Teachers in class. A study on teacher performance patterns in the university freshman class from amotivational perspective

Abstract

In this work, which is part of a broader research work, we identify patterns of teaching performance that teachers develop mainly within the classroom environment of the university freshman class. We considered contemporary research on the field of psychology of motivation and educational psychology, which attempt to explain teacher’s patterns of performance that promote an interest for learning in university students. The study was conducted on the basis of the systematic sampling of 52 class observations of 13 university professors of first year in the National University of Río Cuarto, Argentina, during one academic term. A descriptive transactional study was performed, followed by a univaried analysis of descriptive statistics. The results show that the patterns of performanceis a great concern for several reaserchers, developed in the classroom: would not have an exact match with the theoretical model studied; would submit a heterogeneous distribution, that is to say there is not a direct correspondence between teaching patterns and specific learning environments; and a professor’s patterns of performance are combined in a joint way, since they come from different learning environments.