Teachers' Role in Motivating Adolescents' Cognitive Processes

• In Event: Motivation and Cognition: The Role of Teachers

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between adolescents’ perceptions of their teachers support and communication and the strategies they develop to achieve or avoid their possible selves. A mixed-methods design was used to survey 85 high school students and interview 20 participants. Findings of this study indicate that students who perceived their teachers as supportive by communicating about their futures, provided more concrete strategies to deal with their possible selves, indicating that teachers may play a role in how adolescents develop their strategies. This study offers a new lens in viewing teacher communication and the classroom context as a space for “intervening” in the development of strategies for adolescents’ possible selves.

Authors

• Shadi Roshandel, California State University - East Bay

• Rebeca Mireles-Rios, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Odelia Simon, University of California - Santa Barbara