“The study revealed that: (1) students’ reports of entering the course for relatively autonomous (vs. controlled) reasons predicted higher perceived competence and interest/enjoyment and lower anxiety and grade-focused performance goals during the course, and were related to whether or not the students dropped the course; and (2) students’ perceptions of their instructors’ autonomy support predicted increases in autonomous self-regulation, perceived competence, and interest/enjoyment, and decreases in anxiety over the semester. The change in autonomous self-regulation in turn predicted students’ performance in the course. Further, instructor autonomy support also predicted course performance directly, although differences in the initial level of students’ autonomous self-regulation moderated that effect, with autonomy support relating strongly to academic performance for students initially low in autonomous self-regulation but not for students initially high in autonomous self-regulation.” (p.740)

Black, A. E., & Deci, E. L. (2000). The effects of instructors’ autonomy support and students’  autonomous motivation on learning organic chemistry: A self-determination theory perspective. Science Education, 84(6), 740–756.