Teacher belief systems: the complex and novel interactions between teachers’ pedagogical and motivational beliefs

Meaningful learning is where the learner actively integrates new knowledge to his or her existing knowledge base. It involves the use of cognitive strategies and self-regulation. What motivates a learner to do so is found to be related to variables like the motivational beliefs, personal goal orientation and affect as well as the perception towards the teacher and his or her classroom context. The study surveyed a group of S6 biology students to examine the correlations between some of the different variables noted above. Students learning of cell division and inheritance is investigated to find out how pedagogy involving hybrid dynamic visualization (integration of dynamic animations to a static diagram) may promote meaningful learning. Two teachers, a subject teacher and a tutor, taught the same topics to the same group. The perception towards these two teachers and their classroom contexts were compared to see how much their perceptions were correlated to the student’s motivational beliefs, personal goal orientation, self-regulated learning behaviour and affect. The findings of the study support previous research that students relate their motivational beliefs and goal orientations to the cognitive strategy used. Besides, female students relate their personal goal orientations, self-regulated learning behavior and emotions to teachers of either gender more than male counterparts. The tutor and her classroom context have been perceived as more mastery goal oriented which aligns with the motivational beliefs and personal goal orientation of the students, whereas the subject teacher is perceived as one with a mixture of both mastery and performance goals and this has no statistical correlation with students’ motivational beliefs, achievement goal orientation or self-regulated learning strategies. The pedagogy seemed to more successfully help students master the concepts of cell division and inheritance and apply them to solve genetics problems compared with traditional teaching. Individual interviews, however, shows that the relevant skills of reasoning are yet to be improved. To conclude, a classroom with a mastery goal orientation through carefully designed pedagogy may promote meaningful learning.

Background Students’ perceptions of learning environment is known as the most frequent construct related to their learning outcomes. Students’ motivation in learning science (i.e. personal mastery goals orientation, self-efficacy, and task-value) and self-regulation are among the outcome variables that are affected by their perceptions of science learning environment (i.e. perceptions of their parents, school, and science teacher’s mastery goals emphases, and peers’ mastery goals orientation). Purpose The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relations between environmental factors of students’ perceptions of their parents, school, and science teacher’s mastery goals emphases, peers’ mastery goals orientation, and the internal constructs of students’ motivational beliefs and self-regulation in science learning. Sample Participants were 475 Iranian students at lower secondary schools. Design and method A cross-sectional and correlational research design was employed in this study. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisted of three measures of perceptions of science learning environment, motivation, and self-regulation, which the participants were asked to complete. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and a bootstrap procedure were used to estimate the variables’ direct and mediated relationships. Results Results revealed that perceived peers’ mastery goals orientation and perceived parents’ mastery goals emphasis positively predicted personal mastery goals orientation. In addition, the results indicated that perceived teacher’s mastery goals emphasis positively predicted task-value. Moreover, task-value and self-efficacy were found to have a significant direct effect on self-regulation. Conclusions These findings provide novel insight into the role of environmental factors in students’ motivation and self-regulation in science learning. In particular, science teachers are suggested to focus on encouraging students to adopt higher levels of mastery goals orientation in science learning activities, with regards to the significant mediating role of personal mastery goals orientation between perceptions of science learning environment and other motivational beliefs.

Traditionally, teaching practices of university teachers have been investigated in the context of academic disciplines and teaching approaches. Alternatively, our research analyses teachers' motivational beliefs and self-confidence in their teaching practices measured by using ten teaching methods. This study investigates the role of goal orientation and self-efficacy as predictors of knowledge and use of teaching methods of 447 university teachers. The findings demonstrate that mastery goal orientation has a positive effect on both student and teacher-centred methods. Additionally, performance goal orientation is a negative predictor of role-playing knowledge and use, being positively associated with lecturing and demonstration. Self-efficacy has a positive effect on the use and knowledge of almost all ten teaching methods. These results can be employed to improve efforts in increasing teaching quality by developing varied mechanisms which can positively impact teachers' motivational beliefs and self-confidence.

Abstract: The current study had two aims: 1) to explore the effects of contextual goals, defined as perceived parents' and teachers' goals, and classroom goal structures, on highschool students' personal achievement goal orientations and 2) to examine the effects of personal and perceived contextual goals on reading and learning strategies, and self-handicapping behavior, as well as their effect on academic achievement. Highschool students (n = 403) completed questionnaires assessing goal orientations and strategies. Their GPA at the end of the school year was also recorded. The results of the study showed that perceived contextual goals were significant predictors of students' corresponding personal goal orientations, although the results were not clearcut. Perceived contextual performance goals also predicted students' work-avoidance goal orientation and self-handicapping behavior that was related to lower academic achievement. On the other hand, contextual mastery goals, especially parents' mastery goals, had significant effects on employment of deep learning and reading strategies.Key wo rds: achievement goa ls, learning strategies, self-handicapping, parents, teachersWithin the achievement goal theory frame- work two goal orientations reflecting con- trasting motivational processes have been repeatedly recognized (Elliot, Dweck, 1988; Maehr, Midgley, 1991). A mastery (learning, task-involved, task-focused) goal orientation reflects a focus on mastering the task, devel- oping new skills, and improving competence and comprehension. Performance (ego-in- volved, ability-focused) goal orientation, on the other hand, has often been separated into performance-approach, which reflects a fo- cus on demonstrating competence and gain- ing favorable judgments, and performance- avoidance, which reflects a focus on avoid- ing the demonstration of lack of competence and unfavorable judgments (Elliot, Church, 1997; Middleton, Midgley, 1997). Some au- thors (Meece, Blumenfeld, Hoyle, 1988; Nicholls, Patashnick, Nolen, 1985) recog- nized an additional avoidance goal orienta- tion, work-avoidance orientation, which is aimed at effort reduction and stems mainly from students' perceptions that studying is a useless or uninteresting activity.Mastery orientation has been associated with adaptive behavior, such as the self- regulation of learning and the use of deep processin g st ra t egi es (Di seth , 2011; Somuncuoglu, Yildirim, 1999). Performance- avoidance and work-avoidance orientations have consistently been associated with mal- adaptive patterns of behavior, like self-handi- capping behaviors (Urdan, 2004; Urdan, Midgley, 2001). The evidence for the conse- quences of performance-approach goals has not been as consistent. In their review, Wigfield and Cambria (2010) pointed out that inconsistency in findings might be partly due to methodological confounding of perfor- mance approach and avoidance goals. They also concluded that the approach aspect of the performance goals has been positively related to a number of favorable variables. Nevertheless, it has been also frequently re- lated to surface processing learning strate- gies (Niemivirta, 1996; Simons, Dewitte, Lens, 2004).Personal achievement goals adopted by students reflect not only their intrinsic be- liefs and values but also goal orientations pursued by their near socio-cultural envi- ronment that could be either mastery-ori- ented, emphasizing effort, learning and un- derstanding or performance-oriented, em- phasizing competition for grades and so- cial comparisons. Despite the fact that most of the messages in the classroom stem from teacher practices, thus reflecting the goals emphasized by the teacher(s) (teacher goals), classroom goal structures usually reflect broader conceptualization by referring to perceptions of the purposes for engaging in academic work that are emphasized in the classroom by studen ts (Midgley et al., 2000). In most of the studies, classroom goal structures are viewed as precursors of stu- dents' personal goal orientations, which have a more proximal influence on students' motivation, strategy use, and achievement (Murayama, Elliot, 2009; Urdan, 2004). …

Considerable research emphasized that pre-service teachers enter teacher education programs with beliefs about teaching and learning and relate their beliefs to the experiences they gained through their previous studies. Then, their pre-existed beliefs have been shaped through the teacher education. Therefore, understanding pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs plays an important role in their professional development. The purpose of this research is to understand pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs in primary education in Turkey. Pedagogical Beliefs Scale developed by the author is used in order to understand their pedagogical beliefs. Scale development included data from 553 pre-service teachers. To understand primary pre-service teachers' pedagogical beliefs, data gathered from 310 primary pre-service teachers. Findings revealed that majority of the pre-service teachers hold constructivist beliefs. Although there is no statistically significant difference among the primary pre-service teachers regarding the year they enrolled, statistically significant difference found in favour of female pre-service teachers. Findings of this research revealed that pre-service teachers hold compatible pedagogical beliefs with the demands of the primary curriculum in Turkey.

What you Think is not what you do in the Classroom: Investigating Teacher's Beliefs for Classroom Management in an EFL Classroom

Prior research suggests the interdependent nature of prospective teachers (PTs) beliefs about mathematics and beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics. Further, PTs’ beliefs are said to be shaped by their prior experiences as mathematics learners. Using structural equation modeling, we assessed the relation between early childhood and elementary prospective teachers’ (N = 213) prior school experiences with their Beliefs about Mathematics and Pedagogical Beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics as measured by the Integrating Mathematics and Pedagogy (IMAP) survey. The results suggest a significant direct relation between PTs’ Beliefs about Mathematics and Pedagogical Beliefs. One main recommendation is that within the teacher preparation programs the classes should “speak” to each other as opposed to content being taught in one department and methods course in another department. In addition, results highlighted a non-significant indirect relation between PTs’ Beliefs about Mathematics and Pedagogical Beliefs when mediated through their prior experiences. This signifies that regardless of prior experiences, PTs’ Beliefs about Mathematics influence their Pedagogical Beliefs. This calls for teacher training programs to design learning experiences in a way that assists in shaping PTs beliefs irrespective of their experiences as elementary mathematics learners.

The relation between goal orientation and students' motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning

When goal orientations theories were first developed, the distinction between mastery (or task or learning) goals and performance (or ego) goals implied that the former contrary to the latter were beneficial for learning in terms of achievement and positive affect, such as interest and liking. However, gradually it became clear that performance-approach goals might coexist with mastery goals and lead to better achievement than mastery goals do by themselves. On the contrary, performance-avoidance goals are not conducive to learning and achievement. Despite these findings, it is not still clear how students’ goal orientations interact with teaching practices, such as the kind of goals teachers emphasize and the feedback they provide to students. In our study we measured 7th and 9th graders’ (N = 870) math ability and goal orientations. We also gave them three mathematical problems, differing in difficulty, to solve. The instructions emphasized either mastery or performance goals, whereas the control group received no goal instructions. After solving each problem students were given extrinsic feedback, which was either positive or negative. We also measured students’ positive affect and metacognitive experiences before and after they solved each problem. We found that performance instructions enhanced task performance more than mastery instructions did, and fostered students’ mastery and performanceapproach goal orientations. Mastery instructions fostered mastery and performance-avoidance goal orientations. Performance and mastery instructions also supported students’ positive affect, except when associated with negative extrinsic feedback. Finally, both mastery and performance instructions supported the association between students’ mastery and performanceapproach goal orientations with outcome-related metacognitive experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to examine selected preservice elementary teachers' pedagogical beliefs before and after the teaching immersion program using Calderhead's Five Aspects of Pedagogical Beliefs. It aims to uncover meaningful experiences, challenges, and factors that contributed to the change in preservice teachers' pedagogical beliefs. This study employed a qualitative narrative research design with six preservice elementary teachers. The data revealed that the preservice teachers' beliefs significantly changed after the teaching immersion program. The factors contributing to their changes were time constraints, classroom management, and pedagogical responsibilities. However, two factors transcended Calderhead’s framework. Thus, the development of an enhanced framework, Seven Aspects of Pedagogical Beliefs, to include the participants’ beliefs on school culture and mentoring practices. The results of the study provide the pedagogical beliefs, meaningful experiences, challenges, and changes in pedagogical beliefs of pre-service teachers. However, the study is limited to Bachelor of Elementary Education. The study reveals that quality education in teacher education could be furthered through curriculum changes; therefore, it is critical to investigate how pedagogical beliefs influence preservice teachers' classroom decisions. This study uses a qualitative approach to provide a comprehensive picture of preservice teachers' pedagogical beliefs. Given that their beliefs differed before and after their teaching immersion, it is vital to provide new insights into the factors causing this difference.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between competence beliefs, value beliefs, pedagogical beliefs and teachers’ technology integration. The sample includes two hundred and five in‐service teachers from 121 schools in Taiwan. Using the latent moderated structural equations approach, this study finds that there is a synergistic interaction between competence beliefs and traditional pedagogical beliefs. The negative effect of traditional pedagogical beliefs on technology integration is amplified when competence beliefs is at an extremely low level. On the contrary, the maladaptive nature of traditional pedagogical beliefs is neutralized when the level of competence beliefs increases. Value beliefs in terms of perceived interest and usefulness significantly predicted technology integration. However, when controlling for the effects of these beliefs, constructivist pedagogical beliefs and perceived cost are not significant predictors. These findings revealed that the additive effect model commonly seen in the literature is short of capturing the complexity of teacher beliefs about technology integration. Stakeholders are suggested to devote their resources to foster competence and value beliefs about technology integration instead of pedagogical beliefs. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic: Teacher beliefs demonstrate an additive relationship with technology integration. Competence beliefs, value beliefs and pedagogical beliefs are significantly associated with teacher technology integration. What this paper adds: Teacher beliefs demonstrate a multiplicative relationship with technology integration. Competence beliefs serve as a buffer between traditional pedagogical beliefs and technology integration. Perceptions of cost and constructivist pedagogical beliefs are not significant predictors of teachers’ intention to integrate technology. Implications for practice and policy: Teachers’ beliefs about their capability, interest and the usefulness of integrating technology, not pedagogical beliefs, are suggested to be the reasonable targets for future intervention work. Stakeholders may consider devoting their resources to first support teachers who have strong traditional pedagogical beliefs, low competence beliefs and low values beliefs about technology integration.

Purpose This study investigated general and subject-specific motivational beliefs from the perspectives of self-determination theory (i.e. intrinsic, identified, introjected, and extrinsic motivation) and achievement goal theory (i.e. mastery, performance-approach, and -avoidance goal orientation including the respective classroom goal structures), their interrelations, their stability over time, and their associations with desirable outcomes (i.e. deep-level learning strategies, self-concept of ability). It was hypothesized that motivational beliefs are interrelated but demonstrate a distinct correlational pattern depending on whether they were assessed as general or subject-specific motivation. In addition, motivational beliefs were hypothesized to relate to learning strategies and ability beliefs. Methods Medical students (n = 146) participated in this longitudinal study with measurement points at the beginning and end of a semester. The questionnaire included established motivational scales to assess motivational beliefs and desirable outcomes. Measurement models were tested using confirmatory factor analyses; correlations of scale means were investigated to assess the nomological network of motivational beliefs. Results As expected, intrinsic and identified motivation were associated with mastery goal orientation and with desirable outcome variables, such as the use of deep-level learning strategies. General and subject-specific motivation exhibited distinct correlational patterns. Motivation was relatively stable over time. Results did not confirm the factor structure of classroom goal structure. Conclusions The study emphasizes the benefit of a subject-specific conceptualization of motivation and the need for a careful adaptation of theoretical constructs from the secondary school context to make them fruitful for the promotion of medical students’ motivation. Medical teachers can use established motivational interventions (e.g. using an individual frame of reference for feedback) to support students’ adaptive motivational beliefs (e.g. self-determined motivation, mastery goals). Given the subject specificity of motivation, it seems beneficial to promote adaptive motivation in the respective medical specialty regardless of students’ general motivational characteristics.

With the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, preservice teachers have experienced an unprecedented situation and faced various kinds of issues due to uncertain learning and teaching environments. As a result, they felt insecure and disappointed about their teaching performance during student teaching. Self-efficacy to teach and pedagogical beliefs are crucial elements that influence preservice teachers’ teaching performance during student teaching and their professional development in the early stage. This study adopted a quantitative research method to examine the changes in the self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs of preservice teachers after student teaching during the initial teacher education stage in the Japanese context and how preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 133 preservice primary teachers in a university in Western Japan was recruited in this study. Two structured surveys were used to collect the data, and factor analyses and paired t-tests were fitted. This study verified the validity and internal consistency of two surveys in the Japanese context. The results showed that the Japanese preservice teachers’ self-efficacy made a steeper change after student teaching. Their pedagogical beliefs increased significantly, however, yielded a small effect. The results suggested that student teaching is an essential source of influence on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs. This study contributes to the meaningful application of theories developed in the West to Japan by highlighting the Japanese educational context. This study provides implications for effectively reinforcing preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs through developing deeper reflection skills, thus supporting them to overcome various challenges in their future teaching careers.

In recent years, educational studies have acknowledged that academic motivation is a powerful predictor of students' academic achievement. Goal orientation is one facet of academic motivation that concerns the reasons for which students pursue achievement activities. Using AGQ and R-SPQ-2F instruments, this study seeks to identify dominant achievement goal orientation held by Iranian EFL learners and examine the relationships between students' achievement goals, learning approaches, and academic achievement. The sample consisted of 80 EFL students majoring in English Literature and English Translation. The results of the data analysis indicated that the mastery goal is the dominant goal orientation adopted by learners. Afterward, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals are respectively the achievement goal orientations adopted by Iranian EFL learners. Significant correlations were found between both mastery and performance-approach goals and deep approaches. Performance-avoidance goals were found to be significantly and positively related to surface approaches to learning. In addition, performance-approach goals were positively related to academic outcome, whereas, performance-avoidance goals were negatively related to academic achievement. There was no relationship between mastery goals and students' outcomes. The study also bears some theoretical and practical pedagogical implications regarding the importance of motivation and goal setting which will be offered and discussed in detail at the end of the study.

As one of the most influential constructs in educational psychology, academic motivation represents individuals’ drives and energies to learn; as an emerging construct attracting increasing interest, engagement manifests individuals’ drives and energies, such as the use of self-regulation strategies. However, little existing research simultaneously considers these two groups of constructs within one framework, or takes their antecedents and outcomes into account, especially in regards to Chinese university students. The present study attempts to systematically study motivation and engagement on the basis of social-cognitive motivation theory and achievement orientation theory as a means of unifying substantive and empirical claims. 
\nTo accomplish these purposes, two studies, each with two parts, have been conducted with Chinese university students as participants. In Study One, Part One explores the factor structure of several instruments – including the Motivation and Engagement Scales-University/College (MES-UC), the Goal Orientation and Learning Strategies Survey (GOALS-S), the Scale of Institution Integration (SII) and the Academic Satisfaction Questionnaire (ASQ) – in half the sample (426 cases). Cross-validation with the other half of the sample is then undertaken (423 cases). Part Two investigates a process model, which includes student multiple motivational beliefs, engagement and educational outcomes through path analysis. The results suggest that students’ work avoidance goal predicts their academic dissatisfaction directly and indirectly via maladaptive engagement; their social concern goal indirectly predicts intellectual development via adaptive engagement; their social approval goal directly influences achievement; and student engagement mediates the impacts of other motivational beliefs on their academic dissatisfaction, intellectual development and achievement. Furthermore, social concern, social approval, social status goals and work avoidance goals are significantly related to motivation and engagement. 
\n In Study Two, Part One cross-validates the MES-UC instrument in a new independent sample (836 cases) of Chinese university students. Other instruments including the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS) are also validated. Part Two investigates a process model, which includes classroom goal structure, motivational beliefs, engagement and achievement through path analysis. The results find that the classroom mastery goal structure predicts adaptive and maladaptive engagement via adaptive motivation, and the classroom performance-avoidance goal structure affects maladaptive engagement via personal performance-approach goal orientation and maladaptive motivation 
\nIn summary, by considering the classroom goal structure as a contextual antecedent and a variety of motivational beliefs as individual antecedents, as well as achievement-related constructs as outcomes, the thesis finds the mediation effect of motivational beliefs between classroom goal structure and student engagement, as well as the mediation effect of engagement between motivational beliefs and achievement-related outcomes. The thesis also summarizes the main contributions, and implications, noting the limitations and pointing out some directions for future research in the field of student motivation and engagement.