The relationship between perceived autonomy support and perceived academic competence with autonomous academic motivation and academic success

Curiosity is a fundamental tendency for human beings. Discovery, learning, understanding, or the desire to know exist in human nature and these are potentially main motivator of educational process. In educational literature, many studies have been conducted regarding motivation and the relationship between motivation and some factors such as academic achievement, well-being, creativity. Self-Determination Theory, theoretical source to important part of these works, has had an important place in education literature with an intense focus on the three basic psychological needs and intrinsic motivation. It is alleged that the three psychological needs accepted universally are emphasized in Self-Determination Theory. Autonomy, one of these needs, is that person feels himself/herself in the center of his/her actions. Another psychological need theory mentioned, competence, is defined as the capacity to adapt to the environment effectively and to interact with the environment. The third need, relatedness, is that a person desires to be connected with others and to live feeling sense of "belonging" corresponding in the social environment. This study focused on the impact of various variables based on self determination theory such as the "perceived competence", "autonomy" and "autonomy support" to autonomous academic motivation and academic achievement. In this study the effect of teachers and close friends's autonomy support perceived by primary fifth grade students' to academic competence, academic autonomy and autonomous academic motivation, and the effect of autonomous academic motivation to academic success are researched. The first aim of the study is to test the self-determination theory-based motivational model on academic success. The second aim of this study is to determine if the thoughts expressed by students in response to open-ended questions correlate with their reactions to scale items. For this purpose, the students were asked seven open-ended questions and obtained data were subjected to descriptive analysis. The study is a descriptive study in survey model, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in this study. The study group consists of 849 fifth grade students in selected from 17 primary schools in Eryaman and Etimesgut in Ankara. The collection of data was conducted in four stages. In first stage, data were translated from English to Turkish and expert assesment was provided. The second stage, the first pilot trial was conducted with open-ended questions and pilot scale items. The second pilot trial in which statistical analyzes were performed was carried out in the third stage. In the fourth and final stage, main study was conducted using final version of scale items and open-ended questions created with consensus expert. "Perceived Autonomy In Life Domains Scale", "Interpersonal Behavior Scale (to inquire about teacher behavior)", "Interpersonal Behavior Scale (to inquire about the behavior of a close friend)", "Academic Motivation Scale (Elementary Level)" and "Self-Perception Profile for Children" are used to measure the variables in the tested model within the scope of research. Responses to scale items used in order to collect quantitative data were analyzed by structural equation modeling. Responses to open-ended questions used in order to collect qualitative data were evaluated separately for two groups. In this evaluation, working group is divided into two groups as below-average and high-average according to their level of success and descriptive analysis was conducted on the basis of this segmentation. The results of the quantitative measurements that fifth grade students' autonomy support get by teachers directly affect the perceived competence, but the results of the quantitative measurements that autonomy support get by close friends didn't affect academic competence. Students' autonomy support get by teachers on the issues related school directly affect their academic autonomy. Students' autonomy support get by close friends on the issues related school directly affect their academic autonomy but this effect is low. Students' autonomy support get by teachers and close friends on the issues related school directly affect their autonomous academic motivation. Students' academic competence they perceived related themselves affects their autonomous (self-determined) academic motivation directly and strongly. However, students' academic autonomous they perceived related themselves affects their autonomous (self-determined) academic motivation directly but lowly. Finally, students' autonomous (self-determined) academic motivations affects directly their school performance (academic achievement). According to RMSEA, AGFI, RMR, GFI, NFI fit indices, widely used in the literature, it is likely to say that the model is acceptable. According to the results of the qualitative data, 71% of successful students get the support of autonomy from their teachers even if it is little. Students who are mediocre or below average level of success, however, get the support less autonomy from their teachers than the successful students. It is found that 68% of successful students do not feel the support of autonomy from their friends. 82% of the students who are mediocre or below average achievement level do not feel the support of autonomy of their friends. The findings revealed that 94% of students in good and high level of success experienced by a sense of autonomy, 59% of students who are at mediocre or below average level of achievement never experience sense of autonomy. Qualitative research findings also reveal that students who are at mediocre or below average level of achievement do not feel free themselves to make their own choices. It is revealed that 94% of students felt themselves competence in the academic field, in other words, believe they are able to do something else in the academic field. For students who are at mediocre or below average level of success, the situation is the opposite. 81% of this group feel themselves inadequate in the academic field. It became clear that successful students have more intrinsic motivation about going to school. Students who are at mediocre or below average level of success, however, have no intrinsic motivator except two students express they have achievement motivation in order to listen their teachers. We can talk about the existence of intrinsic motivation as long as the child's natural curiosity and interest exist in learning. It is likely to improve this motivational learning source, in case of the provision of favorable opportunities through educational environment, resources enriched by stimuli and autonomy. In accordance with research results, to be able to raise children who can choose freely, take their own decisions, regulate their own behavior without external control, claim responsibility, it is recommended to parents and teachers to create an atmosphere where their autonomy and their competence are supported and a sense of belonging (relatedness) is created.