Teacher Educators’ Instructional Behaviours and Pre-Service Teachers’ Learning Motivation, Academic Engagement, Content Knowledge, and Teaching Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that prospective teachers often fail to acquire sufficient content knowledge and develop strong teaching self-efficacy. According to a large and growing body of literature, teaching behaviours that promote “autonomy support, structure, and involvement” significantly enhance students’ learning outcomes across all educational levels. However, there remains a paucity of scientific evidence on how these instructional behaviours influence pre-service teachers’ learning motivation, academic engagement, content knowledge, and teaching self-efficacy, particularly in developing countries such as Cambodia.

This study had two primary aims: (1) to investigate the relationship between pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teacher educators’ teaching behaviours—namely, instructional clarity, support and feedback, autonomy support, and support for cooperative learning—and their learning motivation, academic engagement, and teaching self-efficacy; and (2) to examine the effect of cooperative learning (CL), which incorporated the aforementioned instructional behaviours, on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers’ learning motivation, academic engagement, content knowledge, and teaching self-efficacy.

To address the first aim, a correlational research design was employed. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample of first-year pre-service secondary teachers (N = 601) at regional teacher training centres in Cambodia using adapted scales measuring instructional behaviours, learning motivation, academic engagement, and teaching self-efficacy. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed that perceptions of teacher educators’ instructional behaviours were significantly associated with pre-service teachers’ intrinsic learning motivation, academic engagement, and teaching self-efficacy.

To achieve the second aim, a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design was implemented. EFL first-year pre-service secondary teachers (N = 65) were recruited as participants. The experimental group (N = 35) and the control group (N = 30) were randomly selected from two regional teacher training centres in Cambodia. Over 16 weeks, the experimental group was instructed using CL methods, while the control group received lecture-based instruction. Data were collected before and after the intervention using a learning achievement test and adapted scales assessing learning motivation, academic engagement, and teaching self-efficacy.

ANCOVA results revealed that the EFL pre-service teachers in the experimental group outperformed their lecture-based counterparts in English grammar and vocabulary achievement, learning motivation, academic engagement, and teaching self-efficacy. However, no significant difference was found in their extrinsic learning motivation.

In conclusion, this study not only broadens the understanding of predictors influencing pre-service teachers’ learning motivation, academic engagement, content knowledge, and teaching self-efficacy, but also underscores the importance of implementing cooperative learning—incorporating autonomy support, structure, and involvement—in pre-service teacher education programs to foster the development of effective future educators.