The transmission of values from math teachers to their ninth-grade students: Different mechanisms for different value dimensions?

Abstract

Teachers can transmit their class-related values to their students and thus affect their students' academic development in regular classes. This so-called value transmission has mostly been examined with respect to emotional contagion, that is, the transmission of rather affective values (e.g., enjoyment) from teachers to their students through teachers' enthusiastic behavior during instruction. However, other transmission processes might also be at play, including other value dimensions and mediation through other instructional practices.In this study, we therefore aimed to systematically test the generalizability of such value transmission effects by examining a broad spectrum of (a) teacher values, (b) instructional practices, and (c) student values. Based on longitudinal data from 1,744 students and their 70 math teachers, cross-level mediation analyses revealed that teachers' teaching enthusiasm, math enthusiasm, as well as math utility value affected their students' values (i.e., intrinsic and utility values). Teachers' teaching enthusiasm was transmitted to students' values through both student-perceived enthusiastic behavior during instruction and through relevance-related instructional practices. Teachers' subject-related values (i.e., math enthusiasm and utility value) primarily affected students' utility value, but this transmission could not be explained by the instructional practices under investigation. Overall, our findings reveal auspicious evidence for a broader generalizability of the value transmission concept and yet also show the need to differentiate between different value dimensions and the mechanisms through which they are transmitted from teachers to their students.

The motivational system of task values and anticipated emotions in daily academic behavior

“…For example, typical survey items will ask students how good they think they are at math (self-concept) and how interested they are in the subject (interest value). However, Eccles and Wigfield have recently ( 2020 ) renamed their theory the situated expectancy-value theory, emphasizing the importance of contextual, situation-specific dynamics in ability beliefs and values, and some research has examined the fluctuating nature of ability beliefs and values (Dietrich et al, 2017 , 2019 ; Parrisius et al, 2020 ; Tanaka & Murayama, 2014 ). Highlighting the situated, task-specific nature of ability beliefs and task-values is important, because different academic tasks, such as homework assignments and quizzes, within a course may have differing ability beliefs and value.…”

The "situative nature" of competence and value beliefs and the predictive power of autonomy support: A multilevel investigation of repeated observations

“…This strategy comprises verbal explanations of the relevance and importance of a task for students' current and future lives, thereby demonstrating the direct usefulness of the behavior for satisfying students' inner needs and goals (Su & Reeve, 2011). When students perceive that their teachers are providing more meaningful rationales, they show increases in value beliefs (e.g., Parrisius et al, 2020;Schmidt et al, 2019;Schreier et al, 2014) and higher effort and engagement (e.g., Assor et al, 2002;Reeve et al, 2002). In the current study, next to the general autonomy-supportive climate of the classroom (created through attention to and consideration of students' feelings and thoughts in the classroom, the provision of meaningful choices, and the nurturing of the inner motivational resources of the students), we thus pay special attention to the strategy of rationale provision.…”

“…There was no financial incentive for participation for the teachers or classes. One of the 2 In addition to the Gaspard, Parrisius, et al (2020) study, part of these data were also used by Gaspard and Lauermann (2020), Parrisius et al (2020), and Piesch et al (2020). However, none of the previous studies specifically investigated students' situational competence beliefs, situational value beliefs, or students' situational perceptions of their teachers' autonomy-supportive teaching behaviors, even though Gaspard and Lauermann (2020) had some minor overlap regarding the items used for competence beliefs and intrinsic value (see Appendix A for more information).…”

“…In other studies based on the MoMa 2 data(Gaspard, Parrisius, et al, 2020;Gaspard & Lauermann, 2020;Parrisius et al, 2020;Piesch et al, 2020), mean scores were computed under the condition that at least half of the items had a valid response. For the present study, we chose a different approach as a way to handle missing data because we were not able to use the full-information maximum likelihood approach or multiple imputation (for more information, see the Missing Data section).…”

The “situative nature” of competence and value beliefs and the predictive power of autonomy support: A multilevel investigation of repeated observations.

“…3In other studies based on the MoMa 2 data (Gaspard & Lauermann, 2021; Gaspard et al, 2021; Parrisius et al, 2020; Piesch et al, 2020), mean scores were computed under the condition that more than half of the items had a valid response. For the present study, we chose a different approach as a way to handle missing data because we were not able to use the full-information maximum likelihood approach or multiple imputation (for more information, see the Missing Data section).…”