Effect of autonomy supportive teaching on primary students' perception of perceived autonomy support and motivation

Background: Children demonstrated a low physical active level in terms of moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity level (MVPA) around the world. Physical Education (PE) is the major platform to promote active lifestyle to children. Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether guiding PE teachers to adopt autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) could enhance students’ perceived autonomy support, physical activity level and their motivation. Methodology: 92 primary students from two schools were recruited. Students from each school were randomly assigned to either a) the AST group (age 9.49 ± 0.68 years) (i.e., providing choices and verbal instruction strategy) b) control group (9.58 ± 0.63) (i.e., direct teaching) in a three-week intervention. Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ), Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BREQ-2) and Perceived Autonomy Support in Physical Education Scale were used to assess students’ physical activity (PA) level, intrinsic motivation, and perceived autonomy support before and after the PE lesson intervention. Teachers’ instructions were recorded through auto-tracking × video camera and transferred to text for verify whether autonomy support was provided. Results: The result failed to support the hypothesis. However, the time effect of total PA MET-minutes per day had significant difference (p = 0.048). Although the interaction effect of intrinsic motivation was not significant (p = 0.103), the intrinsic motivation of AST group was increased (d = 0.189) and the control group decreased (d = -0.158). Discussion and Conclusion: The results demonstrated that increasing trend of MVPA, intrinsic motivation and perceived autonomy support by AST. The perceived autonomy support and motivation of students may be influenced when teachers provide students with an experience of autonomy in the long term of autonomy-supportive environment.