Associations among teacher-student interpersonal relationships and students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and academic achievement: A cross cultural study

This cross-cultural study explored associations among teacher-student relationship, students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and students’ academic achievement in grade 5 and 6 students from Vancouver, Canada (n = 102) and Hong Kong, China (n = 207). Hong Kong students perceived their teachers to be more dissatisfied, strict, admonishing, and uncertain, while Vancouver students perceived their teachers to be more helpful and friendly. Students’ levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation did not differ across cultures. Students’ intrinsic motivation positively correlated with positive teacher-student relationship subscales, and negatively correlated with teacher’s perceived dissatisfaction in both Vancouver and Hong Kong. Vancouver students’ extrinsic motivation was not significantly correlated with any teacher-student relationship subscales whereas Hong Kong students’ extrinsic motivation was significantly and positively correlated with positive teacher-student relationship subscales. Students’ academic achievement was positively correlated with positive teacher-student relationship subscales in both Vancouver and Hong Kong, negatively correlated with teacher’s uncertainty in Hong Kong, and positively correlated with student’s intrinsic motivation in both Vancouver and Hong Kong. Academic achievement was not significantly correlated with extrinsic motivation in either sample. Culture did not moderate the association between i) teacher-student relationships and academic achievement, ii) intrinsic motivation and academic achievement, iii) extrinsic motivation and academic achievement, iv) teacher-student relationships and extrinsic motivation, or v) teacher-student relationships and intrinsic motivation.