From Enthusiastic Teaching to Learning Goals: School Belonging and Disciplinary Climate as Dual Pathways Supporting Cognitively Engaged Learning

Classroom environments that support students’ adaptive learning goals are essential for fostering deeper learning and self-regulated learning. Although teacher enthusiasm has been widely associated with student motivation, the relational and environmental processes underlying its association with students’ learning goals remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory, Broaden-and-Build Theory and Emotional Contagion Theory, this study investigated a dual-pathway model examining the associations between teacher enthusiasm and students’ learning goals through two mediating mechanisms: students’ sense of belonging and classroom disciplinary climate. The study analyzed data from 6855 fifteen-year-old students participating in the Turkish sample of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Survey-weighted structural equation modeling with Fay-BRR standard errors showed that teacher enthusiasm was directly associated with students’ learning goals and showed significant indirect associations through both sense of belonging and disciplinary climate. Both pathways showed significant indirect associations, and the combined indirect effect was consistent with a complementary dual-pathway mechanism. The study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms linking teacher enthusiasm to students’ learning goals and highlights the importance of fostering supportive classroom relationships and a positive disciplinary climate within a centralized educational system.