Longitudinal reciprocal effects of agentic engagement and autonomy support: Between- and within-person perspectives.

Abstract

Autonomy-supportive teachers energize students’ agency and initiative. However, few studies consider whether agentically engaged students energize more autonomy-supporting teachers. We asked 2,908 middle and high school students in physical education courses to report their agentic engagement and the autonomy supportiveness of their teachers. Data were collected at four time points over one academic year. We tested two reciprocal effects models relating student perceptions of autonomy-supportive teaching and their agentic engagement: a between-person cross-lag-panel model (CLPM) and a within-person CLPM with random intercept. Both models supported the bidirectional reciprocal relations between perceived autonomy-supportive teaching and agentic engagement. Based on student perceptions, prior agentic engagement led to increased autonomy-supportive teaching and prior autonomy-supportive teaching led to greater agentic engagement. We discuss the practical implications of these findings for classroom research and recommend teachers to inform students early in the school year that they will welcome students’ input and initiatives.

Agentic engagement: Transcending passive motivation.

“…First, longitudinal research suggests that agentic engagement uniquely transforms teachers' behavior to create a more motivationally supportive environment over time (e.g., H. R. Jang et al, 2023;Matos et al, 2018;Reeve, 2013;Reeve, Cheon, & Jang, 2020). Agentic engagement positions teachers to adjust their instruction, making them more aware of students' needs, goals, interests, and preferences and, therefore, more able to calibrate their instruction to support student motivation and learning.…”

“…First, longitudinal research suggests that agentic engagement uniquely transforms teachers’ behavior to create a more motivationally supportive environment over time (e.g., H. R. Jang et al, 2023; Matos et al, 2018; Patall et al, 2019; Reeve, 2013; Reeve, Cheon, & Jang, 2020).…”