How Do Primary and Early Secondary School Students Report Dealing with Positive and Negative Achievement Emotions in Class? A Mixed-Methods Approach

Abstract

Students experience both positive and negative emotions during lessons. However, little research has been conducted into students’ perspectives on how they deal with these emotions. For this reason, the current study aimed to investigate how students perceive, deal with, and interact in emotional classroom situations, using a mixed-methods approach. In Study 1, 28 primary school children in the fourth grade drew pictures of achievement-emotion situations and were subsequently interviewed. In a three-step analysis process, students’ drawings and interviews were analysed using open coding and content analysis. In Study 2, 635 students from 38 primary and secondary schools in northern Germany reported (via the DECCS questionnaire) their appraisals, achievement emotions, emotion regulation behaviour, and desired teacher support regarding two case vignettes: one involving a learning situation and the other a performance situation. The results of Study 1 reveal that peers play a crucial role in how students deal with positive emotions in class. The structural equation model of Study 2 shows that almost all pathways between emotion regulation behaviour (maladaptive as well as adaptive) and students’ desired teacher behaviour in the form of praise and support are significant. The results of both studies indicate that social support (i.e., peer interactions and teacher support) is crucial in how students deal with both positive and negative achievement emotions in class.