Reflective Learning as a Pathway to Professional Self-Actualization in Simulation-Based Learning: A Qualitative Case Study

In 2012, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) embedded seven General Capabilities, including the intercultural understanding capability, to the nationally adopted curriculum that guides school education in Australia. The way in which capabilities have been incorporated varies from state to state, from sector to sector, and from school to school. Currently, there is no study that examines the integration of intercultural understanding into Christian Studies in the context of Lutheran secondary education. This qualitative case study research addresses the research problem: How do Lutheran schools embed the Australian Curriculum capability intercultural understanding within their Christian Studies program? In order to investigate the research problem, two research questions were explored: (1) How do educators implement intercultural understanding in their Christian Studies program on the basis of their Christian Studies Curriculum Framework? (2) In what ways does the Christian Studies program allow for students to develop intercultural understanding? The framework for this study is provided by Dewey’s constructivist approach of inquiry-based learning and student-centred learning, and Vygotsky’s model of social constructivism. These constructivist theories are applied in this study in two ways—by examining the educational practices and materials based on constructivist ideas, and by incorporating a constructivist approach to the interview process. This study is concerned with understanding how students develop intercultural understanding as well as how educators implement this capability into their Christian Studies program and units of work. For a qualitative case study that aligns with the theoretical framework of constructivism, literature from Stake (1995) is employed. Qualitative data were collected from the key documents⎯the Christian Studies Curriculum Framework (CSCF) and the Christian Studies units of work from Years 7–9, and the two semi-structured interviews⎯one with a writer of the CSCF document (2015) and one with a teacher who wrote and implemented the Christian Studies units of work in their school. An inductive approach to the data coding and a thematic analysis were used for this qualitative research, which revealed three key themes. These include (1) curriculum, (2) pedagogy, and (3) culture and religion. Sub-themes identified in curriculum include structure and content, and service-learning. Within the theme of pedagogy several sub-themes were identified⎯inquiry-based learning, student-centred learning which includes authentic learning, reflective learning and collaborative learning, and teachers’ planning. Sub-themes identified within the culture and religion theme were texts and activities. The findings from this research will assist Lutheran schools as well as other religious and non-religious schools to examine ways of incorporating the intercultural understanding capability into their programs as well as discover ways for students to develop intercultural understanding.

The data for this study were collected in my first year of graduate school for a term paper for a course I was taking from Luc Pelletier. When I began graduate school, Luc also started at the University of Ottawa as a new faculty member, and he taught a course in motivation. I had worked with Richard Clément for a couple of years already as an honors student and as a research assistant and had conducted research on orientations and motivation under his supervision as part of my honors thesis project. Luc was very interested in self‐determination theory (SDT) and had worked with Bob Vallerand on an instrument to assess academic motivation from this perspective. Luc and I decided to carry out a study on language learning orientations using SDT and enlisted Richard's and Bob's involvement in the project. As a bilingual institution where all students were required to demonstrate competence in their second language (L2), whether French or English, the University of Ottawa was an ideal setting for this type of research.The project was a first examination of SDT in the language learning context, and to the best of my knowledge it was the only, or at least one of the very few, empirical investigations of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the area. It involved the development of a valid and reliable instrument to assess the different subtypes of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It also explored the link between these motivational subtypes and various orientations to language learning that had been identified by Clément and Kruidenier (1983), including the travel, friendship, knowledge, and instrumental orientations. The results showed that the instrumental orientation and the SDT external regulation orientation were strongly correlated, and that the travel, friendship, and knowledge orientations were quite highly intercorrelated with identified regulation and intrinsic motivation. Moreover, the instrumental and external regulation orientation scales correlated in similar ways with the hypothesized antecedents of perceived autonomy and competence and the hypothesized consequences of intention to pursue L2 study and anxiety. In addition, the travel, friendship, and knowledge orientations were correlated with the hypothesized antecedents and consequences in a manner similar to intrinsic motivation and identified regulation. These results suggested that Clément and Kruidenier's 4 orientations may be tapping a similar construct as the SDT orientations. My only regret with this study is that I did not include a scale to measure the integrative orientation (Gardner, 1985) to determine its relation with the SDT subtypes. This issue would have to wait until a later study to be addressed.The results of this initial investigation encouraged me to pursue research integrating SDT with other theoretical frameworks of language learning motivation. I believe that the SDT framework has several advantages over some other formulations of learner orientations. SDT offers a parsimonious, internally consistent framework for systematically describing many different orientations in a comprehensive manner. It also offers considerable explanatory power for understanding why certain orientations are better predictors of relevant language learning variables (e.g., effort, persistence, attitudes) than others. Also, by invoking the psychological mechanisms of perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness, it can account for why certain orientations are evident in some learners and not in others. Moreover, the framework is empirically testable and indeed has stood up well under empirical scrutiny in our studies. Its clear predictions may also be particularly valuable in applying the theory in language teaching and program development. [The present article first appeared in Language Learning, 50 (1), 2000, 57–85]

THE AIM OF THE PAPER
 We used self-determination theory to examine the motivation of business school students in Hungary. The research aimed to clarify whether extrinsic or intrinsic motivation or both dominates learning intentions among these students. Although student motivation to learn has been studying extensively, there is an absence of research evidence using this framework in Central-Eastern European higher education. Given the increasing prominence of the region in global geo-political and business affairs, this absence of understanding is important to correct.
 METHODOLOGY
 Our questionnaire-based study shows a strong link between some forms of extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation, along with evidence for the coexistence of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators in the same person. We used a modified version of Vallerand et al. (1992-1993) motivation-survey the “Academic Motivation Scale AMSC-28”. We added 11 plus questions to the questionnaire. The empirical research was a confirmative study about self-determination theory. The methodology used was descriptive statistics, correspondence, and correlation analysis. The size of the sample was 471. The purpose of our study was to check if the theory of Deci and Ryan are valid on the students of a university in Central Europe.
 MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
 The purpose of our study was to check how the theory of Deci and Ryan applies to the students of a university in Central Europe. The results of the research highlight that the students could have both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at the same time and intrinsic motivation is not the only type of motivation that could lead to good performance in learning and other activities. 
 RECOMMENDATIONS
 The findings could help to evaluate currently used motivational strategies for students and to stimulate further research on the subject usinűg the framework of self-determination theory.
 Acknowlwdgements: The authors would like to thank Professor John Schermerhorn and Professor Gábor Rappai for their valuable comments and critique in writing this article. With the support of the EFOP-3.6.3-VEKOP-16-2017-00007 project.

Traditionally, motivation researchers have been more concerned about what motivation is rather than how to motivate students. Recently, research interests have shifted towards educational purposes and an increasing number of studies now propose motivational strategies. Motivational strategies refer to “methods and techniques to generate and maintain the learners’ motivation” (Dörnyei, 2001, p. 2). Using motivational strategies is generally believed to facilitate students’ motivation, but only a few studies have found empirical evidence to support this claim. For example, Hiromori (2006) used “creative writing activities with student self-monitoring techniques” as a motivational strategy and showed that the strategy had a significant positive effect on students’ motivation toward learning English. Tanaka and Hiromori (2007) proposed that “group presentation activities” are a useful motivational strategy. They successfully enhanced students’ intrinsic motivation during a 5-week intervention. However, the number of studies that examine the effect of motivational strategies in the actual English language classroom is limited. In this article, I would like to point out two drawbacks of the above studies. The first drawback is related to the definition of motivation. Most of the preceding studies on motivation define motivation as a trait attribute. However, many researchers segmentalize motivation into different levels (e.g. Crookes & Schmidt, 1991). Vallerand and Ratelle (2002) analyzed intrinsic motivation in three levels, namely situational level, contextual level, and global level. They recommend that motivation be considered not merely as a unitary concept, but as a complex concept. However, studies examining the effect of motivational strategies focus only on the trait and unitary aspects of motivation. Thus, there needs to be an examination of the effect of motivational strategies on motivation in different levels. In this article, three types of intrinsic motivation are addressed, namely intrinsic motivation to listening/speaking activities, intrinsic classroom motivation, and intrinsic trait motivation. The second drawback concerns research design. Much of the research that examines the effect of motivational strategies adopts a pre-post design. However, in order to capture motivational changes in more detail, adding more measurement times would be useful. In this article, intrinsic motivation was measured at three different times; that is, pre-measurement, mid-measurement, and post-measurement. Thus, this study aims to enhance students’ intrinsic motivation in three levels. I adopt Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a well-developed motivation theory in psychology, as the theoretical underpinning. This theory provides a useful framework for examining the effect of motivational strategy because it assumes the existence of three psychological needs (i.e., the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness) as prerequisites for enhancing student motivation. The purposes of this study are as follows: (1) to enhance intrinsic motivation to engage in listening activities; (2) to enhance intrinsic motivation to engage in speaking activities; (3) to enhance intrinsic classroom motivation; and (4) to enhance intrinsic trait motivation. This study further explores facilitating factors of intrinsic motivation in the three levels. Thus, this article also aims (5) to examine which psychological need (the need for autonomy, competence or relatedness) plays the most significant role in students’ motivational development; and (6) to explore new facilitating factors of intrinsic motivation. Fifty-two university students who were enrolled in a first-year English language course participated in this study. The students met once a week in a 90-minute class. The intervention was given to them for fifteen weeks. Prior to the beginning of the intervention, students were given questionnaires about language learning motivation and the three psychological needs. The same questionnaires were administered in the middle and at the end of the intervention. An open-ended questionnaire was also administered to students at the post-measurement stage. The results of the quantitative analysis showed that: (1) the intervention had a significant positive effect on students’ intrinsic motivation to engage in listening/speaking activities and intrinsic classroom motivation; (2) the need for competence had a strong relationship with the development in students’ intrinsic motivation to engage in listening activities; (3) the need for competence and relatedness had a strong relationship with development in students’ intrinsic motivation to engage in speaking activities; (4) all three needs were related to the development in intrinsic classroom motivation. Further, the results of qualitative analysis indicated that (5) “usefulness” might be another facilitating factor of motivation. 本論は，3つのレベルの内発的動機づけを高める方略の効果検証を行い，各動機づけを高めた要因を探索することを目的とする。日本人大学生52名を対象に教育的介入を行い，プレ測定，中間測定，ポスト測定によって動機づけの変動を検討した。その結果，（1）教育的介入によって，授業活動レベルの動機づけと英語授業への動機づけが高まった，（2）リスニング活動への動機づけの上昇と関連が強かったのは，有能性の欲求であった，（3）スピーキング活動への動機づけの上昇と関連が強かったのは，有能性と関係性の欲求であった，（4）英語授業への動機づけの上昇と関連が強かったのは，3欲求のすべてであった。また方略の効果を質的研究の観点からも検証した結果，（5）授業活動レベルの動機づけの上昇と3欲求の関連性が裏付けられた，（6）「実用性の付与」が内発的動機づけを高める新たな要因である可能性が示された。

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Obesity remains a global health issue with significant physical, social, and psychological impacts. One increasingly popular approach to managing obesity is the Intermittent Fasting (IF) diet. This study aims to examine the motivation and effectiveness of IF among fitness center members who also engage in regular exercise. Using the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) framework, this research explores internal and external factors influencing participants' commitment to IF.This qualitative descriptive study employed semi-structured interviews conducted at Idachi Fitness Metro Indah Mall. Thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase process was used to identify key themes. The findings revealed five categories of motivation: intrinsic regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation. Participants highlighted the benefits of IF, such as weight management, increased energy, and improved sleep quality. These findings underscore the importance of combining IF with exercise for achieving optimal health outcomes. Additionally, external motivations, such as social support and encouragement from trainers, often developed into intrinsic motivations as participants experienced health improvements. Further research is recommended to explore the long-term effects of combining IF and exercise on health and motivation.

Reflective learning is the cognitive process whereby information from new experiences is integrated into existing knowledge structures and mental models. In our complex healthcare system, reflective learning (specifically 'reflection on action') is important for postgraduate learners. We observed that our anaesthesiology residents were not building on their competence through deliberate experiential and reflective practice. This qualitative study explored the current state and challenges of reflective learning in anaesthesia training in Singapore. This study was conducted at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore, from 1 January 2018 to 31 October 2018. A semi-structured interview format was used in focus groups. Information collection continued until data saturation was reached. The interviews were coded and analysed, and themes were identified. Seven focus group interviews involving 19 participants were conducted. Reflective learning was found to be poor. It was of concern that the stimuli for reflection and reflective learning emerged from medical errors, critical incidents and poor patient outcomes. Challenges identified were: (a) lack of an experiential learning framework; (b) need for reflective training; (c) quality of experiential triggers; (d) clinical pressures; and (e) poor learner articulation and feedback. We described some strategies to frame, teach and stimulate reflective learning. This study described the state and challenges of reflective learning in anaesthesia training. We advocate the implementation of reflective training strategies in postgraduate training programmes in Singapore. Research is warranted to integrate patient feedback and outcomes into reflective practice.

Referring to motivation as a unitary concept is insufficient to explain and fully understand its dynamics in the classroom because individual motivation exists at different levels of generality. A previous study (Tanaka, 2009b) addressed the multiplicity of ways to represent intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation was represented within the individual at three hierarchical levels of generality: intrinsic trait motivation, intrinsic classroom motivation, and intrinsic motivation to classroom activities. For the study, a motivational strategy was created for Japanese university students on the basis of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2002). In this study was examined the facilitating effect on the three motivational subconstructs and the three basic psychological needs (i.e., the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness). The correlational relationships between intrinsic trait motivation and the three psychological needs were not examined. The results showed that the strategy did facilitate intrinsic classroom motivation and intrinsic motivation to classroom activities; intrinsic trait motivation was not significantly enhanced. The results also showed that the need for competence was not significantly increased as the study could not address the correlational relationship between competence and any of the three motivational subconstructs. Additionally, several motivational studies have shown that competence is an important facilitating factor for Japanese English learners, though the dynamics of competence in the motivational classroom have not been focused on so far. Therefore, in the present study was examined the effect of a revised version of the motivational strategy created by Tanaka (2009b) on these three motivational subconstructs and the basic psychological needs. The purposes of this study are as follows: (a) to satisfy learners’ basic psychological needs (especially the need for competence); (b) to enhance students’ intrinsic motivation (especially intrinsic trait motivation); (c) to examine the relationship between intrinsic motivation (especially intrinsic trait motivation) and basic psychological needs (especially the need for competence); and (d) to describe how the need for competence is satisfied in the motivational classroom. Fifty-eight university students who were enrolled in a 1st-year English language course participated in this study. The students met once a week in a 90-minute class. The motivational strategy used by Tanaka (2009b) was revised for this study. The motivational strategy was given to the students for 15 weeks. Prior to this intervention, questionnaires about intrinsic motivation and the three psychological needs were distributed. Items on intrinsic motivation consisted of three subconstructs: intrinsic trait motivation, intrinsic classroom motivation, and intrinsic motivation to classroom activities. Items on basic psychological needs consisted of three subconstructs: the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The same questionnaires were administered in the middle and at the end of the intervention. An open-ended questionnaire was also administered to students at the post-measurement stage. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, one-way repeated ANOVA, and effect size were calculated to see the effect of the motivational strategy. The SCQRM M-GTA was also adopted to interpret qualitative data. The results of quantitative analysis showed that (a) the intervention had a significant positive effect on all subconstructs of intrinsic motivation and basic psychological needs; (b) intrinsic trait motivation and intrinsic classroom motivation were strongly correlated with the need for competence; (c) intrinsic motivation for listening activities was strongly correlated with the need for autonomy and competence; and (d) intrinsic motivation for speaking activities was strongly correlated with the need for autonomy and relatedness. The results of qualitative analysis showed how the need for competence was satisfied in the motivational classroom. Once students valued academic activities and internalized them, they made an effort to use what they had learned in class. The overall result of this study was that the motivational-strategy intervention facilitated language acquisition and student competence. 本論では先行研究で用いられた動機づけを高める方略の改良版を使って、3つのレベルの内発的動機づけを高める教育的介入を行った。特に本論では、先行研究では効果が十分に発揮されなかった特性レベルの動機づけの上昇と有能性の欲求の充足に焦点を当てた。また、内発的動機づけが高まる時の、学習者の英語授業に対する有能感を質的に把握した。日本人大学生58名に対して、15週間の教育的介入を行い、プレ測定、中間測定、ポスト測定の3時点で動機づけと3欲求の変動を検討した。その結果、改良版の方略によって、3つのレベルの内発的動機づけと3欲求のすべてを高められた。そこで3欲求と内発的動機づけの関連性の検討を行い、動機づけの上昇に貢献した要因を検証した。また自由記述データを「SCQRMを使ったM-GTA」によって分析し、動機づけが高まるときの有能感を把握することで、有能性の欲求が満たされるプロセスを探索した。その結果、学習内容の価値の内在化によって、学習者は学習事項を積極的に授業で使おうと努力し、それが学習事項の習得へとつながり、その結果、学習者は英語力の向上を自覚するという過程が示された。本論ではこれらの研究結果に基づく教育的示唆についても論じる。

Flipped Classroom (FC) is an educational approach that has gained considerable attention. It incorporates technology to deliver direct instruction outside of class, while in-class time is limited to contextualized collaborative activities. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation (IM) is a fundamental objective for educators, as it helps learners pursue learning throughout the year. It is the internal drive to engage in learning activities for the sake of personal fulfillment and satisfaction. Recognizing the vital role of IM, the paper investigates the efficacy of flipped learning (FL) in raising students’ IM in grammar courses within the framework of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). A total of forty-one (n= 41) Saudi EFL university students were normally distributed into two groups. The experimental group receives FC instruction, while the control group is taught using traditional explicit instruction. A pretest and a posttest were administered to both groups. Furthermore, a questionnaire was further distributed to the experimental group. The findings of the present quasi-experimental study demonstrate that FC enhances students' IM by providing a student-centered, supportive, positive, and collaborative technology-based environment that promotes their language attainment and satisfies their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Finally, to ensure its successful implementation, it is recommended that teacher training and thorough content planning are vital before implementing FC.

The interprofessional education collaborative (IPEC) core competencies (CCs) describe standards for effective interprofessional health care practice and education; these standards are updated periodically based on stakeholder feedback. The purpose of this project was to use a qualitative case study approach to describe one multiparous birth trauma survivor's fifth birth experience with an interprofessional birth care team (IBCT) and to juxtapose her experiences and perspectives with the IPEC core competencies (IPEC CCs). This approach enabled us to identify strengths and gaps in the standards for interprofessional health care education and practice specific to perinatal care. One in-depth, open-ended, semi-structured interview was conducted to elicit the participant's fifth birth experience. Information from her previous births and the IPEC CCs was used to design the interview guide, and we used independent, deductive, consensus coding to identify themes from verbatim transcripts. Three themes were identified: (a) Establishing a therapeutic patient-provider relationship; (b) Prioritizing communication, respect, and knowledge in person-centered care; and (c) Shared decision-making as the crux of collaborative care. The participant's narrative elevated person-centered, trauma-informed care (TIC) principles as critical to effective interprofessional birth care and as essential threads for the IPEC CCs. One survivor's positive experience after prior birth trauma illustrates the critical role IPEC CCs may play in collaborative perinatal care provided by IBCTs. In our analysis, we also identify the need to explicitly incorporate TIC principles and person-centered language in health care competencies that support the standards for perinatal health care education and practice.

Traditional didactic teaching approaches fall short of adequately supporting diverse student learning styles. Complementing didactic teaching approaches with simulation-based experiential learning can bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. However, few studies have rigorously examined the outcomes of this approach in global health education and training. This study describes participants’ self-reported experiences with the World Health Assembly Simulation (WHA SIM), a complex hybrid simulation consisting of a three-day educational exercise, including a tabletop exercise followed by live-action role play, designed to simulate practical global health governance settings. We conducted a descriptive, sequential exploratory study between September 2022 and July 2023, beginning with an anonymous pre-simulation survey among undergraduate students in the Faculty of Health at York University, followed by qualitative post-simulation interviews. The survey included questions on participants’ background, comfort, and confidence in key practice skills and experiences with simulation-based learning. Data was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics for the quantitative data and a framework analysis for qualitative data. Among 39 survey respondents, 18 were interviewed. Participants for interviews were selected through snowball sampling to ensure diverse perspectives. Participants reported feeling more confident in a range of skills, including research capabilities, critical analysis, time management, and organizational effectiveness. They also described increased confidence in interpersonal communication, public speaking, networking, collaboration, and leadership. Several participants reflected on gaining a deeper appreciation of complex global health issues and noted the simulation provided valuable career-relevant insights. Findings highlight the value of simulation-based experiential learning as perceived by undergraduate students in health and science-related degree programs. While this study does not objectively measure knowledge acquisition or skill mastery, it illustrates how the WHA SIM can support confidence and reflective learning in global health education and training contexts.

Healthcare placements in dietetics education contribute significantly to student learning. Exploring students' self-conceptualisation of placement experiences may provide insights to better support learning. Self-determination theory (SDT) has been used to seek insight into clinical and educational settings but has not yet been applied to dietetic placement learning. The present study investigated dietetics students' reflections of key influences on placement learning experiences and their alignment with an SDT framework. A post-placement two-stage critical incident debrief was conducted with seven successive cohorts (168 students) of dietetic undergraduate students on final placement. In debriefs, students' anonymous themes were collected and discussed, inductively analysed, and then mapped against an SDT framework of psychological and motivational constructs. Nine key themes were identified that impacted upon placement experiences. Four themes related to framework constructs: (1) Supervisor (and Peer) Autonomy Support; (2) Perceived Competence; (3) Relatedness; and (4) Autonomy and Intrinsic Motivation. Non-SDT themes were also present, including: (5) Learning Environment and Experience; as well as themes about professional behaviours and identity: (6) Teamwork and Interactions; (7) Managing Emotions and Self-Care; (8) Dietetic Communications and Behaviours; and (9) Developing a Professional Identity. Embedding a structured debrief in the curriculum and using a psychological motivational SDT framework to analyse themes arising can provide valuable information about the learning needs of students on placement with potential for wider application in dietetic learning and teaching and workforce employability. The current findings may have application in university curricula before and after professional placement.

Healthy living behaviours play a central role in preventing chronic disease and improving population health; therefore, understanding the quality of motivation behind these behaviours is essential. This study aimed to explore the motivational factors that shape the adoption and maintenance of healthy living behaviours within the framework of Self-Determination Theory. A qualitative phenomenological design was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 adults living in different regions of Türkiye who had experience with healthy living. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Motivation for healthy living was found to be multidimensional and emerged from the interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Participants reported that concerns related to aging and health, physical and psychological well-being, social desirability, family and social support, illness experiences, and cultural and spiritual values influenced their motivation. Some factors reflected intrinsic motivation, whereas several external influences were internalised over time and became more autonomous. Satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs played a central role in the sustained practice of healthy living behaviours. Motivation for healthy living is shaped not only by individual benefits but also by social, cultural, and spiritual contexts. The findings offer new insight into the process of motivational internalization and may guide public health strategies aimed at strengthening individuals' motivational resources. Not applicable. This study was not a clinical trial.

In the article, the motivational basis of personality’s professional self-actualization has been analyzed; the content and structure of personality’s professional motivation have been substantiated; the influence of motivation on the personality’s professional activity has been characterized; the relationship between motivation and future specialist’s professional self-actualization has been outlined. Studying personality’s motivational sphere of future specialists makes it possible to purposefully predict and stimulate their professional self-development. Self-actualization as an integrative characteristic of the individual serves to strengthen professional capabilities. Establishing the interrelationship of motivation as one of the bases of professional self-actualization of the future specialist’s personality is necessary for understanding the factors, causes and changes in professional activity that determine it. Motives and motivations, which determine such important parameters as energy, orientation, duration, etc., are of special importance when studying professional activity. The division into motives and motivation is determined by the relationship between potential and actual, structural and potential, dispositional and functional, personal and situational. The first components of these relationships are usually designated as a motive and serve as a stable personal formation that exerts a dispositional influence on behavior. The second components of these relations are often characterized as a set of factors that form motivation. The future specialist consciously sets a task, the achievement of which is the goal of his activity. In his/her desire, needs and interests are revealed, which in the structure of activity are motives: incentives, the real driving force of actions, powerful regulators of behavior. In the process of studying professional self-actualization, socio-professional requirements are taken into account as factors influencing self-esteem, self-affirmation, self-determination, professional self-awareness, motivation for professional achievements, and the goal of professional growth. There is a need to reconcile person’s internal motives, intentions and the conditions of social and professional activity. The result of this is the development of personal motivation and activity in professional growth and self-actualization.

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The presence of international students creates a more diverse learning environment in American college classrooms. However, these students often face challenges such as language difficulties that could limit meaningful interactions in the classroom followed by cultural differences that may influence motivation to learn. Therefore, given the lack of research on relatedness in the classroom especially among international students, the study aims to investigate relatedness inside the classroom among international students and how it impacts motivation using the framework of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). International (n = 44) and non-international undergraduate students (n = 50) completed an online survey that measured their basic psychological needs and motivation based on one specific course of their choice. Results showed that when considering autonomy and competence, relatedness support was found to be the most important for international students when predicting amotivation, identified motivation and intrinsic motivation. Additionally, classroom relatedness levels did not differ significantly between international and non-international students which suggested relatedness support was similarly important for both groups. Finally, autonomy and relatedness did not interact with student status which indicated that levels of classroom autonomy and relatedness do not depend on student status. Thus, relatedness support inside the classroom was important for all students but was especially important for international student population given their unique challenges.