The teacher’s motivational style and the students’ extrinsic motivation

Abstract

The classroom environment is considered as a key factor for the students’ interest regarding school contents. In this context, the teacher’s motivational style is considered as one of the main influences on students’ motivation. Literature points to a predominance of extrinsic motivation in relation to the school due to the teacher’s actions in the classroom. In this work, the implications of the teacher’s motivational style for the involvement of students will be presented, based on the self-determination theory. Moreover, it will be described the procedures and results of a stage of the validation work of the Brazilian version of an evaluation questionnaire of the teacher’s motivational style (Problems in School). Based on the literature of the area, assessment items of the teacher’s motivational style were elaborated and this first instrument was shown to a group of 10 teachers. The analyses of interviews carried out after the first contact with this instrument, are also shown in this article.