Poster #1 - "My Teacher Thinks That My Ability Is Fixed": Meta-Mind-Sets Mediate the Effect of Teachers' Feedback on English Learners' Motivation

• In Event: 77.059 - MTCC Tuesday Poster Session 18
  In Poster Session: 77.059-1 - Exploring Motivational Constructs in Authentic Academic Settings

Abstract

Meta-mindsets refer to the perception of other’s mindsets towards you. This research examines how feedback that consoles students’ lack of ability and that focuses on improving ability influences students’ meta-mindsets and motivation after challenging tasks. Experimenters who posed as English teachers administered a difficult English test to 192 English-as-a-second-language university students. The results indicated that students receiving ability-consoling feedback perceived more fixed meta-language mindsets (e.g., “my teacher believe that my aptitude is fixed) and reported less satisfaction with their psychological needs (particularly competence needs) than those receiving ability-improvement feedbacks, and those receiving no feedback fell in between. This research bridges self-determination theory and mindsets, and provides pedagogical implications for how feedback that changes students’ meta-mindsets can impact their motivation.

Authors

• Nigel Mantou Lou, University of Alberta

• Kimberly Noels, University of Alberta