Importance of perceived motivational support for intrinsic motivation and self-concept of elementary students

Abstract

High instructional quality is of central importance for students’ motivational and performance-related learning outcomes. The motivational quality of instruction as a significant facet of the basic dimension constructive support has rarely been studied. To investigate the relevance of perceived motivational quality for elementary students’ motivational indicators, based on data from fourth-grade students (N = 187) it was analyzed whether motivational support in mathematics lessons is predictive for students’ intrinsic motivation and academic self-concept in math when math grade was taken into account. It was also examined whether students’ feeling of competence was a significant mediator of these relations. The results showed that perceived motivational support was a significant predictor of both motivational variables beyond math grade. While students’ feeling of competence significantly mediated the relations between motivational support respectively math grade and self-concept, the relations with intrinsic motivation were not mediated. Concluding, findings are discussed in terms of future implications for research and practice.