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. 2022 May 30:13:842521.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.842521. eCollection 2022.

Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm and Type of Text on the Motivation and Achievement of Schoolchildren

Alberto Valentín  1 , Pedro M Mateos  1 , Maria Mar González-Tablas  1 , Estrella López  1
Affiliations

Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm and Type of Text on the Motivation and Achievement of Schoolchildren

Alberto Valentín et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the effects of teacher enthusiasm and type of text on student motivation and achievement. The participants were 369 elementary school students. We used four videos showing a teacher presenting two texts (narrative or descriptive) in two conditions of enthusiasm (high or neutral). A MANOVA revealed additive effects due to enthusiasm and text type on motivation and achievement, but no interaction. Mediation analyzes indicated that enthusiasm showed direct and indirect effects through motivation only for descriptive text. Therefore, the motivational mediation between teacher enthusiasm and student achievement could be especially important when the text is descriptive.

Keywords: achievement; intrinsic motivation; schoolchildren; teacher enthusiasm; type of text.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Estimated marginal means for intrinsic motivation (A) and estimated time (B) by teacher enthusiasm and type of text.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Estimated marginal means for achievement, by teacher enthusiasm and type of text.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Analysis of mediation through intrinsic motivation and estimated time as a function of teacher enthusiasm over achievement. a1, a2, b1, b2, c’ = path coefficient (unstandardized coefficient). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Direct effects B = 0.866, SE = 0.194, t = 4.475, p < 0.0000, 95% CI [0.485, 1.246]. Indirect effects B = 0.230, SE = 0.084, 95% CI [0.070, 0. 401]. Total effects B = 1.096, SE = 0.178, t = 6.153, p < 0.0000, 95% CI [0.746, 1.446].
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Analysis of mediation through intrinsic motivation and estimated time as a function of teacher enthusiasm over achievement: descriptive text model (A) and narrative text model (B). a1, a2, b1, b2, c’ = path coefficient (unstandardized coefficient). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. (A) Descriptive text: Direct effects B = 0.459, SE = 0.111, t = 4.151, p ≤ 0.000, 95% CI [0.242, 0.676]. Indirect effects B = 0.115, SE = 0.043, 95% CI [0.035, 0.204]. Total effects B = 0.574, SE = 0.106, t = 5.418, p ≤ 0.000, 95% CI [0.366, 0.782]. (B) Narrative text: Direct effects B = 0.434, SE = 0.104, t = 4.164, p ≤ 0.000, 95% CI [0.229, 0.638]. Indirect effects B = 0.088, SE = 0.036, 95% CI [0.022, 0.163]. Total effects B = 0.522, SE = 0.098, t = 5.303, p ≤ 0.000, 95% CI [0.328, 0.715].
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References

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