Tell me that I can do it better. The effect of attributional feedback from a learning technology on achievement emotions and performance and the moderating role of individual adaptive reactions to errors

Abstract

The study investigated whether and how the implementation of attributional feedback in a pen-tablet-based digital learning environment affects students' activity-related achievement emotions (enjoyment, boredom, anger, frustration) and writing performance. Furthermore, the role of students' tendency towards adaptive reactions to errors for the effect of attributional feedback on activity-related achievement emotions and performance, was examined. A total of 84 students were required to learn Japanese writing within a pen-tablet-based digital learning environment under one of two feedback design conditions: a condition with performance-based feedback only (PFC) or a condition adding attributional feedback (AFC). Students' tendency towards adaptive reactions to errors (i.e., affective-motivational and action-related adaptive reactions) were assessed as a baseline. Enjoyment, boredom, anger and frustration were measured at intervals during learning, while writing performance was measured continuously during the learning process. The results indicate that AFC students reported higher levels of enjoyment and lower levels of anger and frustration than those students who learned with the PFC within the digital learning environment. Furthermore, students who received the AFC outperformed the PFC students in writing performance. The results also show that the tendency towards an affective-motivational adaptive reaction to errors, was a significant positive predictor of enjoyment and writing performance and a negative predictor in terms of boredom, anger and frustration. In addition, a reduced tendency to maintain a positive effect and motivation to learn in the face of errors (i.e., affective-motivational tendency) enhanced the impact feedback design could have on anger and on frustration. In contrast, a stronger affective-motivational tendency helps to compensate the impact of feedback design on these negative, activity-related, achievement emotions. The results underline the necessity to take into account not only activity-related emotions, but also students' individual ways of dealing with errors, when designing feedback for digital learning environments.