Paradoxical effects of teacher‘s motivational approaches

Past research on teaching has concentrated on personality and behavior of teachers, without much attention to cognitive activity. Yet, except for radical bchaviorists who treat cognitive activities and subjective experiences more as cpiphcnomena accompaning behavior, there has been increasing recognition of the need to study these factors, both in tcachcrs (Shavclson - Stern 1981) and students (Weinstein 1983) in order to develop complete and accurate accounts of classroom events. Similar approaches have been applied in European research. This study examines the students’ perception of their tcachcrs, and their evaluative reactions after succcss and failure in ordinary classroom tasks. 115 students (ages of 12-13) were evaluated (chosen) by their tcachcrs as gifted (N = 53) or nongiftcd (N = 62) on the basis of general ability. The findings revealed that low-rated students reported, generally speaking, significantly different assessment of a poor grade after failing at a moderately difficult task. However, the tcachcrs expressed marginally more pity towards low scorcrs (p <. 10). Further tcachcrs responded significantly differently (p <.001) towards different groups (gifted vs. nongiftcd in mathematics) concerning their reaction to an average grade (mark). The results corroborated the idea that these reactions might provide students with information about how tcachcrs estimate their ability.