Student participation, voice and control have been widely cited and documented in the education research literature. Specifically, research exploring the impacts of student voice in the classroom has focused on student autonomy and content, assessment formats, and motivation.
According to self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000a, 2000b), students’ needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness must be met in order to experience positive social development and growth.
When these needs are met, students experience high levels of self-motivation. Offering choice in the classroom and incorporating student voice are ways to increase student motivation by appealing to students’ needs for autonomy and competence (Thompson,2015).
Educational research on student choice.