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Hyoung-Sim Jang

Hanyang University · Psychology

About the Lab

Professor Hyoung-Sim Jang's research lab specializes in educational psychology, with a primary focus on self-determination theory (SDT) and its application in classroom settings. The lab investigates how autonomy-supportive teaching practices enhance students’ psychological need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, engagement, and academic achievement across diverse cultural contexts, particularly in East Asian education systems. Key research directions include the impact of perceived autonomy support, the role of instructional behaviors in fostering student motivation, and the longitudinal mechanisms linking autonomy support to learning outcomes. The lab also explores culturally sensitive teaching strategies, such as aligning instruction with students’ preferred learning ways, to promote autonomy and conceptual understanding.

self-determination theoryautonomy supportstudent engagementmotivation in educationclassroom instruction

Research Overview

Papers
72
Total Citations
8,287
Papers (5y)
26
Primary Field
Psychology

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
26total
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
118total
20222023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
1
Article|1,605 citations·2010
Engaging students in learning activities: It is not autonomy support or structure but autonomy support and structure.
Hyungshim Jang, Johnmarshall Reeve, Edward L. Deci
SJR Q1Journal of Educational Psychology

We investigated 2 engagement-fostering aspects of teachers' instructional styles-autonomy support and structure-and hypothesized that students' engagement would be highest when teachers provided high levels of both. Trained observers rated teachers' instructional styles and students' behavioral engagement in 133 public high school classrooms in the Midwest, and 1,584 students in Grades 9-11 reported their subjective engagement. Correlational and hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed 3 res

Social PsychologyPsychology
2
Article|1,573 citations·2004
Enhancing Students' Engagement by Increasing Teachers' Autonomy Support
Johnmarshall Reeve, Hyungshim Jang, Dan Carrell, Soohyun Jeon, Jon Barch
SJR Q1Motivation and Emotion
Social PsychologyPsychology
3
Article|1,523 citations·2006
What teachers say and do to support students' autonomy during a learning activity.
Johnmarshall Reeve, Hyungshim Jang
SJR Q1Journal of Educational Psychology

Teachers with an autonomy-supportive style rely on different instructional behaviors to motivate their students than do teachers with a controlling style. In the present investigation, the authors tested which of these instructional behaviors actually correlated positively or negatively with students' autonomy. The authors used Deci, Spiegel, Ryan, Koestner, & Kauffman's (1982) teacher-student laboratory paradigm to randomly assign 72 pairs of same-sex preservice teachers into the role of either

Social PsychologyPsychology
4
Article|688 citations·2016
Why students become more engaged or more disengaged during the semester: A self-determination theory dual-process model
Hyungshim Jang, Eun Joo Kim, Johnmarshall Reeve
SJR Q1Learning and Instruction
Social PsychologyPsychology
5
Article|681 citations·2009
Can self-determination theory explain what underlies the productive, satisfying learning experiences of collectivistically oriented Korean students?
Hyungshim Jang, Johnmarshall Reeve, Richard M. Ryan, Ahyoung Kim
SJR Q1Journal of Educational Psychology

Recognizing recent criticisms concerning the cross-cultural generalizability of self-determination theory (SDT), the authors tested the SDT view that high school students in collectivistically oriented South Korea benefit from classroom experiences of autonomy support and psychological need satisfaction. In Study I, experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness underlaid Korean students' most satisfying learning experiences, and experiences of low autonomy and low competence underlaid the

Social PsychologyPsychology
6
Article|506 citations·2012
Longitudinal test of self-determination theory's motivation mediation model in a naturally occurring classroom context.
Hyungshim Jang, Eun Joo Kim, Johnmarshall Reeve
SJR Q1Journal of Educational Psychology

This study provides the first longitudinally designed, classroom-based empirical test of self-determination theory's motivation mediation model. Measures of perceived autonomy support, motivation (autonomy need satisfaction), engagement, and achievement were collected from 500 (257 females, 243 males) 8th-grade students in Korea in a 3-wave longitudinal research design. Multilevel structural equation modeling tested the model in which early-semester perceived autonomy support increased mid-semes

Social PsychologyPsychology
7
Article|342 citations·2008
Supporting students' motivation, engagement, and learning during an uninteresting activity.
Hyungshim Jang
SJR Q1Journal of Educational Psychology

The present study examined the capacity of 2 different theoretical models of motivation to explain why an externally provided rationale often supports students' motivation, engagement, and learning during relatively uninteresting learning activities. One hundred thirty-six undergraduates (108 women, 28 men) worked on an uninteresting 20-min lesson after either receiving or not receiving a rationale. Participants who received the rationale showed greater identified regulation, interest-enhancing

Social PsychologyPsychology
8
Article|339 citations·2002
Providing a Rationale in an Autonomy-Supportive Way as a Strategy to Motivate Others During an Uninteresting Activity
Johnmarshall Reeve, Hyungshim Jang, Pat Hardre, Mafumi Omura
SJR Q1Motivation and Emotion
Social PsychologyPsychology
9
Article|282 citations·2016
A New Autonomy-Supportive Way of Teaching That Increases Conceptual Learning: Teaching in Students' Preferred Ways
Hyungshim Jang, Johnmarshall Reeve, Marc Halusic
SJR Q1The Journal of Experimental Education

We tested the educational utility of “teaching in students' preferred ways” as a new autonomy-supportive way of teaching to enhance students' autonomy and conceptual learning. A pilot test first differentiated preferred versus nonpreferred ways of teaching. In the main study, a hired teacher who was blind to the purpose of the study taught 63 college-age participants in small groups the same 48-minute lesson in one of these two different ways, and we assessed participants' perceived autonomy sup

Social PsychologyPsychology
10
Article|229 citations·2013
The beliefs that underlie autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching: A multinational investigation
Johnmarshall Reeve, Maarten Vansteenkiste, Avi Assor, Ikhlas Ahmad, Sung Hyeon Cheon, Hyungshim Jang, Haya Kaplan, Jennifer D. Moss, Bodil S. Olaussen, John Wang
SJR Q1Motivation and Emotion
Social PsychologyPsychology
11
Article|142 citations·2020
How and why students make academic progress: Reconceptualizing the student engagement construct to increase its explanatory power
Johnmarshall Reeve, Sung Hyeon Cheon, Hyungshim Jang
SJR Q1Contemporary Educational Psychology
Social PsychologyPsychology
12
Article|142 citations·2018
Personality-based antecedents of teachers' autonomy-supportive and controlling motivating styles
Johnmarshall Reeve, Hye-Ryen Jang, Hyungshim Jang
SJR Q1Learning and Individual Differences
Social PsychologyPsychology
13
Book Chapter|32 citations·2022
Agentic Engagement
Johnmarshall Reeve, Hyungshim Jang
Developmental and Educational PsychologyPsychology
14
Article|26 citations·2023
Extending self-determination theory’s dual-process model to a new tripartite model to explain diminished functioning
Johnmarshall Reeve, Hye-Ryen Jang, Sung Hyeon Cheon, Jennifer D. Moss, HeeRa Ko, Hyungshim Jang, Hyungshim Jang, Hyungshim Jang
SJR Q1Motivation and EmotionOA

Abstract In a three-study investigation, we pursued three purposes: (1) extend self-determination theory’s dual-process model to a new tripartite model—to recognize that environmental conditions sometimes render a psychological need dormant; (2) better explain adolescents’ diminished functioning; and (3) develop the Three States Questionnaire (TSQ). In Study 1, 402 high schoolers reported the satisfied, frustrated, and dormant state of their psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and related

Social PsychologyPsychology
15
Article|25 citations·2025
Specialized Purpose of Each Type of Student Engagement: A Meta-Analysis
Johnmarshall Reeve, Geetanjali Basarkod, Hye-Ryen Jang, Rafael Gargurevich, Hyungshim Jang, Sung Hyeon Cheon
SJR Q1Educational Psychology ReviewOA

Abstract Students involve themselves in learning activities multidimensionally, including behaviorally, cognitively, emotionally, and agentically. This multidimensional involvement predicts important outcomes, but it is also possible that each type of engagement might have its own specialized purpose or function. To investigate this possibility, we proposed and tested the specialized purpose hypothesis, which is that each type of engagement has its own specialized function targeted toward a spec

Social PsychologyPsychology

Research Areas

Social PsychologyAerospace EngineeringExperimental and Cognitive PsychologySociology and Political ScienceDevelopmental and Educational PsychologyLeadership and Management

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