Academic Emotions And Performance In Psychology Of College Freshman Students Of The University Of Eastern Philippines

Abstract

College students experience a variety of emotion-related situations. Many of these situations imply daily hassles relating to teachers, classmates, or learning at home. The emotional state of a learner has the potential to influence his/her thinking. As a subject, which deals with the human mind and its process, Psychology lessons could trigger different emotions that may affect overall performance. The study determined the level of academic emotions of the students in terms of enjoyment, pride, anger, boredom, anxiety, hope, shame, and relief. It also determined the level of performance of the students in Psychology. Moreover, it looked into the significant relationship between academic emotions and performance in the subject. The study involved 387 freshman students enrolled in General Psychology in the first semester of SY 2013-2014. The respondents answered a 96-item academic emotions questionnaire. The performance of the students in Psychology was based on the grades they got in the subject. Statistical tools included frequency counts, percentages, weighted means, and multiple regression analysis. The study found out that the students have a high level of enjoyment, pride, hope, and relief; low level of anger, boredom, and anxiety; and an average level of shame. The respondents had a Fair to Good performance in Psychology. Test of relationship revealed that enjoyment, pride, and boredom significantly related to academic performance while hope, relief, anger, anxiety, and shame did not have a significant relationship with performance. The study recommended active participation in class discussions of students to enhance learning through more classroom activities and instructional strategies.