Exploring student hand-raising across two school subjects using mixed methods: An investigation of an everyday classroom behavior from a motivational perspective

• Published in: Learning and instruction 2020-02, Vol.65, p.101250, Article 101250
• Main Authors: Böheim, Ricardo, Knogler, Maximilian, Kosel, Christian, Seidel, Tina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Motivation; Student engagement; Student hand-raising; Teacher-student interactions; Video analysis
• ISSN: 0959-4752; 1873-3263
• DOI: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2019.101250

Student hand-raising is an everyday behavior in classroom interactions with teachers. This research presents two studies that examine the variance in hand-raising and its relation to student motivation in two school subjects, Mathematics and Language Arts. Student hand-raising is introduced as an indicator of behavioral engagement. Study 1 investigated N = 397 high school students in 20 classrooms during a videotaped lesson in each subject. Multilevel regression analysis suggests that student motivation accounts for significant variance in hand-raising. The results show subject-specific differences: Student self-concept predicts hand-raising in Mathematics, while students' situational interest predicts their hand-raising in Language Arts. Students’ externally regulated motivation is predictive across both subjects. In Study 2, N = 14 high school students were interviewed about their hand-raising behavior. The results validate and extend the findings from Study 1. Finally, this research emphasizes the importance of fostering student hand-raising and discusses the implications for future research. •Hand-raising varies substantially between individual students and classrooms.•Variance in student hand-raising relates to differences in students' motivation.•Self-concept and externally regulated motivation predicts student hand-raising in Mathematics.•Situational interest and externally regulated motivation predicts hand-raising in Language Arts.•Student hand-raising is a potential new measure of behavioral engagement.