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Adolescents frequently experience emotions such as enjoyment, hope, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, or boredom at school. These emotions are often intense and can profoundly affect learning, achievement, and psychological health. Traditionally, these emotions were neglected in research on adolescence, but in the past 15 years, they have gained more attention. In this article, I review studies on the links between emotions and adolescents' academic achievement. The findings from this emerging field confirm that emotions influence adolescents' learning, including their attention, motivation, use of learning strategies, self-regulation of learning, and achievement outcomes. The development of achievement-related emotions is shaped by adolescents' appraisals of success and failure, as well as individual factors and social environments influencing these appraisals, including gender, achievement, instructional practices, and test-taking procedures. In closing, I outline implications for practice and discuss the need for intervention studies targeting achievement emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has suggested that parents' aspirations for their children's academic attainment can have a positive influence on children's actual academic performance. Possible negative effects of parental overaspiration, however, have found little attention in the psychological literature. Employing a dualchange score model with longitudinal data from a representative sample of German school children and their parents (N = 3,530; Grades 5 to 10), we showed that parental aspiration and children's mathematical achievement were linked by positive reciprocal relations over time. Importantly, we also found that parental aspiration that exceeded their expectation (i.e., overaspiration) had negative reciprocal relations with children's mathematical achievement. These results were fairly robust after controlling for a variety of demographic and cognitive variables such as children's gender, age, intelligence, school type, and family socioeconomic status. The results were also replicated with an independent sample of U.S. parents and their children. These findings suggest that unrealistically high parental aspiration can be detrimental for children's achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 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 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study concentrates on two assumptions of a social-cognitive model outlining the development of academic emotions (emotions directly linked to learning, classroom instruction, and achievement), namely on their antecedents and domain-specific organization. Our sample consisted of 200 students from Grades 7 to 10. Proposed relationships concerning the antecedents of academic emotions were tested in the context of Latin language instruction. Correlational analyses substantiated our assumptions concerning the relationships between academic emotions, students' cognitions, and aspects of the social environment. The mediating mechanisms proposed in the model were also confirmed using linear structural equation modelling. Subjective control- and value-related cognitions were found to mediate the relationship between aspects of the social environment and students' emotional experience. Our results further suggest that academic emotions are largely organized along domain-specific lines, with the degree of domain specificity varying according to the emotion in question. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measures of test emotions other than test anxiety are lacking. In a series of six studies, we developed a multi-scale questionnaire assessing test-related joy, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, and hopelessness (Test Emotions Questionnaire, TEQ). Consisting of subscales measuring affective, cognitive, physiological, and motivational emotion components, the scales can be used to identify both trait and state test emotions, and are available in German- and English-language versions. Using a rational-empirical strategy of test construction, we first developed theoretical models of the component structures, antecedents, and effects of different test emotions. We then conducted two exploratory, qualitative studies on the occurrence and structures of these emotions. Finally, based on theory and our exploratory data, we constructed, analyzed, and revised the scales of the TEQ in four quantitative studies. Findings of correlational and confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the scales are reliable, structurally valid in terms of representing different test emotions and components within emotions, and externally valid in terms of correlating significantly with personality, learning, academic achievement, and perceived health problems. Many of these correlations proved to be stronger for test emotions other than anxiety, implying that test anxiety is neither the only relevant test emotion, nor necessarily the most important one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology-rich learning environments (TREs) play an increasingly important role for 21st century education, and the emotions learners experience in these environments are pivotal for their cognitive and affective learning gains. The contributors to this special issue address the importance of understanding and measuring emotions in TREs as a mechanism for fostering learning. In particular, the special issue situates this research with a systemic review and meta-analysis of the literature on emotions in TREs. Following this review empirical research is presented on measuring emotions in the context of learning with TREs in multiple domains, including medicine, history, and mathematics. These researchers use concurrent measures to capture students' cognitive, metacognitive and affective processes before, during, and after solving problems, documenting the complex role of such processes as individuals and groups learn with technology. The special issue concludes with two commentaries that point the way to next steps in this field of research. • Technology-rich learning environments (TRES) play a role in 21st century education. • Emotions learners experience in TRES are pivotal for learning gains. • Examples of measuring emotions in the context of learning with TREs are provided. • Individual and group emotions are explored in the context of TRES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the role of emotions in academic settings, especially in how emotions shape student engagement and learning. This special issue highlights new research in this area and aims to inspire others to join us in conducting empirical research on emotions in education. Using a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives, all contributions share a unique focus on the linkages between students’ emotions and their academic engagement. What is particularly important about this set of papers is their consideration of how and why student emotions emerge, how these emotions in turn shape students’ engagement and achievement, and the ways in which students can harness emotional resources for facilitating their engagement and achievement. In this introduction to the special issue, we briefly highlight each of the manuscripts and suggest several directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The role of epistemic emotions was explored in conceptual change. • Participants were randomly assigned to a refutation or expository text condition. • Text type moderated relations between value, emotions, and learning strategies. Abstract We explored the role that epistemic emotions play in conceptual change, specifically whether task value served as an antecedent to these emotions and whether type of text (refutation or expository) moderated relations between task value, epistemic emotions, and learning strategies. One hundred twenty university undergraduates completed a measure of misconceptions about genetically modified foods and were randomly assigned to study an expository or refutation text. After studying, participants reported their levels of surprise, curiosity, and confusion during learning, the extent to which they used self-reported critical thinking and elaboration strategies, and again completed the misconceptions measure. Individuals studying the refutation text experienced more surprise and changed more misconceptions to correct conceptions compared to participants studying the expository text. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that text type moderated the mediated relations between task value and surprise, curiosity, self-reported critical thinking and elaboration. Task value was positively related to surprise in the refutation condition but negatively related to surprise in the expository condition. Additionally, curiosity positively predicted self-reported critical thinking and elaboration strategies in the refutation condition but not in the expository condition. Results demonstrate that epistemic emotions play a significant role in conceptual change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested key predictions of a theoretical model positing that confusion, which accompanies a state of cognitive disequilibrium that is triggered by contradictions, conflicts, anomalies, erroneous information, and other discrepant events, can be beneficial to learning if appropriately induced, regulated, and resolved. Hypotheses of the model were tested in two experiments where learners engaged in trialogues on scientific reasoning concepts in a simulated collaborative learning session with animated agents playing the role of a tutor and a peer student. Confusion was experimentally induced via a contradictory-information manipulation involving the animated agents expressing incorrect and/or contradictory opinions and asking the (human) learners to decide which opinion had more scientific merit. The results indicated that self-reports of confusion were largely insensitive to the manipulations. However, confusion was manifested by more objective measures that inferred confusion on the basis of learners’ responses immediately following contradictions. Furthermore, whereas the contradictions had no effect on learning when learners were not confused by the manipulations, performance on multiple-choice posttests and on transfer tests was substantially higher when the contradictions were successful in confusing learners. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To advance emotion research in education, there is a need to develop practical and context-relevant measures of emotion and to test the applicability of emotion theories using these measures. In two studies, we examined validity evidence of a self-report scale (the Medical Emotion Scale, MES) designed to measure the unique range of emotions activated within medical education. In Study 1, we administered the MES and conducted interviews with medical trainees (N = 15). Content analysis of interviews demonstrated that the MES captured an appropriate range of emotions and that there was alignment between scale responses and interview responses. In Study 2, we measured medical trainees' (N = 60) emotions using the MES for three learning environments. Results from principal components analysis revealed a structure of emotions according to valence (negative, positive) and novelty. The findings have implications for the measurement of emotions within technology-rich learning environments and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used Pekrun’s control-value theory (CVT) as a framework to validate the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire – Second Language Learning (AEQ-L2L) for assessing eight student emotions in second language (L2) learning. We tested and validated the instrument in two samples using three waves of data, with a total number of 1,021 Chinese university students. Item and scale statistics indicate the AEQ-L2L is reliable. Moreover, single- and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported the hierarchical four-factor component structure of L2 emotions in and across the two student groups. Furthermore, multi-model comparison indicated that language emotions are best represented by considering both the distinctiveness of the eight examined emotions and their component structure. Finally, latent correlation analysis demonstrated the external validity of the AEQ-L2L in terms of linkages with appraisals, motivation and language achievement. Findings are discussed by highlighting the unique value of the AEQ-L2L for investigating a broad range of emotions in language education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The experience of pleasant and unpleasant emotions in academic situations is known to affect students’ learning. The aim of the present study was to extend previous research by examining the antecedents and consequences of student emotions in the homework context. Multilevel analyses of a longitudinal dataset containing 3483 grade 9 and grade 10 students in 155 classes showed that the perceived quality of the homework tasks assigned by the teacher affected students’ experience of unpleasant homework-related emotions. Moreover, the experience of unpleasant emotions during homework sessions was negatively related to homework effort and negatively predicted later achievement in mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The focus of the present study is on students'' experiences of enjoyment, an emotion largely neglected in educational research. We present a model in which specific levels of generalization of the construct of enjoyment are differentiated. Based on their extent of generalization, these differentiated constructs of enjoyment are located in a hierarchical structure. Enjoyment of life is presented as most generalized and is consequently located at the highest level of the hierarchical structure, followed by students'' enjoyment concerning their education, learning, and most specifically, their use of learning strategies. The hypotheses derived from this model were tested on longitudinal data from a sample of 513 German school students in grades 5–10. Results of structural equation modeling provide empirical support for the specific levels of generalization. The pattern of relations between students'' experiences of enjoyment comprised a simplex-like (ordered correlation) structure as hypothesized in our theoretical model. Concerning the direction of causal flow between the constructs of enjoyment, longitudinal structural equation modeling indicated top-down effects of adjacent levels when controlling for horizontal effects. The enjoyment scales further showed clear linkages to learning behavior including self-regulated learning and creative problem solving. Methodological implications and directions for future research are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Across two studies, we evaluated a model that proposed relations between epistemic cognition, epistemic emotions, self-regulatory strategies, and learning of complex contradictory content. For Study 1, to capture epistemic cognition, epistemic emotions, and self-regulatory strategies, 114 undergraduate students thought out loud while reading conflicting texts about climate change. Protocol analysis revealed that epistemic aims, epistemic congruity, and appraisals of novelty and complexity of information served as antecedents to epistemic emotions. State-transition analyses revealed that curiosity increased the likelihood of metacognitive self-regulation, and that surprise decreased the likelihood of rehearsal and increased the likelihood of critical thinking. For Study 2, participants reported epistemic beliefs, read contradictory texts about climate change, reported emotions experienced while reading, and completed a knowledge assessment task. Path analyses revealed full mediation between epistemic beliefs, epistemic emotions, learning strategies and learning achievement. More constructivist beliefs about the complexity, uncertainty and justification of knowledge predicted more curiosity, less surprise, and less boredom. Curiosity, in turn, predicted critical thinking, knowledge elaboration and rehearsal strategies. Finally, critical thinking and rehearsal positively predicted learning achievement. Implications for research on epistemic cognition, epistemic emotions, and self-regulated learning are discussed. • Epistemic emotions mediated relations between epistemic beliefs and self-regulated learning. • Epistemic emotions antecedents included epistemic aims, epistemic congruity, information novelty and complexity. • More constructivist epistemic beliefs predicted less negative epistemic emotions. • Curiosity increased the likelihood of metacognitive self-regulation. • Surprise decreased the likelihood of rehearsal and increased the likelihood of critical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]