Introduction
Teacher support plays a significant role on students' learning, academic emotions, and motivation at all developmental levels. Although recently a growing number of studies has examined the affective side of teacher support on students’ emotional well-being, academic and social behaviors and motivation from early childhood  to high school (Baker, Grant, & Morlock, 2008; Muller, Katz, & Dance, 1999; Sakiz, 2007; Silver, Measelle, Armstrong, & Essex, 2010), our knowledge about the influence of perceived instructor affective support on college students’ emotional and motivational outcomes in college environments is still limited. Chen’s (2000) inquiry on teacher-student relationships in a college setting revealed that college students were not satisfied with the way instructors communicate with them. Based on college teachers' and students' responses to various open-ended questions, several instructor behaviors related positively to student motivation in class were identified as respect, caring, interest in and concern for students, high expectations, fairness, and encouragement (Gorham & Christophel, 1992; Gorham & Millette, 1997). In a recent study by Sakiz (2007), all dimensions of affective behaviors of teachers, given in theory and research, were brought together and the construct called Perceived Teacher Affective Support was developed. The variables within the construct were caring, respect, concern for and interest in students, valuing, recognizing, treating fairly, holding high expectations, encouraging, and listening. In the current study, the Affective Support construct used with early adolescents was expanded by including more verbal and nonverbal behaviors. The new added features based on related research were smiling, kindness, and sense of humor.
In the present study, Perceived Instructor Affective Support was examined in relation to achievement approach goal orientations, academic enjoyment, and behavioral engagement. These motivational and emotional variables have been reported to have powerful influences on students' learning in classrooms at different developmental levels (Elliot & McGregor, 2001; Pekrun, Goezt, Titz, & Perry, 2002; Wolters, 2004).
Research Question and Hypotheses
The major research question of this study was the following: What are the relationships among perceived instructor affective support, achievement approach goal orientations, academic enjoyment, and behavioral engagement of college students in social science courses? It was hypothesized that perceived instructor affective support would be directly and indirectly positively associated with college students’ approach goals, academic enjoyment, and engagement behaviors in social science courses. A hypothesized structural model was presented.

Baker, J. A., Grant, S., & Morlock. L. (2008). The teacher-student relationships a developmental context for children with internalizing or externalizing behavior problems. School Psychology Quarterly, 23, 3-15. Elliot, A. J. & McGregor, H. A. (2001). A 2 x 2 achievement goal framework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80 (3), 501-519. Gorham, J. & Millette, D. M. (1997). A comparative analysis of teacher and student perceptions of sources of motivation and demotivation in college classes. Communication Education, 46(4), 245-261. Muller, C., Katz, S. R., & Dance, L. J. (1999). Investing in Teaching and Learning: Dynamics of the teacher-student relationship from each actor’s perspective. Urban Education, 34(3), 292-337. Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002). Academic emotions in students’ self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 91-105. Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., & Perry, R. P. (2005). Academic Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) User’s Manual. Plax, T. G., Kearney, P., McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (1986). Power in the classroom VI: Verbal control strategies, nonverbal immediacy, and affective learning. Communication Education, 35, 43-55. Sakiz, G. (2007). Does teacher affective support matter? An investigation of the relationship among perceived teacher affective support, sense of belonging, academic emotions, academic self-efficacy beliefs, and academic effort in middle school mathematics classrooms. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Silver, R. B., Measelle, J. R., Armstrong, J. M., & Essex, M. J. (2010, article in press). The impact of parents, child care providers, teachers, and peers on early externalizing trajectories. Journal of School Psychology. Wolters, C. (1999). The relation between high school students’ motivational regulation and their use of learning strategies, effort, and classroom performance. Learning and Individual Differences, 11(3), 281-299.