Students’ performance in English: effects of teachers’ leadership behavior and students’ motivation

Abstract

The research was conducted to determine how the leadership behavior of English teachers affects students' performance in the language and to examine how the motivation of students toward English language learning influences the relationship between the leadership behavior of teachers and the performance of their students in the language. The statistical tools used in this descriptive research study were frequency analysis, mean computation, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and mediation analysis. As the students perceive, their English teacher’s manifest leadership behavior consideration more than initiating structure. Results have shown that the students scored higher in integrative than in instrumental motivation. Both dimensions of leadership behavior positively relate to the students' integrative and instrumental motivation and English performance. This indicates that they will be motivated to learn and perform better in English no matter what dimension of leadership behavior teachers will manifest. However, regression analyses have shown different results. While integrative motivation is positively and significantly correlated to students' performance in English, instrumental motivation is not. Instrumental and integrative motivation do not mediate the effects of initiating structure on students' English performance. However, both forms of motivation significantly mediate the effect of consideration on students' English performance.