Self-Regulation, Motivation and Teaching Styles in Physical Education Classes: An Intervention Study

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of student-activated teaching styles through a specific intervention program on students’ self-regulation, lesson satisfaction, and motivation. Six hundred and one 7th grade students (318 boys and 283 girls), aged 13 years were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a comparison group. The teachers who taught the students assigned to the experimental group used student-activated teaching styles, and specifically the reciprocal, self-check, inclusion, guided discovery, convergent discovery, and divergent discovery styles. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that the experimental group, compared with the comparison group, had higher scores in lesson satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and metacognitive activities, and lower scores in external motivation, and amotivation. The study revealed that going beyond the command and/or the practice style of teaching, PE teachers can enhance students’ metacognitive skills, lesson satisfaction and intrinsic motivation.