Culturally Responsive Practices and Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Motivational Climate: A Multilevel Analysis

• In Event: Achievement Goal Theory: New Research and Applications

Abstract

We examined teachers’ instructional practices and school policies from achievement goal theory and social reconstructionist theory perspectives. In two ethnically and racially heterogeneous districts, students (n = 2894) rated their teachers’ (n = 299) instructional and classroom practices, and teachers reported their instructional practices and personal responsibility for providing culturally responsive teaching and resolving intergroup conflicts. Teachers’ personal responsibility for providing a culturally responsive curriculum predicted student’ perceptions of their teachers as mastery-focused, whereas perceptions of teachers as discriminatory was positively related to perceiving them as performance-focused. Results highlight the importance of providing students with culturally relevant instruction and for teachers to feel personally responsible for doing so if students are to enjoy the challenges of learning and improving.

Authors

• Revathy Kumar, University of Toledo

• Stuart A. Karabenick, University of Michigan