Journal of Education and Psychology

Abstract

The present study attempts to examine the path models for relations among junior high school students’ perceptions of autonomy support provided by their teachers, achievement goal orientation, autonomous motivation, and behavioral as well as emotional engagement in schoolwork. 343 eighth-grade students completed a self-report survey assessing their perceived autonomy support from teachers, mastery-approach goal orientation, autonomous motivation, and academic engagement. Results tend to support the contention of SDT. Students’ perceptions of autonomy support in the classroom setting positively predicted their mastery-approach goal orientation, autonomous motivation, and behavioral and emotional engagement in schoolwork. Mastery-approach goals positively predicted students’ autonomous motivation and behavioral as well as emotional engagement in schoolwork. In addition to the direct effects, perceived autonomy support also exerted indirect effects on students’ engagement in academic work through mediation of autonomous motivation and mastery-approach goals. Moreover, mastery-approach goals played the mediational role in the relation between students’ perceptions of autonomy support from teachers and their autonomous motivation. Students’ autonomous motivation mediated relations between their mastery-approach goal orientation and both behavioral as well as emotional engagement in schoolwork. Implications for education and future research are discussed.

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