Teachers’ instructional behaviors and students’ self-determination

Abstract

Within SDT framework, many investigations have been done in the field of language learning showing teachers’ instructional behaviors can affect students’ perceived self-determination and learning outcomes (Noels, Clément, & Pelletier, 1999). In this paper, not only Iranian English teachers’ instructional behaviors, but also the relationship between students’ perceived instructional behaviors and their perceived self-determination were explored in a sample of 210 university students by means of questionnaires. The results indicated that the students agreed their teachers’ instructional behaviors were autonomy supportive, whereas they agreed that their teachers’ behaviors were controlling. They also indicated a significantly positive relationship between the students’ perceived teachers’ autonomy-supportive instructional behaviors and their perceived self-determination on the one hand, and on the other a non significant correlation between teachers’ controlling behaviors and students’ perceived self-determination. The findings of this study have implications for teachers to develop their autonomy-supportive behaviors to promote students’ autonomy in learning English.