Motivating College Students: An Exploration of Psychological Needs from a Communication Perspective

The purpose of this study was to identify the various ways that instructors communicatively fulfill college students’ basic psychological needs (i.e. autonomy, competence, relatedness) in the classroom. Participants were 119 undergraduate students who completed open-ended, self-report questionnaires. Analyses of the coded data revealed that a variety of instructor communication behaviors and practices previously identified in the effective teaching literature fulfill students’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. According to Deci and Ryan’s (1985) self-determination theory, the fulfillment of these needs intrinsically motivates students to learn, develops their cognitive capacities, and equips them for short-term and long-term success.