Utility value and emotional support of teachers as predictors of student utility value and achievement

Abstract

We investigated the transmission of utility value from teachers to students by testing a model based on modern expectancy-value theory and empirical evidence for value transmission. A sample of 219 Korean 8th graders responded to surveys regarding the subject of history and their history teacher. Structural equation modelling showed that students' perceptions of their teachers' emotional support related positively to their perceptions of their teachers' utility value and their own utility value for history. Student perceptions of their teachers' utility value also related positively to the students' utility value. Both the teachers' and students' utility value for history positively predicted students' achievement in history. These findings suggest that students who believe that they receive stronger emotional support from their teachers tend to believe that their teachers value the subject more, and they in turn benefit from these beliefs in the form of increased utility value and achievement in the subject.