It Counts in Every Single Lesson: Between- and Within-Person Associations Between Student-Perceived Teaching Quality and Student Self-Regulation

Abstract

The pivotal role of classroom interactions for the development of self-regulation has long been recognised (e.g., McClelland & Cameron, 2011; Vohs & Baumeister, 2011). However, previous research mainly addressed their role for between-student differences in self-regulation, ignoring variations within individuals (e.g., Blume, Irmer, et al., 2022). Additionally, classroom interactions were primarily conceptualised within the teacher-student interaction framework (e.g., Downer et al., 2010), disregarding the teaching quality framework (e.g., Praetorius et al., 2018). Furthermore, independent observers’ ratings were usually used, overlooking students’ perceptions. Here, we therefore investigated whether average and lesson-level student-perceived teaching quality (i.e., student support, classroom management, cognitive activation) is associated with student self-regulation in individual lessons. Additionally, we examined whether the strength of associations depended on students’ dispositional self-regulation. We analysed data from 64 students (Mage = 11.71, SDage = 0.93), which were collected using a baseline questionnaire (demographics, dispositional self-regulation) and 15 daily diaries. Daily, students reported on their self-regulation and perceived teaching quality in the last lesson that day. Findings showed positive associations between average and lesson-level student support and classroom management and student self-regulation in individual lessons. No associations were found between average and lesson-level cognitive activation and students’ self-regulation in individual lessons. The findings thus emphasise the role of average and lesson-level student-perceived teaching quality for student self-regulation in general and in individual lessons.