Exploring the Relationship Between Perceptions of Teaching Quality, Some Motivational Beliefs and Students' Achievement and Satisfaction

Abstract

This study was aimed to explore the relationship between some general aspects of studying, students' perceptions of teaching quality, some motivational beliefs and students' achievement and satisfaction, as well as to determine the specific contribution of particular groups of predictors in explaining students' achievement and satisfaction. Numerous authors suggest that students' perceptions of teaching quality play a key role in the formation of students' learning because they help students to develop motivational beliefs, which influence the way students learn and lead to different learning outcomes. Therefore, positive relationships among motivation variables, students' perceptions of teaching quality, motivational beliefs, and students' achievement and satisfaction can be expected. As many as 267 first-year graduate students participated in the study where, in addition to the general data about studying, the participants were also required to estimate subjective experience of the teaching quality, some motivational aspects and students' achievement and satisfaction. The results showed that students' accomplishments were significantly correlated with almost all motivational beliefs, as well as with all factors of students' perception of the teaching quality. Multiple hierarchic regressive analyses confirmed that all groups of variables significantly contribute to the explanation of the students' achievement and satisfaction. These findings indicate that perceptions of teaching quality and some of the motivational beliefs are important predictors of student learning outcomes.