Perception of Teacher Support and Reaction Towards Questioning: Its Relation to Instrumental Help-seeking and Motivation to Learn

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of students’ perception of both teacher support and students’ reaction to questioning on the instrumental help-seeking strategy used by students. The researchers also examined the relationships between these three variables and the motivational components of achievement goal theory. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 1558 undergraduate university students, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore relations between the variables. Overall, the fit of the base model was reasonably good. Results indicate that perception of teacher reaction had a direct and positive effect on students’ instrumental help seeking, as well as indirect and positive effects on self-efficacy, and task value. Perception of teacher support had an indirect, positive effect on task value. Furthermore, results revealed that motivational components have important mediating effects on instrumental helpseeking. In predicting the success of university students, researchers often highlight the use of appropriate learning strategies and motivation as two important variables to consider. Specifically, these variables are important relative to their relation to the learning process and students’ commitment towards achievement (Bandura, 1986; Pintrich & Schrauben, 1992; Zimmerman, 2000). This emphasis on motivation and learning strategies in the research on student success is consistent across the literature and is demonstrated in a number of studies (Bouffard, Boisvert, Vezeau, & Larouche, 1995; Eccles, Wigfield, & Schiefele, 1998; Midgley, 2002; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). This vast body of research has offered both conceptual and empirical evidence to support that the proper use of learning strategies, including cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and self-regulatory processes, interacts with personal and contextual characteristics to predict students’ motivation to learn and their level of academic success. In order to offer further support to this growing body of literature, this study explored the relationships between (a) the contextual characteristics of teacher support and teacher reaction to questioning, (b) students’ motivation to learn, and (c) students’ help seeking strategies. Specifically, the main purpose of this study was to determine the effects of undergraduate students’ perception of teacher support and teacher reaction to questioning on help seeking strategies. As well, motivation was examined as a mediator of this relationship.