Basic Needs

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in predicting engagement (Fredricks, et al., 2004).

2.1.3 Basic Needs

Based on self-determination theory, fulfilling human basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) affects students’ well-being, life satisfaction, and motivation (Sheldon, Ryan, & Reis, 1996 ; Reis, Sheldon, Gable, Roscoe, & Ryan, 2000 ; Deci, Ryan, Gagne, Leone, Usunov, and Kornazheva, 2001;

Sheldon & Krieger, 2007). Studies have showed that basic needs play a critical role in predicting general well-being. For example, Reis et al probed three basic needs according to college students’ daily activities and found the three needs served a significant role in emotional well-being. In an another research, Sheldon and Krieger applied longitudinal method and found that perceived autonomy could predict students’ needs, which then in turn affected academic motivation, well-being, and academic grades.

Basic need of competence is a perception of ability towards performing a specific subject or task. Competence is related to the concept of self-efficacy, which indicates a personal belief in performing the task. Providing performance related feedback, persuasion, and modeling can affect one’s efficacy belief. However, just having high competence belief is not sufficient for a learner to accomplish a task.

Personal domain knowledge and supportive context shape the sense of competence belief (Deci et al., 2001).

Basic need of relatedness means the connections or relationship with family members, friends, relatives, and teachers. In daily events, meaningful talk, feelings of being understood, and appreciated by others can affect their sense of relatedness (Reis et al., 2000). In classroom contexts, students perceive relatedness in the

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classroom as having a pivotal effect on motivation, engagement, emotion, achievement and well-being (Roeser, Midgley, & Urdan, 1996 ; Furrer & Skinner, 2003 ; Davis, 2006 ; Juvonen, 2007 ; Bao & Lam, 2008 ; Martin & Dowson, 2009).

Basic need of autonomy in learning indicates that learners are provided with choice, chances of exploration, and sharing opinions in order to develop their inner resources and values (Reeve & Jang, 2006).

The satisfaction of psychological needs affects how learners perceive and respond to the information in the classroom. Students with more adaptive profiles of psychological needs tend to react positively toward social context while students with less satisfaction tend to react more maladaptively. Cultivating a classroom context that nurtures needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence can promote engagement and motivation. For example, Haenze and Berger (2007) applied jigsaw cooperative learning instruction and found that the experience of three basic needs mediated the effect of instruction. Moreover, increasing the feeling of competence with the cooperative learning classroom was associated with better performance in physics. In another research, Krapp (2005) applied ESM (Example Sampling Method) and retrospect interview to probe vocational students’ intrinsic motivation and interest experience. Results showed that perceived autonomy support and competence were significant variables shaping vocational students’ intrinsic motivation and interest experience.

School context, that meets basic needs of students, can facilitate well-being and motivation among students (Levesque, Zuehlke, Stanek, & Ryan, 2004 ; Krapp, 2005 ; Zimmer-Gembeck, et al., 2006). For example, Zimmer-Gembeck et al. found that both classroom context and school environment promoted the needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness predicting students’ engagement and

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achievement.

Satisfying students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness can be guidelines in classroom teaching. For example, Filak and Sheldon (2003) found that the fulfillment of three basic needs affected college students’ course evaluation.

Therefore, classroom teaching behaviors can be either facilitating and detrimental depending on cultivating optimal competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When teachers meet three basic needs of students, learners can produce adaptive engagement, such as Katz and Assor (2007) argued that autonomy choice will be effective in facilitating engagement when the options meet the students’ need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Choice should meet student interest and values (autonomy), providing proper challenge (competence), and facilitating peer support rather than comparison (relatedness).

The application of basic needs between collectivistic cultures and individualistic cultures has been debated. Self-determination theory proposes the universality as well as cross-cultural application of the three needs. Also some studies have proved this point (Deci et al., 2001). Deci et al found that autonomy support can affect the perception of need satisfaction, and need satisfaction in turn affected well-being and working engagement between two working contexts:

United States and Bulgaria. They found that Bulgarian workers perceived autonomy support less from top managements compared with American workers.

Jang et al (2009) investigated Korean high school students and found that collectivism and parental influences failed to moderate the relationship between teachers support and learning outcomes, which showed that three basic needs satisfaction were universal and cross- cultural.

In recent years, several studies have investigated Taiwanese junior high school

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students and showed that the three basic needs could directly affect autonomous motivation (Chien, 2009), learning interest (Hsueh, 2009), and learning goals (Hsieh, 2008), those of which then influence outcome variables such as self-regulated learning behaviors, achievement, and academic emotions. For example, Chien (2009) adapted “Basic Need satisfaction” scale and investigated Taiwanese junior high students, finding that sense of autonomy can predict autonomous motivation.

Students’ sense of competence was the most predictive variable. Also, mastery goal adoption of parents and teachers can predict three senses of basic need satisfaction.

Another research, Hsieh (2008) investigated Taiwanese junior high school students and found that three basic needs could predict different types of goals in learning.

Moreover, need of autonomy could positively predict learning goals, discipline goals, and reward goals as well as negatively predicted reward goals and complying goals.

Need of relatedness could positively predict social goals. Therefore, the three basic needs should play some role in students’ learning in a collectivistic country in Taiwan.

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