Abstract
This study aimed to investigate gender differences in teacher feedback and students’ motivation in learning and their relationship patterns. In total, 1,082 secondary students in China (538 male and 544 female students) participated in this study. The results of MANOVAs suggested that language teachers provided less directive feedback but more criticism to male than female students. Male students reported less intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and test anxiety than female students. The results of two-group structural equation modeling indicated that both male and female students’ motivation was best predicted by teachers’ scaffolding feedback and praise. Verification feedback had a negative correlation with female students’ extrinsic motivation and no significant correlation with male students’ motivation. Directive feedback had a negative correlation with male students’ intrinsic motivation and a positive correlation with female students’ extrinsic motivation. Further, teacher criticism only had a negative correlation with female students’ intrinsic motivation. Implications for future research as well as suggestions for teachers on how to improve male and female students’ motivation are discussed.
Highlights
The vital role of motivation in students’ academic achievement and life-long learning beyond school has been well documented (Zimmerman, 2013; Mega et al, 2014; Guo, 2020)
Findings of this study generally indicated that the relationships between students’ perceptions of teacher feedback and students’ reported motivation in first language learning for male and female students would differ
This study contributed to the feedback and motivation literature and may inspire future research in these topics
Summary
The vital role of motivation in students’ academic achievement and life-long learning beyond school has been well documented (Zimmerman, 2013; Mega et al, 2014; Guo, 2020). Motivation is defined as the sum of the need for achievement, the probability of success, the incentive values related to task fulfillment and the incentives to avoid failure (Dörnyei and Ushioda, 2013). The literature indicates that students’ motivation declines over age and is one of the main causes of their learning problems in school (Yeung et al, 2011). Increasing the level of motivation is pivotal for promoting students’ academic success. The social cognitive theory suggests that student motivation is context specific and could be influenced by social environment (Bandura, 2011). Teacher feedback, which is conceptualized as the information offered by the teacher concerning aspects of student performance (Hattie and Timperley, 2007), is one of the social factors that have strong impact on student learning (Pereira et al, 2016)
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