Abstract:

The aim of the study was to identify the characteristics of the formation of educational motivation of university students under the influence of the style of pedagogical activity of the teacher (democratic, liberal and authoritarian). Participants in the study were 230 students of Moscow State University of Food Production studying in their second year of education. The motivation of students to learn foreign languages was investigated. At the first stage of the research, a style of pedagogical interaction that was preferred for each research participant was identified by some questionnaires, and the educational success of each participant was recorded. At the second stage the study was aimed at the nature and level of representation of students' motivation to learn. During one semester, students studied within the framework of one teaching style, then over the next two semesters, the teacher changed his / her teaching style. Thus, each of the students was able to “try on” the authoritarian, democratic and liberal styles of teaching. At the same time, all educational successes and failures, students' activity in classes, their involvement in preparing homework, and performing creative tasks were recorded.

At the end of each semester (meaning changes in the style of pedagogical interaction), in-depth interviews of students were conducted in order to get feedback and a modified identification of the prevailing type of learning motivation was implemented. At the last stage of the study, the output testing of student performance was implemented. The results showed that authoritarian and democratic teaching styles had a more positive effect on student performance, while the liberal style had a negative effect on their academic performance. Students' motivation to study was higher in those groups of teachers with authoritarian and democratic teaching styles. At the same time, the democratic style, contrary to the authors' hypothesis, provoked, predominantly, not internal, but external motivation, while authoritarian styles significantly activated internal motivation.

Keywords:

Pedagogical style, teaching style, motivation, students' activity, student performance.