RELATION OF PERCEIVED TEACHER SUPPORT OF STUDENT QUESTIONING TO STUDENTS BELIEFS ABOUT TEACHER ATTRIBUTIONS FOR QUESTIONING AND PERCEIVED CLASSROOM LEARNING-ENVIRONMENT

Two studies examined students' perceptions of their teachers' support for classroom question asking in relation to: (a) their beliefs about teachers' attributions for student questioning, and (b) their percepti ons of classroom goal orientations and incentive structure. In Study 1 (n = 125), college students who perceived higher levels of support re ported believing that their teachers attributed asking questions to hi gher motivation and less to lack of ability, and attributed not asking questions less to lack of motivation or low ability. An avoidance-avo idance conflict was suggested for students who perceived very low supp ort. They believed their teachers attributed both asking and not askin g questions to low motivation or low ability. Teachers' (n = 80) self- rated support was related only to higher levels of attributed motivati on for student question asking. Study 2 (n = 1013) found evidence that perceived teacher support of questioning was related: (a) directly to perceived mastery goal orientation and inversely to perceived emphasi s on performance goals (grades), and (b) directly to perceived indepen dence and cooperative incentives and inversely to perceived classroom competition. Discussion included possible self-fulfilling prophecy eff ects of perceived teacher support of questioning.