are considered as being taught in preferred teaching styles)–for high students’ academic engagement;and(2)further investigate the mediating role of basic psychological needs in the aforementioned relationship.To achieve the above objectives,this research consisted of pilot study and main study.The pilot study involved students(n=124)from Grades 10-12 and teachers(n=6)who teach them core subjects(Chinese language and mathematics)from Yangzhou X high school,Yangzhou,P.R.China.The pilot study aimed at testing the reliability and validity of all instruments(including The Preferred Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory,the Thinking Styles in Teaching Inventory,Need Satisfaction Scale and The Scale of Student Engagement)to be used in the main study.The main study was conducted in Yangzhou X high school,Yangzhou,P.R.China,using a larger convenient sample of students(n>318)from Grades10-12 and their teachers who teach Chinese language(n=12)and mathematics(n=12)to respond to all inventories and provide necessary demographic information.The main study used polynomial regression and response surface analysis to testify the relationship between teaching in students’ preferred teaching styles and academic engagement.Furthermore,Bootstrap was adopted to explore the mediating role of basic psychological needs in the relationship between teaching in students’ preferred teaching styles and academic engagement.Results of this research showed that:(1)in terms of Chinese language,teachers’ teaching in students’ preferred legislative teaching styles,global teaching styles and local teaching styles positively predicted students’ Chinese language engagement.However,in terms of mathematics,teachers’ teaching in students’ preferred legislative teaching styles,executive teaching styles and conservative teaching styles negatively predicted students’ mathematics engagement;and(2)in terms of Chinese language,basic psychological needs mediated the relationship of teachers’ teaching in students’ preferred legislative teaching styles to students’ Chinese language engagement.Likewise,in terms of mathematics,basic psychological needs mediated the relationship of teachers’ teaching in students’ preferred legislative teaching styles to students’ mathematics engagement.This research concluded that:(1)teaching in students’ preferred teaching styles was conducive to high school students’ Chinese language engagement at times,but adverse to mathematics engagement at times;and(2)basic psychological needs sometimes mediated the relationships of teaching in students’ preferred teaching styles to Chinese language engagement and mathematics engagement.