No abstract

Mathematics interest is highly relevant for students’ academical and emotional development in the domain of mathematics. Thus, it appears alarming that students’ mathematics interest decreases during the course of secondary school. Teacher self-efficacy is a central facet of teacher motivation and is assumed to be highly relevant for student mathematics interest. However, there is a paucity of research that investigates the longitudinal and indirect relations through which teacher self-efficacy relates to students’ interest through their teaching behaviors in mathematics classrooms. Therefore, in the present longitudinal study we aim to contribute to research by identifying how teacher self-efficacy for student engagement contributes to students’ mathematics interest in secondary classrooms through student- and teacher-reported support. We used a sample of mathematics teachers (n = 50) and their students (n = 959). Longitudinal data of three measurement waves collected from German ninth grade mathematics classrooms were included in the analysis. Results of latent-manifest multi-level analysis showed that teacher self-efficacy for student engagement at Time 1 (beginning of ninth grade) positively predicted student-perceived, but not teacher-perceived, teacher emotional support at Time 2 (beginning of tenth grade), which in turn positively predicted students’ mathematics interest at Time 3 (middle of tenth grade). A possible implication for mathematics teachers’ educational practice involves strengthening mathematics teachers’ self-efficacy for student engagement by means of direct interventions and in-servive training for mathematics teachers.

Theoretical models have suggested that teachers' motivational beliefs relate to various student academic outcomes through particular teaching practices, and that teachers' motivational beliefs and teaching practices are reciprocally interrelated. However, these relations have rarely been tested in longitudinal work. We extend previous research by (a) examining whether mathematics teachers' self-efficacy and interest longitudinally relate to student mathematics interest through student-reported teaching practices (classroom management, socioemotional support, cognitive activation) and by (b) testing reciprocal relations between teachers' motivational beliefs and student-reported teaching practices. Participants were 50 mathematics teachers (66.0% female) and their n = 959 students (47.9% girls; Mage: 14.20, SD = .62). Longitudinal multilevel models revealed different paths from teachers' motivational beliefs to students' interest: a "behavioral management path" from teacher self-efficacy for classroom management (Time 1) to student interest (Time 3) through student-perceived classroom management (Time 2), an "affective support path" from teacher self-efficacy for engagement (Time 1) to student interest (Time 3) through socioemotional support (Time 2), and a "cognitive instruction path" from teacher educational interest (Time 1) to student interest (Time 3) through cognitive activation (Time 2). We did not find reciprocal relations between teachers' motivational beliefs and their teaching practices. Our findings suggest that different dimensions of teachers' motivational beliefs are associated with different teaching practices, which in turn relate to student motivation. Educational Impact and Implications StatementOur findings show that there are multiple paths that explain the relations between different teachers' motivational beliefs and students' mathematics interest: a behavioral management path, an affective support path, and a cognitive instruction path. Different facets of teachers' motivational beliefs are thus of varying importance for students' subject interest. Our results emphasize the need to develop and implement intervention programs that successfully increase teachers' motivational beliefs, because these beliefs are associated with teachers' use of beneficial teaching practices in the classroom. Such intervention programs, however, promise to be effective only when school authorities and education policymakers contribute to teachers' motivation by enhancing teachers' working conditions, such as relieving them of administrative tasks.

ZusammenfassungLesemotivation ist von Bedeutung für Leseleistung und ist interindividuell unterschiedlich ausgeprägt. Jedoch ist bislang wenig bekannt über Veränderungen unterschiedlicher Lesemotivationsmuster und die Bedeutung des Geschlechts, der Leseleistung und der Unterrichtsgestaltung für solche Veränderungen. Mittels dieser Erkenntnisse könnten adaptive Lernangebote ausgeweitet werden. Die vorliegende Längsschnittstudie greift diese Frage auf und untersucht basierend auf Daten von N = 1313 Lernenden (50,0 % Mädchen) in der 5. und 6. Jahrgangsstufe, wie sich Wertüberzeugungen und Leseselbstkonzept interindividuell unterschiedlich verändern. Latente Profilanalysen verweisen auf drei motivationale Muster zu beiden Zeitpunkten: ‚Geringer intrinsischer Wert‘, ‚Moderate Lesemotivation‘ und ‚Hohe Lesemotivation‘. Hohe Lehrkraftunterstützung trägt dazu bei, dass Lernende im Verlauf des fünften Schuljahres in das Profil ‚Hohe Lesemotivation‘ statt in das Motivationsprofil ‚Geringer intrinsischer Wert‘ wechseln. Mädchen und Lernende mit hoher Leseleistung wechseln eher in das Profil ‚Hohe Lesemotivation‘ statt in das Profil ‚Moderate Lesemotivation‘. Implikationen für Unterricht werden diskutiert.