ERIC Number: EJ1090857
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2295-3159
EISSN: N/A
Exploring the Antecedents of Learning-Related Emotions and Their Relations with Achievement Outcomes
Niculescu, Alexandra Corina; Tempelaar, Dirk; Dailey-Hebert, Amber; Segers, Mien; Gijselaers, Wim
Frontline Learning Research, v3 n1 p1-17 2015
Recent work suggests that learning-related emotions (LREs) play a crucial role in performance especially in the first year of university, a period of transition for most students; however, additional research is needed to show how these emotions emerge. We developed a framework which links a course-contextualized antecedent--academic control in Pekrun's (2006) Control Value Theory of Achievement Emotions--with generic antecedents--adaptive and maladaptive cognitions and behaviors from Martin's (2007) Motivation and Engagement Wheel framework--to explain a classical problem: the emergence of LREs in a transition period. Using a large sample (N = 3451) of first year university students, our study explores these two antecedents to better understand how four LREs (enjoyment, anxiety, boredom and hopelessness) emerge in a mathematics and statistics course. Through the use of path-modelling, we found that academic control has a strong effect on all four LREs--with the strongest impact observed for learning hopelessness and secondary, for learning anxiety. Academic control, on its turn, builds on contributions from adaptive and mal-adaptive cognitions. Furthermore, adaptive cognitions have an impact on learning enjoyment (positive) and on boredom (negative). Surprisingly though, the maladaptive behaviors impact positively learning enjoyment and negatively learning anxiety. Following this, we predicted performance outcomes in the course and found again academic control as the main predictor, followed by learning hopelessness. Overall, this study brings evidence that adaptive and maladaptive cognitions and behaviours act as important antecedents of academic control, the main predictor of LREs and course performance outcomes.
Descriptors: Outcomes of Education, Role, Emotional Experience, Guidelines, Student Adjustment, Developmental Tasks, College Freshmen, Anxiety, Psychological Patterns, Mathematics Education, Statistics, Path Analysis, Schemata (Cognition), Predictor Variables
European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction. Peterseliegang 1, Box 1, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. e-mail: info@frontlinelearningresearch.org; Web site: http://journals.sfu.ca/flr/index.php/journal/index
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A