Lost in translation : congruency of teacher and student perceptions of assessment as a predictor of intrinsic motivation in ethnodiverse classrooms

Students' and teachers' perceptions of the level to which Assesment for Learning (AfL) is practiced in classrooms are largely incongruent. Teachers perceived more practice of AfL than students. Congruency in perceptions of AfL predicted higher student intrinsic motivation. In accordance with Self-Determination Theory (Ryan, 2000), the differences in intrinsic motivation were explained by students' lower feelings of competence and autonomy and relatedness towards their teacher. Congruency in AfL perceptions were explained by student Dutch language proficiency and teachers’ efficacious beliefs about their teaching skills. Teachers' positive impact on motivational interpersonal factors was partly offset by their own possible over-efficaciousness, which might have limited the degree to which they reflected on their own teaching. This relationship seems to hold for students regardless of their ethnic background. Teacher-efficacy associated with intrinsic motivation in a dualistic fashion: high teacher efficacy negatively related to congruence, but positively to fulfillment of the needs for competence and relatedness. Even though teachers may be conducive to the maintenance and emergence of feelings of competence in their classrooms, and are perceived as having good relationship with their students, there is also a negative relation between efficacy and the perception of congruencies.LEI Universiteit LeidenGedragsveranderingen bij leerlingen en hun lerare