Self-efficacy and achievement emotions as mediators between learning climate and learning persistence in college calculus: A sequential mediation analysis

First-year students' achievement emotions at university: A cluster analytic approach to understand variability in attendance and attainment

BACKGROUND

Students' initial experiences at university often shape their attendance and attainment. For some students, university is a positive experience, whereas others seemingly struggle and have more negative emotions. Unearthing distinctions in first-year students' emotionality may be valuable in understanding their academic engagement and performance.

AIMS

The study's aim was to identify distinct profiles of students based on their achievement emotions and explore whether these profiles differed in university attendance and attainment. At least three emotional profiles were hypothesized (positive; moderate; negative) with a positive profile expected to display the highest attendance and attainment.

SAMPLE

Participants were 294 first-year undergraduate students from a university in the United Kingdom (Mage = 19.33 years; 127 men; 162 women).

METHODS

Students completed self-report measures of eight achievement emotions for general learning. Attendance and attainment data were collected from official records. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to profile students on their achievement emotions. Analysis of covariance explored profile differences in attendance and attainment.

RESULTS

Four emotional profiles emerged: positive; moderate; negative; mixed-valence (both positive and negative activating emotions). The positive and mixed-valence groups displayed equally high attendance compared to the moderate and negative groups. The positive group obtained higher academic attainment than the mixed-valence and negative emotion groups, but not the moderate group.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the diverse emotional experiences of first-year university students and the existence of co-occurring positive and negative activation emotions. This evidence may be of practical worth to educators in understanding variability in students' emotions, attendance and attainment.

The relationship between university students' goal orientation and academic achievement. The mediating role of motivational components and the moderating role of achievement emotions

The present study aims to expand the understanding of the role played by achievement emotions in the learning process and academic achievement of university students. We investigated how achievement emotions moderate the direct and indirect associations between mastery and performance goal orientation and academic achievement. Also, we used as mediators the motivational components from Pintrich and De Groot's theoretical framework of motivation and learning strategies. 274 Romanian university students (Mage = 20.23, 84.7% women) participated in the study. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that self-efficacy was the only significant mediator, and this relationship was moderated by hope, pride and hopelessness. In addition, the links between mastery and performance approach goals and motivational components are stronger when the positive emotions are higher and the negative ones are lower. Mastery avoidance goals were linked with high scores of motivational components at higher levels of negative and lower levels of positive achievement emotions, whereas the association of avoidance goals with motivational components was moderated by two positive emotions (pride and enjoyment). The patterns derived from the moderating role of achievement emotions in the relationships between goal orientation, motivational components and academic achievement, alongside several inconsistent results and implications in theory and education, are discussed.

Exploring the effects of achievement emotions on online learning outcomes: A systematic review

Recently, achievement emotions have attracted much scholarly attention since these emotions could play a pivotal role in online learning outcomes. Despite the importance of achievement emotions in online education, very few studies have been committed to a systematic review of their effects on online learning outcomes. This study aimed to systematically review studies examining the effects of achievement emotions on online learning outcomes in terms of motivation, performance, satisfaction, engagement, and achievement. According to the selection process of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) principles, a total of 23 publications were included in this review. It was concluded that positive achievement emotions, such as enjoyment, pride, and relaxation, could generally exert a positive effect on online learning motivation, performance, engagement, satisfaction, and achievement. It should be noted that excessive positive emotions might be detrimental to online learning outcomes. On the other hand, it has been difficult to determine the effects of negative achievement emotions on online learning outcomes because of disagreement on the effects of negative achievement emotions. In order to improve online learners' learning outcomes, instructors should implement interventions that help online learners control and regulate their achievement emotions. Teaching interventions, technological interventions, and treatment interventions could benefit online learners emotionally and academically. Future studies could examine the moderating roles of contextual factors and individual variables in the effects of achievement emotions on online learning outcomes.

Online Learning Self-Efficacy as a Mediator between the Instructional Interactions and Achievement Emotions of Rural Students in Elite Universities

Previous research has shown that social capital (teachers’ and peers’ interaction) is a challenge for rural students in China’s elite universities due to underlying issues of online learning self-efficacy (OLSE) and the quality of interaction. To understand how interaction quality is influenced, the present study drew on the achievement emotion theory to explore the mediating role of OLSE between social interactions (teacher–student, student–student) and achievement emotions (enjoyment, hopelessness, shame). Data were collected using an online questionnaire with a sample of rural students studying at elite universities (n = 479) in China. The results analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling confirmed the mediation model in which self-efficacy is a mediator in the relationships between social interactions and three types of achievement emotion as participants learned online during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown.