Achievement emotions in second language learning

Shao, Kaiqi (2018): Achievement emotions in second language learning. Dissertation, LMU München: Fakultät für Psychologie und Pädagogik

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation was to examine achievement emotions together with their antecedents and outcomes in English classes. Based on the control-value theory (Pekrun, 2006), I investigated the associations among one distal antecedent (perceived peer emotion), two proximal antecedents (control and value appraisals), achievement emotions and language outcomes in three large-scale quantitative studies. Study 1 examined the psychometric properties of an adapted learning-related Achievement Emotion Questionnaire (AEQ; Pekrun et al., 2011) measuring eight emotions (enjoyment, pride, hope, boredom, anger, anxiety, hopelessness and shame) in a second language (L2) context. The scales were tested in two samples comprising 1021 Chinese freshmen, who learned English as a foreign language. Results indicated that the instrument is reliable, internally valid as demonstrated by fit indices obtained from single- and multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis, and externally valid in terms of relationships with language motivation and performance. Study 2 examined independent and interactive effects of control and value appraisals on achievement emotions and L2 performance as well as the conditional indirect effects of appraisals on achievement through emotions. Five hundred and fifty Chinese college students completed appraisal measures, emotion questionnaires and the course exam in a longitudinal manner across one semester. Findings showed that control and value appraisals correlated positively with positive emotions and L2 performance and negatively with negative emotions, except anxiety. Control and value interacted to predict all eight emotions and L2 performance in expected directions. Importantly, the multiplicative impact of appraisals on L2 performance was also mediated by four of the focal emotions. Study 3 explored whether perceived peer enjoyment, anxiety and boredom positively predict students’ corresponding enjoyment, anxiety and boredom as well as whether the relationships between perceived peer and student emotions are mediated by control-value appraisals (Parkinson & Manstead, 2015; Pekrun, 2006). Data were collected from 3643 Chinese middle-school students nested in 103 classrooms. Multilevel structural equation modeling showed that perceptions of peer emotions and student corresponding emotions were positively related at both individual and classroom levels. Moreover, the effects of perceived peer emotions on corresponding student emotions were mediated by control and value appraisals at the individual level. However, the mediation effects were only significant at the class level for control appraisal as a mediator of effects on anxiety, and for value appraisal as a mediator of effects on boredom. Effects were robust across grade level, gender, and previous achievement. In sum, findings from the three studies help to elucidate the role of emotions in educational settings and provide support for the generalizability of control-value theory in the second language context. Directions for future research and implications for theory and language instruction are also discussed.

• Dokumententyp: Dissertationen (Dissertation, LMU München)
• Keywords: emotion, appraisal, achievement, language, learning, classroom
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften ; 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 370 Erziehung, Schul- und Bildungswesen
• Fakultäten: Fakultät für Psychologie und Pädagogik
• Sprache der Hochschulschrift: Englisch
• Datum der mündlichen Prüfung: 4. Juni 2018
• 1. Bericht­erstatter:in: Pekrun, Reinhard