2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Background
Instructors play a critical role in creating educational contexts that can support or thwart student motivation and success (e.g., Meunks et al., 2020). For instance, research suggests that when instructors highlight the relevance of coursework to students' lives, students are more motivated and successful (e.g., Assor et al., 2002). However, more research is needed to understand the exact student motivational beliefs that are impacted by teacher practices. Accordingly, we grounded the study in the expectancy-value-cost motivational framework and examined whether students’ perceptions of their instructor supportiveness impact their expectations for success, perceived value (e.g., relevance), and perceived costs associated with their math coursework and, in turn, their math achievement. Instructors’ self-reported practices were also sought to complement the student findings.

Methods
Data was collected as part of a larger study (NSF HRD#2000507). Students (N = 615) were enrolled in introductory math courses across six community colleges in the Southeast United States (67.3% female; 58.2% first-generation; 32.7% Black, 11.1% Latinx, 50.7% White, 2.1% Asian, and 3.4% who selected other races). Students’ perceptions of instructors’ support (measure adapted from Patall et al., 2013) were assessed at week 3, and their motivational beliefs—including expectancies for success, values for the course, and their perceived costs (measures adapted from Rosenzweig et al., 2019)—were assessed at weeks 3 and 12 of the fall 2021 semester. Students’ final course grades were obtained from the institution. Week 3 motivational indicators as well as students' race, gender, generation status, and high school GPA were included in our models to account for students’ initial levels of motivation, demographics, and prior achievement. We also surveyed 55 instructors at week 12 to explore their teaching practices and attitudes toward student success.

Results and Discussion
Results of the path models suggested that students who perceived their instructors to be more supportive early in the semester had higher expectations for success (b = .43; 95% CI [.22, .64]) and higher perceptions of math value (b = .39; 95% CI [.18, .61]) later in the semester. In turn, students’ expectancies for success positively predicted their end-of-semester math grades (b = .75; 95% CI [.46, 1.00]). The indirect effect of perceived instructor supportiveness on math grades through expectancies for success (b = .32; 95% CI [.13, .54]) was significant. These results highlight the importance of instructors’ teaching practices in fostering student motivation and academic success. Relatedly, our qualitative examination of instructors’ teaching practices revealed that some instructors implemented strategies to help students find the math coursework more relevant to their lives. For example, one instructor mentioned: “As much as possible I try to discuss real-world connections and contexts with the students so that we can find purpose in what we are learning. The problems we work on involve real-world scenarios.” Our results have implications for improving teacher practices. For example, instructors’ attempts to highlight the utility and relevance of coursework could directly promote students’ beliefs in their abilities to succeed, their values for coursework and, in turn, their achievement in STEM.