Feelings towards Child-Teacher Relationships, and Emotions about the Teacher in Kindergarten: Effects on Learning Motivation, Competence Beliefs and Performance in Mathematics and Literacy

Y

21

Kindergarten; Young Children; Student Attitudes; Teacher Student Relationship; Emotional Response; Competence; Learning Motivation; Student Interests; Goal Orientation; Mathematics Achievement; Reading Achievement; Interviews; Hypothesis Testing; Foreign Countries; Preschool Teachers; Statistical Analysis

10.1080/1350293X.2014.947830

1350-293X

This study examined the role of kindergarten children's feelings about the perceived quality of their relationships with their teachers and their emotions towards their teachers in their competence beliefs and learning motivation (intrinsic interest, learning goals), in the impact of competence beliefs on learning motivation, and in turn in school performance in mathematics and literacy. A total of 200 kindergarten children of both genders, and a total of 30 teachers participated in this research. The children were interviewed individually in their classrooms during a regular lesson in the middle of a kindergarten year. The results showed that emotions and feelings had moderate and positive effects on competence beliefs and learning motivation (low in learning goals), and enhanced the impact of competence beliefs on learning motivation, mainly in mathematics. Competence beliefs, compared to the other variables, proved the most powerful contributor of school performance.

As Provided

123

2014

EJ1043627