Intraindividual relations between achievement goals and discrete achievement emotions: An experience sampling approach

Theories on the link between achievement goals and achievement emotions focus on their within-person functional relationship (i.e., intraindividual relations). However, empirical studies have failed to analyze these intraindividual relations and have instead examined between-person covariation of the two constructs (i.e., interindividual relations). Aiming to better connect theory and empirical research, the present study (N = 120 10th grade students) analyzed intraindividual relations by assessing students' state goals and emotions using experience sampling (N = 1409 assessments within persons). In order to replicate previous findings on interindividual relations, students' trait goals and emotions were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Despite being statistically independent, both types of relations were consistent with theoretical expectations, as shown by multi-level modeling: Mastery goals were positive predictors of enjoyment and negative predictors of boredom and anger; performance-approach goals were positive predictors of pride; and performance-avoidance goals were positive predictors of anxiety and shame. Reasons for the convergence of intra- and interindividual findings, directions for future research, and implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Measuring emotions in students’ learning and performance: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ)

Aside from test anxiety scales, measurement instruments assessing students’ achievement emotions are largely lacking. This article reports on the construction, reliability, internal validity, and external validity of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) which is designed to assess various achievement emotions experienced by students in academic settings. The instrument contains 24 scales measuring enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom during class, while studying, and when taking tests and exams. Scale construction used a rational-empirical strategy based on Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions and prior exploratory research. The instrument was tested in a study using a sample of university students (N = 389). Findings indicate that the scales are reliable, internally valid as demonstrated by confirmatory factor analysis, and externally valid in terms of relationships with students’ control-value appraisals, learning, and academic performance. The results provide further support for the control-value theory and help to elucidate the structure and role of emotions in educational settings. Directions for future research and implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Antecedents of academic emotions: Testing the internal/external frame of reference model for academic enjoyment

The present study focused on students’ academic enjoyment as predicted by achievement in multiple academic domains. Assumptions were based on Marsh’s internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model and Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions, and were tested in a sample of 1380 German students from grades 5 to 10. Students’ academic enjoyment, self-concept, and achievement were assessed in relation to mathematics and verbal language classes. In line with assumptions of the I/E model, mathematics performance assessed in the previous academic year positively predicted enjoyment in mathematics classes, and negatively predicted enjoyment in language classes. Language class performance positively predicted enjoyment in language classes, and negatively predicted enjoyment in mathematics classes. Corroborating assumptions derived from Pekrun’s control-value theory, achievement/enjoyment relations were mediated by academic self-concepts. Despite stereotypic gender differences in mean values, linkages between constructs were invariant across genders.     

Student engagement with science in early adolescence: The contribution of enjoyment to students’ continuing interest in learning about science

Recent research has expanded understanding of the contribution of emotions to student engagement and achievement. Achievement emotions can be conceptualized as general ways of responding to achievement settings or specific emotional states aroused during a specific learning activity. Emotion processes can be distinguished as positive or negative, activating or deactivating. Using data from an international survey of science achievement (PISA 2006; N > 400,000 15-year-old students from 57 countries), relations between the positive, activating achievement emotion of enjoyment and a number of variables that combine with enjoyment to define students’ engagement with learning science are examined. Previously, we reported that enjoyment is central to relations between interest in science, value and knowledge, and students’ reported current and future engagement. The embedded attitudinal items from PISA 2006 allow testing of how enjoyment contributes to a more direct measure of engagement with science by assessing students’ interest in finding out more about the specific topics used to measure their science achievement. In this investigation, structural equation modeling is used to test predictions based on Hidi and Renninger’s (2006) four-phase model of interest development, and Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions.     

Students’ emotions of enjoyment and boredom and their use of cognitive learning strategies – How do they affect one another?

To better understand the relationship between enjoyment and boredom and students' use of cognitive learning strategies, we analyzed both directions of effects between these constructs as described in the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006; 2018). Our study used a sequential design in which students' (N = 338 4th grade students) effective use of cognitive learning strategies was measured in real learning situations, allowing insights into the temporal order of effects and discrimination between intra- and interindividual effects (N = 8020 assessments within students). An increased intraindividual level of enjoyment positively predicted subsequent effective use of learning strategies, whereas effective use of learning strategies did not predict students’ subsequent enjoyment on the intraindividual level. Interindividual differences in enjoyment and effective use of cognitive learning strategies were unrelated, whereas negative relations were found for boredom and effective strategy use. On the intraindividual level, boredom and effective strategy use were unrelated.     

Reciprocal relations between adolescents’ self-concepts of ability and achievement emotions in mathematics and literacy

This longitudinal study examined cross-lagged relations of self-concepts of ability and achievement emotions (i.e., enjoyment, boredom, anxiety) in two central school subjects (i.e., mathematics and literacy). Adolescents (N = 848) reported their achievement emotions and self-concepts of ability four times during Grades 6 and 7. The pattern of results was different for mathematics and literacy subjects. For mathematics the results of random intercept cross-lagged panel models showed a positive reciprocal relationship between self-concepts of ability and enjoyment and a negative reciprocal relationship between self-concept and anxiety. Lower self-concepts of ability in mathematics also predicted higher boredom in mathematics but not vice versa. For literacy, in turn, self-concept of ability did not predict any of the achievement emotions and emotions did not predict literacy self-concept of ability. The results suggest that achievement emotions act as sources as well as consequences of adolescents’ self-concepts of ability, particularly in mathematics.     

Academic self-concept and emotion relations: Domain specificity and age effects

The present study investigated the relations between academic self-concepts and the emotions of enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom as experienced in mathematics, physics, German, and English classes (N = 1710; grades 8 and 11). In line with our hypotheses derived from appraisal-based emotion theories and self-efficacy research, within-domain relations between self-concepts and emotions were relatively strong and notably stronger within quantitative domains (mathematics and physics) than verbal domains (German and English). Also consistent with our hypotheses, stronger relations between self-concepts and emotions were observed among older students. Self-concept and emotion relations further differed as a function of the specific emotion assessed, with pride showing the strongest and boredom the weakest relations with academic self-concepts in the four domains assessed. Methodological and educational implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

Beyond cold technology: A systematic review and meta-analysis on emotions in technology-based learning environments

Understanding emotions in technology-based learning environments (TBLEs) has become a paramount goal across different research communities, but to date, these have operated in relative isolation. Based on control-value theory (Pekrun, 2006), we reviewed 186 studies examining emotions in TBLEs that were published between 1965 and 2018. We extracted effect sizes quantifying relations between emotions (enjoyment, curiosity/interest, anxiety, anger/frustration, confusion, boredom) and their antecedents (control-value appraisals, prior knowledge, gender, TBLE characteristics) and outcomes (engagement, learning strategies, achievement). Mean effects largely supported hypotheses (e.g., positive relations between enjoyment and appraisals, achievement, and cognitive support) and remained relatively stable across moderators. These findings imply that levels of emotions differ across TBLEs, but that their functional relations with appraisals and learning are equivalent across environments. Implications for research and designing emotionally sound TBLEs are discussed.     

The role of emotions and task significance in Virtual Education

This paper analyzed the role of emotions in a virtual world (Second Life) through students' level of enjoyment and boredom and their influence on students' achievement level. The virtual world was an educational tool used to fully immerse students in the content of the course. In addition to supporting prior research on the importance of task value on academic enjoyment, the current research provides a new perspective on the relationship between academic emotions and academic success, particularly for virtual worlds. A regression analysis was conducted to measure the relationship of task value and emotions on two types of academic performance: Individual exam scores and team scores on their Second Life assignment. Pekrun's Academic Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) was used to measure two academic emotions: boredom and enjoyment. Both academic emotions were measured on an individual level. Results from this study show that task value was positively related to enjoyment and negatively related to boredom, yet it was unrelated to academic performance. While enjoyment had a positive relationship to exam performance, boredom also had a positive relationship to the team assignment conducted in the virtual world. The possibility that students might have answered the AEQ relating to the theoretical aspects of the course instead of the practical aspects of the Second Life Assignment, may be one possible explanation for this result.     

Variations of Normal Children

Previous research indicates that academic emotions are largely organized along domain-specific lines. In the present study (N = 1,687; Grades 8/11), the authors explored the domain specificity of academic emotions in terms of the moderating influence of having the same versus a different course instructor across domains. The authors evaluated discrete emotions consisting of enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom as experienced in the academic domains of mathematics and physics. Consistent with previous findings, between-domain relations for these emotions were relatively weak. These relations were, however, significantly stronger in classes having the same instructor in mathematics and physics compared with classes having different instructors for each subject. Nevertheless, the between-domain relations in classes having the same instructor were not strong enough to disconfirm the domain-specific conceptualization of academic emotions. Last, the authors discuss directions for future research on additional factors potentially affecting the strength of between-domain relations of academic emotions.     

Patterns of boredom and its relationship with perceived autonomy support and engagement

The impact of academic boredom on learning and achievement has received increasing attention in the literature; however, the questions of how academic boredom changes over time and how the change relates to antecedents of boredom and student engagement during a course of study remain unexplored. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to: (a) examine the patterns of change in two types of academic boredom (i.e., learning-related and class-related) and in four types of student engagement (i.e., vigor, absorption, dedication, and effort regulation); (b) to examine how the trajectories of boredom and student engagement relate to one another; and (c) to investigate the relationship between perceived autonomy support and the pattern of change in boredom, in a sample of 144 university students. Results of latent growth curve analysis showed that learning-related boredom, vigor, and absorption remained relatively stable over time, whereas both class-related boredom and effort regulation showed a linear change, a pattern of increase and a trend of decrease, respectively. Interestingly, students’ dedication decreased at the beginning and increased when approaching the end of the course. Our results also revealed the fact that changes in boredom in class were linked with changes in both effort regulation and dedication, and the inverse association between perceived autonomy support and class-related boredom experience.     

Mainstream teachers about including deaf or hard of hearing students

This study is aimed at teachers’ classroom practices and their beliefs and emotions regarding the inclusion of deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh) students in mainstream secondary schools. Nine teachers in two schools were interviewed about the inclusion of d/hh students. These teachers were found to consider the d/hh students’ needs in their teaching practice. However, they showed less willingness to be considerate when the student showed a negative work attitude. With regard to teachers’ emotions, positive as well as negative emotions were reported, like enjoyment and frustration. Based on our findings, teachers’ pedagogies in inclusive classrooms are discussed.     

Getting along and feeling good: Reciprocal associations between student-teacher relationship quality and students’ emotions

Relationship quality and emotional experience are both important constructs in learning environments but the question of how they are linked requires more attention in empirical research. We hypothesized reciprocal associations between student-teacher relationship quality (i.e., interpersonal closeness) and students' emotions in the classroom (i.e., enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, boredom, and shame). Data from a two-wave longitudinal study with annual assessments in grade 10 (Time 1) and 11 (Time 2) were used to test this hypothesis (N = 535; mean age at Time 1: 16.7 years, SD = 0.6). Student-perceived relationship quality and students’ emotions were assessed in the academic domains of mathematics, German, English, and French. In line with our hypothesis, cross-lagged panel models showed reciprocal associations: Higher relationship quality was associated with stronger positive emotions and weaker negative emotions over time. In turn, lower negative emotions and higher positive emotions were associated with higher relationship quality. The association between initial emotions and student-teacher relationship quality one year later was stronger than the reverse association. Further, the links between relationship quality and emotions were largely equivalent across school domains but differed in strength across emotions. Implications for future research and educational practice are discussed.     

Control-value appraisals,achievement emotions,and foreign language performance: A latent interaction analysis

Based on control-value theory (CVT), this study (N = 550 Chinese university students) examined relations between control-value appraisals, subsequent achievement emotions, and resulting performance in foreign language (FL) learning. The results show that perceived control and value related positively to positive emotions (enjoyment, hope, pride) and FL performance, and negatively to negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, boredom). Control and value interacted in predicting all eight emotions and FL performance. The multiplicative impact of the appraisals on performance was mediated by four of the focal emotions. These findings elucidate the impact of appraisals and emotions on achievement and support the generalizability of CVT to foreign language learning. Directions for future research and implications for education are discussed.     

Enjoyment,Boredom, Anxiety in Elementary Schools in Two Domains: Relations With Achievement

This study investigated the enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety of elementary school students and the relations of these emotions with achievement in two domains. Seven-hundred-and-sixty-seven second- and fourth-graders completed an adaptation of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School (AEQ-ES: Lichtenfeld, Pekrun, Stupnisky, Reiss, & Murayama, 2012) assessing their emotions in their native language and mathematics. The hierarchical model of the instrument was invariant across countries (Italy, Germany, United States), grades, gender, and domains. Anxiety related negatively to achievement, while enjoyment related positively to achievement only in mathematics. Second-graders reported more enjoyment and less boredom and anxiety than fourth-graders. Overall, mathematics resulted in better emotions than native language. The results have implications for future research on achievement emotions in elementary school.     

Students' emotions during homework: Structures,self-concept antecedents,and achievement outcomes

In the present study (N = 553; 8th and 11th grade students; 52% female) we investigated students' enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom while completing homework (homework emotions), and contrasted these emotions with those experienced during class (classroom emotions). Both homework emotions and classroom emotions were assessed separately for the domains of mathematics, physics, German, and English. Our hypotheses were based on propositions of the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006), Marsh and Ayotte's (2003) differential distinctiveness hypothesis, and previous empirical findings. In line with our assumptions, observed correlations between homework emotions and classroom emotions suggested that the emotions experienced in the two settings should be assessed separately. Within domains, both homework emotions and classroom emotions showed clear linkages with students' academic self-concept and achievement outcomes, with self-concept being slightly more strongly related to classroom emotions. Between-domain relations of emotions were significantly stronger for homework emotions as compared to classroom emotions, likely due to the relative situational homogeneity of homework settings across domains. Further, between-domain relations for emotions in both settings were weaker in 11th grade students, whereas within-domain relations did not differ as a function of age. Implications for research and educational practice are discussed.     

The Impact of Emotions on Student Achievement in Synchronous Hybrid Business and Public Administration Programs: A Longitudinal Test of Control‐Value Theory*

Synchronous hybrid delivery (simultaneously teaching on‐campus and online students using Web conferencing) is becoming more common in higher education. However, little is known about students’ emotions in these environments. Although often overlooked, emotions are fundamental antecedents of success. This study longitudinally examined the role of students’ emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom), perceptions of control, value, and success in synchronous hybrid learning environments. In particular, the investigation assessed students’ self‐reported enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom as predictors of their program achievement and successful technology use. Students were recruited from synchronous hybrid MBA and MPA programs. Control‐value theory of emotions was used as the theoretical framework. Paired samples t‐tests revealed that the achievement domain, compared to the technology domain, yielded higher mean scores for control, value, enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom. In addition, mixed ANOVAs indicated an interaction effect in which group means for program boredom were significantly higher for on‐campus students than for online students. Intercorrelations in each domain showed that perceived success was positively related to enjoyment and negatively related to anxiety and boredom. Technology‐related anxiety was also found to fully mediate the positive effect of control on perceived success in using technology.     

Design and implementation of volitional control support in mathematics courses

We designed support for volitional control with four stages for goal initiation (“Want it”), goal formation (“Plan for it”), action control (“Do it”), and emotion control (“Finish it”) based on theories and models of volition. We implemented the support in mathematics courses offered at a community college. We examined the effects of volitional control support on students’ motivation (i.e., intrinsic value, self-efficacy), emotions (enjoyment, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom), effort regulation, and achievement. We found significant effects of the volitional control support on intrinsic value, enjoyment, anger, anxiety, and boredom. Findings are discussed to improve the design and development of the volitional control support. Limitations and implications of the study are presented as well.     

Exploring the complex relations between achievement emotions and self-regulated learning behaviors in online learning

Online learning continues to grow, but there is limited empirical research on the personal factors that influence success in online contexts. This investigation addresses this research gap by exploring the relations between several discrete achievement-related emotions (boredom, frustration, and enjoyment) and self-regulated learning behaviors (elaboration and metacognition) in an online course. Results from a survey of 302 undergraduates participating in an online course indicated that enjoyment, a positive activating emotion, was a positive predictor of elaboration and metacognition. Moreover, consistent with previous findings from a similar sample, frustration, a negative activating emotion, emerged as a positive predictor of metacognition. Implications for the theory, research, and practice of online learning are discussed, as are theoretical implications for understanding students' achievement emotions and self-regulated learning behaviors.     

Measuring students' emotions in the early years: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School (AEQ-ES)

This article reports about the development and validation of a measurement instrument assessing elementary school students' achievement emotions (Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School, AEQ-ES). Specifically, the instrument assesses students' enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom pertaining to three types of academic settings (i.e., attending class, doing homework, and taking tests and exams). Scale construction was based on Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions. The instrument was tested using samples from German and American elementary school classrooms. The results of Study 1 (German sample) corroborate the reliability and structural validity of the new emotion measure. Moreover, they show that students' achievement emotions were linked with their control and value appraisals as well as their academic performance, thus supporting the external validity of the measure as well as propositions of Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions. Study 2 (American sample) corroborated the cross-cultural equivalence of the measure and the generalizability of findings across the German and American samples. Implications for research on achievement emotions and educational practice are discussed.