Communicative teaching style as predictor of students’ passion and dedication

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the relations between three different communicative teaching styles (gain-framing, loss-framing and amotivational style) and students’ passion and dedication to study after school hours. We recruited 407 students and data was evaluated through path analyses. Results showed that teachers’ communicative style that encouraged students to engage in an activity, highlighting the benefits of this engagement (gain-framing style), positively predicted students’ passion; teachers’ communicative style that emphasised the importance of avoiding failure and the cost of not being engaged in the activity (loss-framing style) negatively predicted students’ passion; teachers’ communicative style that underlined that there were no connections between students’ behaviour and the results they obtained in class (amotivational framing style) was not related to students’ passion. In turn, students’ passion strongly predicted their dedication to study. Additionally, passion mediated the relation between teachers’ communicative style and students’ dedication. Findings evidence, for the first time in the literature, the effect of different teachers’ communicative styles on students’ passion and dedication. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the academic context and educational practice.