Facilitating Interest Development and Achievement in Classroom Instruction: How Large-Scale Studies Like TIMSS Can be Used to Investigate Effects of Instructional Quality

This study uses data from the 1995 TIMSS middle school study to investigate efficient use of classroom time and personal support of students as important aspects of instructional quality. Typically, most studies on instructional quality define quality in terms of instructional effects either on cognitive outcomes, such as achievement gains, or on non-cognitive outcomes, such as students’ motivational development, hypothesizing that different aspects of instruction show specific effects on each set of variables. In the present study, we examine whether mathematical instruction that is characterized by efficient use of time but, at the same, leaves room for personal support fosters both mathematical achievement and mathematics-related interest. In addition, we investigate the hypothesis that an imbalance between the two instructional aspects may have specific unfavourable effects on the two outcomes. The study draws on the German TIMSS sample of 8 graders and a national longitudinal extension which included 1900 students for whom additional data from a measurement point in grade 7 and supplementary questionnaires were available. Students’ class mean ratings of classroom instruction were used to predict learning gains and interest development over the course of the year. Results showed that efficient time use and teacher personal support affected students’ achievement and interest differentially. Students in classrooms with less efficient time use showed weaker achievement gains, whereas personal support was found to have a positive effect on interest development. However, no empirical support was found for the expected interaction effects between the two aspects of instruction. These distinct effects highlight the need for multiple criteria of instructional quality. Considering motivational and achievement outcomes at the same time may usefully inform educators about good teaching.