Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Ogg, Julia A.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Motivation and engagement have long been studied in educational literature as factors that contribute to student academic achievement. The student-teacher relationship has also gained attention as a factor that exerts influence on students’ performance in the classroom. Models that consider context, or the ways in which these student- and teacher-level factors work together, are lacking in the literature. The current study employed an ecological systems framework with concepts from two related theories, attachment and self-determination, to investigate the roles of motivation, engagement, closeness and conflict in the student-teacher relationship as influences on student academic outcomes. Data for the current study were derived from a sample of 620 middle school students’ self-report. Motivation and engagement were found to be significant predictors of academic skills and academic performance. Closeness and conflict in the student-teacher relationship alone were not significant predictors of engagement, but the interaction of student motivation and closeness was a significant predictor of student engagement. Lastly, closeness strengthened the indirect effect of motivation on academic skills and academic performance through engagement.

Extent

74 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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