Intensive studying or restlessness in the classroom: Does the quality of control matter?

The way lessons are regulated by the teacher, who may support students' autonomy or use structure and control, influences emotional tone of classroom interaction and students' on-task behavior. The aim of this study was to explore the patterns of lesson regulation and its dynamics between students' on-task behavior and the emotional tone of classroom interaction. Two groups of seventh and eighth graders were studied by semi-structured observation (six weeks per class, 146 lessons). The results suggests that shared regulated lessons keep students on-task and facilitate positive atmosphere better than teacher regulated lessons, whereas lessons with competitive regulation do the opposite.