Tracing the Signal From Teachers to Students: How Teachers' Motivational Beliefs Longitudinally Relate to Student Interest Through Student-Reported Teaching Practices

Theoretical models have suggested that teachers' motivational beliefs relate to various student academic outcomes through particular teaching practices, and that teachers' motivational beliefs and teaching practices are reciprocally interrelated. However, these relations have rarely been tested in longitudinal work. We extend previous research by (a) examining whether mathematics teachers' self-efficacy and interest longitudinally relate to student mathematics interest through student-reported teaching practices (classroom management, socioemotional support, cognitive activation) and by (b) testing reciprocal relations between teachers' motivational beliefs and student-reported teaching practices. Participants were 50 mathematics teachers (66.0% female) and their n = 959 students (47.9% girls; Mage: 14.20, SD = .62). Longitudinal multilevel models revealed different paths from teachers' motivational beliefs to students' interest: a "behavioral management path" from teacher self-efficacy for classroom management (Time 1) to student interest (Time 3) through student-perceived classroom management (Time 2), an "affective support path" from teacher self-efficacy for engagement (Time 1) to student interest (Time 3) through socioemotional support (Time 2), and a "cognitive instruction path" from teacher educational interest (Time 1) to student interest (Time 3) through cognitive activation (Time 2). We did not find reciprocal relations between teachers' motivational beliefs and their teaching practices. Our findings suggest that different dimensions of teachers' motivational beliefs are associated with different teaching practices, which in turn relate to student motivation. Educational Impact and Implications Statement Our findings show that there are multiple paths that explain the relations between different teachers' motivational beliefs and students' mathematics interest: a behavioral management path, an affective support path, and a cognitive instruction path. Different facets of teachers' motivational beliefs are thus of varying importance for students' subject interest. Our results emphasize the need to develop and implement intervention programs that successfully increase teachers' motivational beliefs, because these beliefs are associated with teachers' use of beneficial teaching practices in the classroom. Such intervention programs, however, promise to be effective only when school authorities and education policymakers contribute to teachers' motiva