







































English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

Vol. 3, No. 3, 2020, pp. 198-210  198 

 

                                                   http://journal2.uad.ac.id/index.php/eltej/index        eltej@pbi.uad.ac.id 

Conjuring up the correspondence of high-school students’ self-

determination and classroom climate with reading achievement 

Shahrbanoo Joulide a,1,*, Akram Faravani* b,2, Ali Akbar Boori b,3  

a, b, c  English Department, Islamic Azad University, Razavi Khorasan Province, Mashhad, Kuy-e-Honar, تقاطع, Ostad Yousefi Boulevard, Iran  
1 ahmad58naemi@gmail.com; 2 afaravani@yahoo.com*; 3 aaboori@gmail.com 

* corresponding author 

 

1. Introduction 

That reading comprehension is delineated from multi aspects and that different professionals in 
the educational system have concurred on the importance of reading comprehension skill (Calet, 
Lopez-Reyes, & Jimenez-Fernandez, 2020; Garner, 1987; Pearson & Gallagher, 1983; Yu & 
Levesque-Bristol, 2020;),  seems to lead to the essential point for second language researchers to 
study the factors that contribute to the enhancement of reading. Technically, reading has been 
defined as the process of rebuilding meaning from written symbols and so it engages many cognitive 
processes for comprehension to happen (Durkin, 1978; Perfetti, Landi, & Oakhil, 2005). Moreover, 
reading is one of the four skills of language, which deals with understanding vocabulary to interpret 
the whole meaning of a text. Due to the significance of understanding and interpreting the semantic 
and syntactic structures of a language as one way to improve one’s literacy and as one of the main 
skills in second or foreign language learning, finding the relationships of any variables which may 
be somehow related to reading comprehension is of great importance.  

Despite many studies that have been conducted in the area of classroom climate (Oostdam, 
Koerhuis & Fukkink, 2019; Ranđelović and Dimić, 2020; Wang, Degol, Amemiya, Parr, & Guo, 

A R T I C L E  I N F O 

 

ABST RACT  

 

 

Article history 

Received 09 December 2020 

Revised 18 December 2020 

Accepted 30 December 2020 

 A prevalent goal of education in schools is reading comprehension 
enhancement. Therefore, a critical issue in   educational psychology is 
investigating the factors contributing to increase the reading 
achievement including both classroom climate and self-determination. 
This study explored the relationships of Iranian High School students’ 
self-determination and classroom climate with their reading 
achievement.  150 Iranian (male and female) students from Sama and 
Fazele high schools in Mashhad were selected through convenience 
sampling. The instruments were IOWA self-determination, Classroom 
Climate Questionnaires, and a validated researcher-made test. It was a 
type of quantitative and correlational research. Results revealed a 
significant and positive relationship between self-determination and 
reading ability. They also showed that among the six subscales of the 
self-determination, financial management had a significant relationship 
with the reading achievement scores of students. However, the 
emotional independence of peers had a negative correlation with the 
reading achievement scores of students. The results showed that 
teachers’ skill in orienting tasks can enhance reading achievement score 
and make the classroom climate more motivating. This study has 
potentially helpful implications for English language teachers, English 
institutes, and students. Teachers can enhance student’s self-
determination by providing a friendly classroom environment and 
indirectly boost the students’ reading score.  

 

This is an open access article under the CC–BY-SA license. 

    

 

 
Keywords 

self-determination (SD) 

self-determination theory 

classroom climate 

reading achievement score 

motivation 

 

 

http://journal2.uad.ac.id/index.php/eltej/index
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mailto:afaravani@yahoo.com
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Shahrbanoo Joulide, et.al (Conjuring up the correspondence of high-school students’ self-determination and) 

2020), reading comprehension, and self-determination individually, there still seems to be a lack of 
research to explore the relationships among them in a single study. For instance, Amin (2020) 
conducted a study on a positive classroom environment and reading comprehension but it lacked the 
self-determination variable. Several other studies have focused on the relationships between self-
determination and reading comprehension but lacked the classroom climate variable, including 
Hornstra, Bakx, Mathijssen, and Denissen’s (2020) research that was done from the self-
determination perspective. Still there are challenges among different scholars in the world and in 
Iran about the relationships among these three variables. Although a few researches such as Sin and 
Siahpoosh’s (2020); Ahmadi, Namazizadeh, and Mokhtari’s (2012); and Khalkhali, Sharifi, & Nikyar’s 

(2013)  study have been conducted, there is still a gap in the studies concerning Iranian high school 
context. Most of the High School students in Iran have problems in reading comprehension and 
they, therefore, cannot achieve high scores. This highlights the significance of conducting more 
studies on the factors that may motivate students to invest more time on reading and gain higher 
scores. 

Among different models in contemporary behavioral sciences, self-determination theory offers a 
framework or basis for understanding various factors that promote human motivation (Deci & Ryan, 
2002; Gagne & Deci, 2005; Jang, Kim, & Reeve, 2016). Self-Determination Theory (SDT) links 
personality, human motivation, and optimal functioning. It posits that there are two main types of 
motivation—intrinsic and extrinsic—and that both are powerful forces in shaping who we are and 
how we behave (Deci & Ryan, 2002; Gagne & Deci, 2005). According to Deci and Ryan (2002), 
extrinsic motivation is a drive to behave in certain ways based on external sources and it results in 
external rewards. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation comes from within. There are internal 
drives that inspire us to behave in certain ways, including our core values, our interests, and our 
sense of morality (Olafsen, Niemiec, Halvari, Deci, & Williams, 2017). An individual’s 
understanding of his degree of self-determination shows his awareness of needs (Deci, Eghrari, 
Patrick, & Leone, 1994). Self- determination theory (SDT) is a macro theory of human motivation 
and personality that concerns human innate psychological needs (El Miedany et al., 2018). It can be 
defined that behind every decision that people make there is a kind of self-determination.  

As mentioned above, SDT is used in different researches in various fields including psychology, 
sociology, and education. Many scholars have investigated SDT in educational issues. The 
importance of these researches is that when teachers try to find ways to promote student's motivation 
during relatively uninteresting learning activities, they can successfully do so by promoting the 
value of the task. Research suggests that having high self-determination can foster success in many 
different domains of life (Roth, Vansteenkiste, & Ryan, 2019). Self-determination is a key concept 
in psychology that refers to an individual’s ability to make choices and manage his/her own life. 
Self-determined people feel that they have control over their choices and lives and believe that what 
they do will affect on the outcome of their actions. Thus, they will be more motivated to take action. 
However, this concept is not limited to psychology. Self-determination works in many different 
domains of life including education. Thus, the possibility of a significant contribution of self-
determination in education and learning justifies the study of a relevant theory in the literature called 
“self-determination theory”. SDT originated from the work of psychologists Edward Deci and 
Richard Ryan (1985). Self-determination can play an important role in how people function in many 
different areas of their lives. This theory can help understand the things that might motivate 
behaviors (Jansen et al, 2020).  

Moreover, it has been recognized as one of the most important areas in educational studies 
(Noels, Lascano, & Saumure, 2019). If students have a certain level of self-determination, they will 
make appropriate choices and decisions for their educational life (Liu et al., 2019). Self-
determination in students leads to organizing and planning for better educational goals. It also 
increases the problem-solving skills in students and causes positive things to happen in their 
academic life (Landmark & Zhang, 2019). In addition, based on SDT, three psychological critical 
needs should be met to support and facilitate the process of internalization and the development of 
optimal motivation and to achieve psychological growth. The first need is competence. Competence 
is defined as the power that leads humans to control the outcome and experiencing mastery. 
Competency in a learner can be defined as some attitudes, skills, and knowledge that a learner 
develops and applies for successful learning (Roberts & Bezuidenhout, 2017). The second innate 
need is the concept of relatedness which is explained as an emotion that leads humans to be 
connected to others. 



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Research shows that students’ relation with the teacher and other students is linked to academic 
achievement (Guay, Denault, & Renauld, 2017). The last psychological need that should be met is 
autonomy. Autonomy can be defined as a desire to be causal agents of one’s own life and act in 
harmony with one’s integrated self. Learner autonomy is very useful in the learning process. 
Learners with autonomy are aware of their weak and strong points. Furthermore, autonomous 
learners are responsible for their decisions (Fathali & Okada, 2018). Thus, SDT would be 
internalized and learners would become autonomously self-determined and motivated when their 
basic psychological needs are met (Deci & Ryan, 2002). It seems quite reasonable that intrinsically 
motivated and autonomous language learners are more actively engaged in their learning.  

According to SDT theoreticians, Deci and Ryan (2008), individual personality differences are 
due to the varying degrees to which each need has been satisfied. Self-determination theory is a key 
theory in educational and learning contexts since it affects student s’ motivation. Motivation will 
lead to many positive results in learning contexts. The important thing is that teachers and students 
should be aware of their needs. SDT provides a new vision for language research. Self-
determination theory also focuses primarily on internal sources of motivation such as a need to gain 
knowledge or independence which is known as intrinsic motivation (Deci, Olafsen, & Ryan, 2017).  
Although self-determination is one of the elements that can guarantee successful learning, classroom 
climate plays a central role in it as it may predict the satisfaction of basic psychological needs 
(Alonso-Tapia & Nieto, 2019). Research has shown that aspects of classroom climate are 
significantly related to educational motivation. As Creemers and Reezigt (1999) stated that 
classroom climate influences students’ motivation directly.  

Classroom climate is defined as the environment including the social, emotional and physical 
aspects of the classroom. It explains the effects of the teachers on students’ behaviors and 
interactions (Buyse, Verschueren, Verachtert, & Damme, 2009). Cohen, Pickeral, and McCloskey 
(2009) define this complex multidimensional construct as the quality and character of school life. 
Evans et al (2009) define classroom climate as a social psychological construct that is formed 
through interactions among all agents, the teacher and the students, in the classroom and mediates 
between these factors. Although there is enough empirical evidence to prove that school climate is a 
powerful leading external factor which affects students’ academic achievement (Brand et al., 2008; 
Chen & Weikart, 2008; Collins & Parson, 2010), the point is that positive classroom climate does 
not automatically happen, but it is created. This means some things must be done to deliberately 
shape the climate of the classrooms and change them into positive learning environments. In other 
words, the way that a teacher is running the classroom should lead to a positive environment. 

The first factor in creating a safe supportive positive environment is to develop and reinforce 
classroom rules and norms. Following rules make students self-regulated and students who have the 
opportunity to practice self-regulation can focus better on learning. The second factor is promoting 
positive peer relationships and encouraging positive interactions in classroom contexts. This can be 
done by paying attention to the social dynamics of the classroom. The last factor is nurturing 
positive relationships with all students. Using encouraging words in reaction to students’ positive 
behaviors, asking them personal questions to know them, and paying attention to changes in 
students’ physical and emotional behaviors are among a wide variety of techniques that teachers can 
benefit from to reach this goal. Since a multitude of factors contributes to the overall construct of 
school climate, researchers have come to the conclusion that this construct is multidimensional in 
nature. Based on the literature, there are three different dimensions to classroom climate: academic 
dimension, management dimension, and emotional dimension. The first dimension, the academic 
dimension, refers to pedagogical and curricular components and elements of the learning 
environment. Management dimension refers to discipline styles for maintaining order. Emotional 
dimension refers to the affective interactions within the classroom. The emotional climate examines 
the interchange of feelings between teacher and students occurring regardless of disciplinary style or 
degree of control exercised in the classroom (Evans et al., 2009).  

Classroom climate is described as a system that is based on four variables: physical setting, 
organizational aspects, teacher characteristics, and pupil characteristics (Westling-Allodi, 2002). The 
functions of these variables and the interaction among them constitute the quality of the classroom 
climate. A positive classroom climate leads to the promotion of students’ self-determination and 
motivational level (Drotar, 2019; Morin, Marsh, & Nagengast, 2014). Classrooms which do not have 
a favorable climate cause lack of motivation. The level of teacher support affects the classroom 
climate (Cheema & Kitsantas, 2016). The valuable learning outcomes of positive school/classroom 



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Shahrbanoo Joulide, et.al (Conjuring up the correspondence of high-school students’ self-determination and) 

climate reported in the literature consist of lower dropout rates, higher attendance, increased 
engagement, deeper learning, improved grades, and improved motivation (Huang, 2003; Lau & Lee, 
2008; Tapola & Niemivirta, 2008). Good student-teacher rapport guarantees students’ feelings of 
safety and support (Brand, et al., 2003). Moreover, according to Fraser (1994), if a positive 
classroom climate is created, students will learn better and engage more in learning tasks. 

To sum up, classroom climate refers to the emotional and physical aspects of the classroom 
(Alonso-Tapia & Nieto, 2019) that can affect students’ outcomes and their effective learning. 
Although there have been various studies on the concept of self-determination, reading ability, and 
classroom climate, they are still in their early stages. Due to the importance of reading 
comprehension skill, on one hand, and the ambivalent evidence of the effect of sociocultural context 
and some psychological traits such as motivation, which is a subcategory of self-determination, on 
students’ learning on the other hand, the present study intended to probe the possible existence of 
any kind of relationship between self-determination and classroom climate with students’ reading 
achievement scores. Therefore, the following research questions were posed: “Is there any 
significant relationship between Iranian high school students’ self-determination and classroom 
climate with their reading achievement scores?” 

2.  Research Method  

This study intended to examine the relationship of Iranian high school students’ self-
determination and classroom climate with their reading score through a quantitative method. To 
collect the required data, 150 Iranian high school students (60 Males and 90 Females) with the age 
range of 15-16 participated in this study. The sampling procedure was convenience sampling. The 
setting for collecting the required data was the Iranian high schools located in Mashhad city. Two 
questionnaires were employed including self-determination and classroom climate questionnaires. 
Moreover, reading scores of the achievement test of students were gathered from the teachers.  

Iowa’s self-determination questionnaire was designed by Hood and Jackson (1986) to assess the 
self- determination progress based on Chickering theory (1969). This questionnaire has 90 items and 
6 subscales. Each subscale has 15 questions and is based on Likert’s five-choice range with 
questions such as “I know how I treat others, how they treat me”. It measures the growth of self-
determination. The version which was used in this research was the Persian version which has been 
translated and validated by Selgi and Geramipoor (2020). The reported reliability coefficient for this 
translated version is 0.99. In this study, the growth of self-determination refers to the scores that 
respondents give to the 90-item questions of the self-determination questionnaire. The questionnaire 
has 6 subscales: mutual dependence, emotional independence of parents, time management, 
financial management, emotional independence of peers, and displacement. The research 
participants were given 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire. The possible range of scores for 
the IOWA Self-determination questionnaire with 90 items is between 90 and 235. 

The classroom climate questionnaire was introduced by Fraser, Giddings, and McRubby (1995). 
This questionnaire was translated and validated by Hossienchari and Khayer (2002). In this study, 
the Persian version of the classroom climate questionnaire translated and validated by Hossienchari 
and Khayer (2002) was used. Cronbach alpha for reliability of the whole Persian instrument was 
reported to be 0/87 (Hossienchari & Khayer, 2002). This questionnaire has 20 items and 4 subscales 
that are based on a 3-choice Likert scale: seldom, usually, and often. Behrhorst, Sullivan, and 
Sutherland (2020) considered the classroom climate as a set of environmental characteristics with 
four dimensions including ecology, culture, environment, and social system. Classroom climate has 
been known as one of the most effective factors in teaching and learning. The possible range of 
scores for Classroom Climate questionnaire with 20 items is between 20 and 147. The participants 
were given 15 minutes to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire has 4 subscales: unfriendly 
behavior, cooperation and equality, task orientation and equality, and competition. 

Due to the aims of the present study that was investigating the potential relationship between 
reading achievement score with self-determination and classroom climate, the researcher designed 
and validated a reading comprehension test based on the level of students. Reading texts were 
selected from students’ work book (Comprehensive English Language Book-10th grade). It has 20 
multiple-choice questions. The content and face validity of the test was checked by three colleagues. 
Moreover, to check the reliability of the test with dichotomous items (0 and 1, or one correct 
answer), KR-20 was used in a pilot study on another group of 30 high school students. The results 



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 Shahrbanoo Joulide, et.al (Conjuring up the correspondence of high-school students’ self-determination and) 

showed that the teat with the rate of .88 is a reliable test with 30 participants in the pilot phase. 
Besides, the reliability of this test within the main phase of the study was .89. The learners were 
given 30 minutes to answer the test.  

This study was conducted during the academic year of 2020 in Iranian high schools in Mashhad, 
a city in the northeast of Iran. The required data was collected by questionnaires of classroom 
climate and self-determination. At first, participants were asked to fill out the self-determination 
questionnaire. Then they filled out the classroom climate questionnaire. After the completion of data 
collection process, the data were entered into SPSS software and the correlations among these three 
variables were calculated.  (SPSS-24) software was employed. To find the answer to research 
questions 1 and 2, descriptive analysis was used. 

3. Findings and Discussion 

To check the normality of data distribution, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was employed. This 
test is used to check whether the distribution deviates from a comparable normal distribution. If the 
p-value is non-significant (p>.05), it can be said that the distribution of a sample is not significantly 
different from a normal distribution; therefore, it is normal. If the p-value is significant (p<.05) it 
implies that the distribution is not normal. Table 1 presents the results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov 
test. 

Table 1.  The Results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test 

 Df p-value 

Self-Determination 131 .12 

Classroom Climate 131 .09 

Reading Scores 131 .06 

 

As can be seen in Table 1, the obtained sig value for all variables is higher than .05. Therefore, it 
can safely be concluded that the data is normally distributed across all the variables. 

 

3.1. Reliability of the Questionnaires 

Table 2 shows the information obtained from Cronbach alpha analyses for two questionnaires.  

 Table 2.  Results of Cronbach Alpha Indexes after Reliability Analysis 

 

Scale   Number of items  Cronbach Alpha 

Self-determination  90   .88 

Classroom climate  20   .72 

 

As the table shows, the utilized questionnaires gained acceptable indexes of Cronbach alpha as a 
whole: Self-Determination= .88, Classroom Climate=.72.  Cronbach Alpha index for reading 
Comprehension Test is also acceptable (Reading Comprehension Test= .89) 

 

3.2. Descriptive Statistics 

Table 3 presents descriptive statistics for the six sub-constructs of self-determination including 
the mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum scores. The possible range of scores for all 
six sub-constructs of self-determination is between 15 and 75. 

As can be seen in Table 3, financial management has the highest mean score (46.97) and the 
emotional independence of peers has the lowest mean score (42.30). Also, the table shows the 
number of participants was 150.  

 

 



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Shahrbanoo Joulide, et.al (Conjuring up the correspondence of high-school students’ self-determination and) 

Table 3.  Descriptive Statistics of Sub-Constructs of Self-Determination 

 N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation 
Financial 

Management 

150 21.00 75.00 46.97 16.66 

Emotional Independence Of 

Parents 

150 19.00 72.00 42.33 15.17 

Emotional 

Independence of Peers 

150 21.00 69.00 42.30 12.95 

Mutual 

Dependence 

150 23.00 70.00 46.12 14.67 

Time 

Management 

150 22.00 71.00 44.76 13.43 

Displacement 150 22.00 75.00 46.68 17.26 

Self- 
determination 

150 138.00 423.00 269.19 82.45 

 

Table 4 presents descriptive statistics of sub-constructs of classroom climate. The possible range 
of scores for sub-constructs of classroom climate with 5 items is between 5 and 15. 

Table 4.  Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Classroom Climate 

 N Minimum Maximum        Mean Std. Deviation 
Unfriendly 

Behaviour 

150 5.00 15.00 8.90 2.43 

Task Orientation 

and Equity 

150 5.00 15.00 10.15 2.82 

Cooperation and 

Equality. 

150 5.00 15.00 9.68 2.95 

Competition 150 5.00 15.00 10.10 2.81 

 

As can be seen in Table 4, unfriendly behavior has the lowest mean score (8.90) and task 
orientation and equity have the highest mean score (10.15).  

Table 5 presents descriptive statistics of students’ reading ability. The possible range of scores 
for this test is between 0 and 20. 

Table 5.  Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Reading Score  

 N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation 

Reading Score     131 7.00 20.00 14.23 3.04 

 

As can be seen in Table 5, the minimum score for Reading Score is 7 and the maximum score is 
20. Moreover, the mean score is 14.23 with standard deviation of 3.04. 

3.3. Main Data Analyses 

1. Is there any significant relationship between self-determination and Iranian high school 
students’ reading ability? 

To assess the first research question, Pearson correlation was used. Table 6 shows the obtained 
correlation coefficient related to Iranian high school students’ self-determination and their reading 
ability. 

Table 6.  Results of Pearson Correlation between Self-Determination and                                                  

Iranian High School Students’ Reading Scores  

 Reading Scores 

Self-Determination Pearson Correlation .40** 

Sig. (2-tailed) .00 
N 131 

                                                                          a **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 



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The results of Pearson correlation indicated that there is a positive significant relationship 
between overall self-determination and reading ability (r=.40, p<.05). 

Table 7.  Results of Pearson Correlation between Sub-Constructs of Self-Determination and                        

Iranian High School Students’ Reading  Achievement  Scores  

 FM EIP EIPE MD TM DIS 
Reading Achievement scores Pearson Correlation .13 .35** .20* .37** .45** .27** 

Sig. (2-tailed) .254 .00 .041 .000 .000 .001 

N 131 131 131 131 131 131 

a. **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).  

b. *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 

 

The results of Pearson correlation indicated that among sub-constructs of self-determination, 
Time Management (r=.45, p<.05) has the highest relationship and Financial Management (r=.13, 
p<.05) has the lowest relationship with reading score.  

 

2. Is there any significant relationship between the classroom climate and Iranian high 
school students’ reading achievement score? 

To assess the second research question, again Pearson correlation was used. Table 8 shows the 
results of Pearson correlation between the classroom climate and Iranian high school students’ 
reading ability. 

Table 8.  Results of Correlation between the Classroom Climate Iranian High School                                       

Students’ Reading Achievement Scores  

 
Unfriendly 

Behaviour 

Task Orientation and 

Equity 

Cooperation 

and Equality. 
Competition 

Reading 

Achievement    
scores 

  Pearson   

Correlation 

-.10 .46** .29* .33** 

Sig. (2-tailed) .220 .000 .000 .001 

N 131 131 131 131 
c. **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 

 

The results of Pearson correlation indicated that among sub-constructs of classroom climate, 
Task Orientation and Equity (r=.46, p<.05) has the highest relationship. Unfriendly Behavior (r=-
.10, p>.05) has the lowest relationship with reading ability. As stated before, the main purpose of the 
present study was to explore the relationship between classroom climate and self-determination with 
the reading ability of Iranian students. To investigate the potential relationship, the researcher used 
quantitative data. 

Regarding the relationship between self-determination and reading ability, findings revealed that 
there is a significant and positive relationship between self-determination and reading ability. 
Besides, findings showed that among six subscales of the self-determination, financial management 
has the highest mean score (46.97) and it has significant relationship with the reading ability of 
Iranian students and emotional independence of peers has the lowest mean score (42.30) and it has a 
negative correlation with the reading ability of Iranian students. 

This finding is in agreement with Yang, Chiu, Sin, and Lui’s (2020) study which was conducted 
to explore the relationship between self-determination and the academic achievement of students. 
The results showed that school support has a significant indirect effect on school engagement via 
self-determination as a mediator. The correlations between school support, self-determination, and 
school engagement are all positive and significant, whereas peer support did not correlate with 
school engagement. Moreover, research conducted by Erickson et al. (2015) also unfolds that self-
determination skills are positively correlated with factors that have been shown to improve academic 
achievement, one of which can be reading achievement. The obtained significant relationship 



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between self-determination and reading score in this study can be due to the fact that self-
determination enhances students’ engagement in reading comprehension. 

Also, the finding of the present study agrees with Muir’s (2020) study which was conducted in 
order to investigate the relationship between self-determination and the flipped classroom. The 
results showed that SDT was an appropriate lens to analyze participants’ experiences of the 
approach, with the teacher being a particularly strong influence on students’ motivation for engaging 
with the approach. Muir’s findings also highlight the importance of the role of teachers in creating a 
learning environment supporting students’ self-determination and reading achievement score. 
Additionally, the observed association between reading ability and self-determination seems to be 
consistent with Gardner's assertion that the intensity of affective factors like self-determination that 
is directly related to motivation is a contributing factor to L2 achievement including reading score 
and vice versa (Masgoret & Gardner, 2003). Such contributing environment which lowers the role of 
inhibiting affective factors can be strengthened by the teachers’ qualities in creating a positive 
classroom environment.  

Besides, chances are great that the learners with low sense of self-determination lose their 
identity and investment and therefore deteriorate in the face of failure. Bogianno and Pittman (1992) 
advocated that amotivated learners who obviously have lower sense of self-determination tend to 
use more maladaptive non-effective learning strategies in their courses like reading such as lack of 
investment and persistence with their tasks which commonly results in decreased performance. 
Consequently, such learners are not sufficiently diligent to amend the reading strategies in 
accordance with the demands of the tasks. Also, the present study extends this line of research by 
investigating the relationships between classroom climate and reading ability. This research showed 
that there is a positive correlation between two subscales of classroom climate and reading ability. 
Findings revealed that Task Orientation and Equity (r=.46, p<.05) has the highest correlation with 
Iranian students’ reading ability and unfriendly behavior (r=-.10, p>.05) has the lowest correlation 
with reading ability. The obtained results can be due to the fact that classroom climates that 
demotivate learners by applying tasks that are not based on their needs and interests or the situations 
in which the teacher provides a sense of non-equity cause obstacles for them as they fall into a state 
of helplessness, especially when they see others doing better in the classroom than they are.  

As the results showed, equity has a high correlation with reading achievement. This means that 
supportive and finely classroom environments enhance and so the class becomes more enjoyable for 
learners. Furthermore, learners in such environments tend to report a high desire for self-
improvement and motivation for academic achievement (Battistich, Schaps, & Wilson, 2004; 
Patrick, Ryan, & Kaplan, 2007). On the other hand, classroom conditions with strict rules and high 
teacher control seem to be associated with lower learner engagement and negative feelings about not 
only the classroom but also their success. It appears then that classroom climates that enhance 
rapport and relationships encourage student motivation and eventually achievement in reading. This 
finding is in line with Lepola, Lynch, Kiuru, Laakkonen, and Niemi’ s (2016) study which was 
conducted to investigate task orientation as a predictor of grade 3 reading comprehension skills. This 
study was a five-year longitudinal study. A positive relationship was found between task orientation 
and reading comprehension of preschool through kindergarten to grade 3. Students are particularly 
motivated when their teachers provide a learning environment with challenging and meaningful 
tasks. Therefore, as the results of the present study unfolded, teachers’ ability in adapting and 
adopting tasks may create a motivating environment leading to the enhance ment of self-
determination and reading score achievement. 

Furthermore, the findings of Oostdam, Koerhuis and Fukkink (2019) also are in line with the 
present study. This study was conducted in order to investigate the maladaptive behavior about the 
basic psychological needs of students in secondary education. The findings showed significant, 
negative correlations between maladaptive student behavior in the classroom and the extent to which 
students’ basic psychological needs are met by teachers and fellow students. Both teachers and 
fellow students play a role in students’ maladaptive behavior toward school and withdrawn 
behavior. When it comes to unfriendly behavior, the perceived support of teachers appears to be 
particularly relevant, while the role of peers is an important factor in delinquent behavior. Their 
findings confirm the results of the present study since teachers’ skill in considering the students’ 
basic psychological needs makes the classroom environment more fruitful; therefore, students may 
benefit more from the instruction and classroom environment and achieve higher scores. 



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4. Conclusion 

The present study was an attempt to provide evidence on the relationships of self-determination 
and classroom climate with the Iranian high school students’ reading achievement score. The present 
study demonstrated that time management, which is one of the subscales of self-determination, has 
the highest correlation with the reading comprehension and that task orientation, which is one of the 
subscales of classroom climate, has the highest positive correlation with reading ability, while 
unfriendly behavior has a small negative correlation with it. In general, from the findings it can be 
concluded that self-determination and classroom climate have an undeniable effect on the Iranian 
high school performance level of reading achievement. In other words, to have students with higher 
reading ability, teachers should help students to increase self-determination. The best strategy for 
teachers in this regard is to teach students some valuable techniques to improve their time 
management. Another significant factor that can help education authorities to have students with 
higher reading ability is managing their classroom climate. This pedagogical goal can be best 
achieved through implementing some strategies to manage classroom climate in a task-oriented way. 

The findings are potentially helpful for English teachers, English schools or institutes, and 
students. It provides teachers with some suggestions on how to create more learning opportunities. 
In addition, recognizing time management as the most correlated sub- construct of students’ self-
determination with their reading ability would encourage English teachers and instructors to 
manipulate pedagogical strategies to help students to improve their time-management. Besides, 
realizing that task orientation is the most correlated sub-construct of classroom climate with 
students’ reading ability, teachers can adapt and adopt tasks that motivate students to invest more 
time on reading achievement.  Additionally, If teachers take the results of this study into account, 
they will teach in a friendly behavior classroom and increase self-determination of their students. 
Finally, the results recommend English schools or institutes to develop and modify their old policies 
and renew them in order to increase the performance level of their students and teachers.  

This study can open new visions for other studies based on the limitations of the current study. 
For example, replication of this study can be done in other contexts. The present study addressed 
students in high schools. Further research can be done to replicate it in universities or institutes. 
Moreover, the present study only focused on the relationships between self-determination and 
classroom climate with reading achievement. It is recommended that future researchers conduct 
correlational studies on other variables related to reading ability. Finally, further studies are 
suggested to consider various demographic information such as age, gender, and years of study. 

 

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