The effect of an autonomy supporting instruction on students' science lesson control-value perception, emotion regulation and metacognitive learning strategies, teacher autonomy support and control perception and course success

This study aimed to examine the effects of an instruction designed for teachers and aimed at supporting student autonomy on students' perception of control-value in science lesson, emotion regulation and metacognitive learning strategies, perception of teacher autonomy support and control, and science lesson success. This study was designed to cover three time points (T1, T2 and T3) based on the time series design, which is a quasi-experimental design with control group. The study group of the research consisted of eight science teachers (experimental group=4; control group=4) working in two public schools in Mardin Artuklu district in the first semester of the 2021-2022 academic year, and studying in the classes (experimental group=300; control group=276) they teach. The "Science Lesson Control Perception Scale", "Science Lesson Value Perception Scale", "Academic Emotion Regulation Scale", "Perceived Teacher Autonomy Support Scale" and "Perceived Teacher Control Scale", which are the measurement tools applied to the experimental and control group students in the research, were adapted to Turkish by the researcher. In the study, the previously adapted Turkish form of the "Motivation and Learning Strategies Scale" was used. Descriptive analyzes, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and structural equation model (SEM) were used in the analysis of the data. According to the findings obtained from the longitudinal study, significant effects were obtained in the experimental group in the T1-T2 time interval. In the control group, significant effects were found in the T2-T3 time interval. Therefore, the experimental application did not affect the autonomy support perception of the experimental group students in a longitudinal direction. The causality analyzes proved that the perception of autonomy support in the first section (T1-T2) had significant effects on the science lesson control-value perception, academic emotion regulation, and metacognitive learning strategies. The analyzes conducted in the second section for a similar purpose showed that only the reappraisal dimension of emotion regulation and metacognitive learning strategies were significantly affected. Course success in the experimental and control groups was not predicted by predictive variables. Variables in the model developed within the scope of SEM did not show longitudinally stable effects. Alternative model analyzes proved that science lesson control and value perception dimensions interact implicitly. The findings of the mediation model constructed in the alternative model revealed the negative effect of reappraisal between the autonomy support and the perception of teacher control, and the negative effect of suppression between the autonomy support and the control-value combined factor. In the model, the gender variable affected the perception of teacher control in a longitudinal and stable manner. Thus, it was determined that the perception of teacher control perceived by male students was higher than that of female students. According to the analyzes conducted for grade levels, negative effects were found between the use of metacognitive learning strategies and grade levels. The loading of science lesson control and value perception on a combined factor shows that student efficacy perception and perception of value given to academic tasks intersect simultaneously. Cross-sectionally, positive predicting of emotion regulation by the perception of autonomy support confirmed that emotion regulation was affected by social context factors. The results show that, in general, the integration of autonomy-supportive instruction into the contents envisaged in the science curriculum and its adaptation to daily school routines is challenging. It seems that more emphasis should be placed on student and teacher heterogeneity and the role of different subject areas (eg, mathematics) when designing autonomy-supportive instruction. It is hoped that the results obtained in the research will contribute to the literature on the design of learning environments targeting classroom motivation and the effects of these environments on emotion regulation.