Two studies applied self-determination theory (SDT) to investigate the motivation for learning of rural
Chinese children. The aim was to test whether findings from studies in western individualist cultures would
hold up within a very different, eastern collectivist setting. In the first study, when students' autonomous and
controlled motivation for a course were entered simultaneously in a regression analysis, autonomous
motivation uniquely positively predicted students' perceptions of interest, competence, and choice in the
course, whereas controlled motivation uniquely negatively predicted perceptions of interest and choice. In
the second study students' perceptions of instructors' autonomy support during the course predicted changes
in autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and perceived competence. These results were discussed
in terms of SDT and culture.