AUTHOR=Leisterer Sascha , Paschold Elias 

TITLE=Increased perceived autonomy-supportive teaching in physical education classes changes students’ positive emotional perception compared to controlling teaching

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1015362

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1015362

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Teachers can expect that autonomy support positively influences students’ affective-emotional perception in physical education (PE), when considering assumptions of the Self-Determination theory. Highly autonomy-supportive PE teaching comprises students’ free choices regarding organizational, procedural, and cognitive aspects of a PE lesson, whereas low autonomy support addresses these aspects only partly and controlling teaching refers to students as recipients of the teacher’s decisions. This quasi-experiment investigates effects to determine the effects of high autonomy-supportive (PE<sub>high</sub>), low autonomy-supportive (PE<sub>low</sub>) and controlling (PE<sub>control</sub>) PE class teaching styles on affective valence and enjoyment. As such, we compare the effects of these teaching styles on beneficial psychological outcomes (i.e., affective valence, enjoyment) in students. In a sample of German students (<italic>N</italic> = 57; age: <italic>M</italic> ± <italic>SD</italic> = 15.6 ± 0.6; gender: 53% female, 47% male) perceived autonomy support, affective valence, and enjoyment were assessed via self-report questionnaires before and after a 20-min PE class intervention focusing on high or low autonomy-supportive, or controlling teaching. Students who participated in PE<sub>high</sub> perceived significantly more positive valence and enjoyment over time compared to students in the PE<sub>low</sub> and PE<sub>control</sub> groups (affective valence: <italic>p</italic> = 0.025, <italic>η<sub>p</sub><sup>2</sup></italic> = 0.13; enjoyment: <italic>p</italic> = 0.007, <italic>η<sub>p</sub><sup>2</sup></italic> = 0.17). Differences between groups show significant results for valence between PE<sub>high</sub> and PE<sub>control</sub>, and between PE<sub>low</sub> and PE<sub>control</sub>. Thus, PE<sub>high</sub> should be preferred over PE<sub>low</sub> to intensify these effects. Based on these results, PE teachers can employ a high autonomy-supportive teaching style (e.g., through a combination of free choices, social interaction, and informative feedback) to improve students’ positive affective-emotional perception and to foster an increase in students’ time engaged in physical activity.</p>