Comparison of Japanese University Students’ Levels of Self-Determined Motivation in Face-to-Face and ERT Classrooms: NESTs and JTEs Effect on Satisfaction of Students’ Basic Psychological Needs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of teachers’ support on students’ self- determined motivation before and after the COVID-19 out-break in Japan. The study was conducted in two stages with 378 female business major college students in 2018, and 165 students of the same university and department in 2020. The findings suggest that in the face- to-face classroom, the students perceive their native English-speaking teachers of English (NESTs) to provide greater support for their basic psychological needs than Japanese English teachers (JTEs). The greatest perception gap was in the fulfillment of the students’ need for relatedness. At the same time, the second study reveals that under Emergency Remote Teaching conditions, JTEs are perceived as providing enough relatedness support to create a significant size effect on the students’ self-determined motivation—a considerable positive change from the face-to-face environment. Additionally, the comparison between pre- COVID-19 and ERT need satisfaction rankings shows a noticeable increase in students’ autonomy need satisfaction with both types of teachers, placing it first highly satisfied among the three needs, with the highest size effect on the students’ self-determined learning motivation.