Control-value Theory Of Achievement Emotions Research Articles

The dynamics of real-time classroom emotions: Appraisals mediate the relation between students’ perceptions of teaching and their emotions.

Guided by Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions, we investigated the mediating role of control and value appraisals in the relations between students’ perceptions of teaching and their academic emotions. To account for the highly fluctuating and dynamic nature of emotions, we used the experience sampling method complemented by within-person mediation analyses. In 2 studies, n = 122 (Study 1) and n = 149 (Study 2) high school students reported on their real-time perceptions of teaching characteristics (grouped into two second-order factors: supportive presentation style and excessive lesson demands), their control and value (intrinsic and extrinsic) appraisals, and their academic emotions of enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom (n = 1,520/2,669 assessments within students). Across the 2 studies, we found consistent results on the intraindividual level that are in line with an assumption of the control-value theory: Appraisals of control and value mediated the effects of perceived characteristics of teaching on academic emotions (e.g., supportive presentation style showed positive effects on control, which, in turn, showed positive effects on enjoyment). At the same time—and contributing to further developments of the control-value theory—the relative importance of direct and indirect effects (i.e., amount of mediation) differed across emotions. For example, there was a strong direct effect of supportive presentation style on enjoyment, but no effect on anxiety. Similarly, appraisals differed in their relative importance as mediators both within and across emotions (e.g., extrinsic value was mainly relevant for anxiety, whereas intrinsic value contributed to enjoyment and boredom). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Control–value theory of achievement emotions: A closer look at student value appraisals and enjoyment

This research investigates potential definition, measurement, and overlap issues with students' (N = 1321) intrinsic and extrinsic value appraisals and enjoyment in the control value theory of achievement emotions (CVTAE). In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis (n = 479) found clear distinctions between intrinsic value, extrinsic value, and enjoyment. Follow up confirmatory factor analysis (n = 274) confirmed these distinctions in a separate sample. Intrinsic and extrinsic values were found to be separate constructs. Correlational relationships suggest that both intrinsic value and enjoyment are related but distinct variables as well. In Study 2 (n = 568), a CVTAE model using the confirmed variables was used to predict relationships with students' academic buoyancy and adaptability, explaining 16.6% and 48.9% of the variance, respectively. These studies show the importance of delineating separate factors for intrinsic value and extrinsic value and clearly highlight distinctions between intrinsic value and enjoyment from a CVTAE perspective.

Validation of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Physical Education (AEQ-PE).

The fundamental role of emotions in education has been revealed in recent years. The control-value theory of achievement emotions has been postulated as one of the most used theories in this field. Thanks to the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ), achievement emotions have been measured in different subjects and countries. The purpose of this research was to adapt and validate this questionnaire to assess achievement emotions in physical education. The sample of participants consisted of 902 (Mage = 13.15, SD = 1.17) secondary education students from various secondary schools in Spain. The psychometric properties of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Physical Education (AEQ-PE) indicate that the scales are reliable and valid, as demonstrated by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, temporal stability, internal consistency and regression analysis. Considering the results achieved in the present study, the AEQ-PE opens a range of possibilities for both teachers and researchers. This instrument will help to understand the role of emotions in student learning and their motivation towards physical education.

A longitudinal study of Pekrun’s control-value theory and the internal/external frame of reference model in predicting academic anxiety

The present two-wave longitudinal study examined 836 Chinese secondary school students over the course of an academic year to investigate the individual antecedents of academic anxiety in multiple subjects. Hypotheses were based on Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions and Marsh’s internal/external frame of reference model and tested utilising longitudinal data. Students’ academic self-concept, interest, and anxiety were assessed in Chinese, Mathematics, and English. The results of structural equation modelling indicated that in line with the control-value theory and internal/external frame of reference model, academic self-concept and interest had a negative within-domain effect on anxiety but a positive cross-domain effect on anxiety. Despite stereotypic differences in mean levels, the relations between constructs were gender-invariant. We discuss the theoretical and empirical contributions of the study and make suggestions for future research.

A comparison of self-reports and electrodermal activity as indicators of mathematics state anxiety.

In the present study with 86 undergraduate students, we related trait Mathematics Anxiety (MA) with two indicators of state anxiety: self-reported state anxiety and electrodermal activity (EDA). Extending existing research, we included appraisals of control and perceived value in hierarchical multiple regression analyses in accordance with the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006). Results showed that trait MA predicted self-reported state anxiety, while no additional variance was explained by including control and value. In contrast, we found no significant relation between trait MA and physiological state anxiety, but a significant, negative three-way interaction effect with control and value. Regression coefficients indicated that trait MA predicted physiological state anxiety, but only in the presence of negative perceived control and positive perceived value. Thus, our results support the control-value theory for physiological state anxiety, but not for self-reports. They emphasize the need to distinguish between trait and state MA, the advantages of adopting the control-value theory, and the benefits of using EDA recording as a supplemental assessment method for state anxiety.

Students’ emotions of enjoyment and boredom and their use of cognitive learning strategies – How do they affect one another?

To better understand the relationship between enjoyment and boredom and students' use of cognitive learning strategies, we analyzed both directions of effects between these constructs as described in the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006; 2018). Our study used a sequential design in which students' (N = 338 4th grade students) effective use of cognitive learning strategies was measured in real learning situations, allowing insights into the temporal order of effects and discrimination between intra- and interindividual effects (N = 8020 assessments within students). An increased intraindividual level of enjoyment positively predicted subsequent effective use of learning strategies, whereas effective use of learning strategies did not predict students’ subsequent enjoyment on the intraindividual level. Interindividual differences in enjoyment and effective use of cognitive learning strategies were unrelated, whereas negative relations were found for boredom and effective strategy use. On the intraindividual level, boredom and effective strategy use were unrelated.

Student teachers’ emotions in anticipation of their first team practicum

ABSTRACTThis study investigates student teachers' emotions about their upcoming team practicum. The theoretical foundation grounds in the FIT-Choice approach (Watt, H. M. G., and P. W. Richardson. 2008. “Motivations for Teaching: Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Findings.” Learning and Instruction 18: 405–98) and in control-value theory (Pekrun, R. 2006. “The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions: Assumptions, Corollaries, and Implications for Educational Research and Practice.” Educational Psychology Review 18: 315–41). We examined 405 Swiss student teachers who answered open- and close-ended questions. The quantitative results show that students' beliefs in their teaching and their teamwork skills were significantly related to positive and negative affect; this was also supported by the qualitative data. Further, student teachers experienced more positive affect if they had chosen teaching due to intrinsic reasons. The qualitative results reveal that the quality of relationships in the team practicum must be regarded as another significant source of emotions.

How to Reduce Test Anxiety and Academic Procrastination Through Inquiry of Cognitive Appraisals: A Pilot Study Investigating the Role of Academic Self-Efficacy.

Background and ObjectivesTest anxiety can impair learning motivation and lead to procrastination. Control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006) assumes test anxiety to be a result of students’ appraisals of the testing situation and its outcomes. Modification of cognitive appraisals such as low self-efficacy beliefs is thus assumed to reduce test anxiety and subsequent procrastination. In the present study, we tested the effects of an inquiry-based stress reduction (IBSR) intervention on students’ academic self-efficacy, their test anxiety, and subsequent procrastination in the final stages of an academic term.DesignLongitudinal quasi-randomized intervention control trial.MethodsUniversity students identified worry thoughts regarding a specific and frightening testing situation. Intervention participants (n = 40) explored their worry thoughts with the IBSR method. Participants of an active waitlist control group (n = 31) received the intervention after the study was completed. Dependent variables were assessed before and after the intervention as well as at the end of the term.ResultsData-analyses revealed that the IBSR intervention reduced test anxiety as well as subsequent academic procrastination in comparison to the control group. The effect on test anxiety was partly due to an enhancement of self-efficacy.ConclusionOur findings provide preliminary evidence that IBSR might help individuals to cope with their test anxiety and procrastination.

I’ve got this: Fostering topic and technology-related emotional engagement and queer history knowledge with a mobile app

Little research has been conducted to differentiate between multiple, and frequently simultaneously available, discrete object foci in academic achievement situations that emotions can be generated from, including technology and academic topics. Using R. Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions and Sharples and colleagues’ Mobile Learning Theory, we examined whether appraisals of control over technology and task value predicted emotions directed toward using a mobile app (technology-related emotions) and queer history content (topic emotions). In turn, we examined whether technology-related and topic emotions predicted objective and subjective knowledge outcomes. The main results of this study that examined 57 undergraduate students at a Canadian University were the following: (1) Learners reported high mean levels of technological control over the app. (2) Relatively high mean levels of task value. (3) High mean levels of enjoyment and low mean levels of boredom across both technology-related and topic emotions. (4) Learners’ appraisals of task value contributed to multiple regression models that statistically significantly predicted all emotions; appraisals of control over technology contributed to the multiple regression model (along with task value) that statistically significantly predicted technology-related enjoyment. And (5) technology-related enjoyment and topic boredom contributed to multiple regression models that statistically significantly predicted perceived success of learning. Findings and implications are discussed from a critical-analytical perspective.

Towards emotion awareness tools to support emotion and appraisal regulation in academic contexts

This paper studies learners’ emotion awareness in university level academic contexts as a first step to help learners regulate their emotions. Existing emotion awareness tools offer little information on learners’ emotions and their antecedents. This study created an emotion-reporting grid for university students based on the emotions they experienced daily. Students were interviewed based on their self-reported grid. A quantitative descriptive analysis of these retrospective interviews was conducted based on Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions. Student transcripts were analyzed based on the focus of their emotions (retrospective, activity, or prospective), the causes they attribute to their emotions (agent or external circumstances) and how they appraised the situation in which they experienced the emotions (value and control). We discuss the results with regard to the types of emotion-oriented and appraisal-oriented regulation strategies used in learning contexts and draw implications for the design of emotion awareness tools to support emotion regulation processes.

Exploring perceived autonomy support and emotions in university tennis courses

Using the control-value theory of achievement emotions (CVTAE) as a framework, this study investigated relationships among students’ perceived autonomy support, appraisals of control and value, and achievement emotions. Participants were students (N = 268) enrolled in a university physical education (UPE) class. They completed validated questionnaires measuring the major constructs within CVTAE including perceptions of the learning environment (autonomy support), control–value beliefs, and achievement emotions (enjoyment and boredom). Hypothesised relationships among the constructs were investigated using structural equation modelling. Autonomy support shared significant relationships with control and value beliefs. Also, control and value beliefs shared direct positive relationships with enjoyment and negatively with boredom. Indirect positive relationships were found from autonomy support to enjoyment and negatively to boredom through value and control as proposed by CVTAE. Overall, 47% of the variance was explained for enjoyment and 41% of boredom. CVTAE is an effective framework to investigate the emotional experiences of participants in UPE settings. Student emotions are important motivation outcomes and represent mechanisms that can potentially help explain outcomes such as volitional physical activity. Findings support the conclusion that perceptions of autonomy support relate to student appraisals of value and control, which in turn relate to higher positive and lower negative achievement emotions. Autonomy-supportive learning environments that provide students with choices, self-pacing, and individualised success can increase attributions of student control. The findings also contribute to a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the importance of students’ value toward PE.

Emotions and emotional energy in the science classroom: a discussion of measurement

In this commentary, I consider different theoretical and methodological aspects of Davis and Bellocchi’s study. I begin by identifying definitions of constructs of emotions and emotional energy. Next, I offer an alternative perspective for the reported findings in light of the control-value theory of achievement emotions. After that, I discuss different methods of measuring emotions, focusing specially on their merits and shortcomings. The paper then ends with a discussion about the important contributions of Davis and Bellocchi’s study wherein I outline a number of points science education researchers could consider in studying emotions.

Experienced academics' emotions related to assessment

The aim of this study was to examine the emotions higher education teachers associate with assessment and the factors in their teaching environment that triggered these emotions. As a starting point, Frenzel’s model of teacher emotions and Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions were used. The sample consisted of 16 experienced and pedagogically advanced teachers who participated in semi-structured interviews. After abductive content analyses, both positive and negative emotions were detected corresponding to Frenzel’s and Pekrun’s models. The main sources of emotions were validity of assessment, assessment methods, pedagogical development and assessment culture. This preliminary study indicates that assessment evokes both positive and negative emotions, and that validity of assessment is a prominent issue in evoking these emotions. Pedagogical training should deal with emotions and their regulation in assessment to help teachers in higher education to cope with negative emotions.

Relative incidence and origins of achievement emotions in computer-based collaborative problem-solving: A control-value approach

This study applied the control-value theory of achievement emotions to investigate the antecedents of achievement emotions experienced by adolescents in computer-based collaborative problem-solving (CPS) activities. In addition, it identified the set of discrete achievement emotions that adolescents experience in CPS scenarios. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that experiencing enjoyment was associated with higher task value and small increases in perceived academic control, whereas anger and boredom were negatively associated with control and value. Further, during CPS activities students experienced stronger positive activating emotions (e.g., enjoyment) more intensely than negative activating (e.g., anger) or deactivating emotions (e.g., boredom), providing us with the first profile of adolescents' emotions in the new CPS domain. These findings contribute uniquely to the field of affective computing, and specifically, are relevant to the development of advanced learning technologies (ALTs) used to automatically detect and respond to adolescents' emotions in CPS scenarios.

Exploring Achievement Emotions in Physical Education: The Potential for the Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions

ABSTRACTEmotions experienced in educational settings link to students’ motivation, engagement, learning, and achievement. Despite meaningful interconnections between emotions, motivation, and desired outcomes, a dearth of research on student emotions in physical education (PE) currently exists. The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions (CVTAE) highlights the importance of emotions within students’ achievement motivation and provides a comprehensive framework for investigating their antecedents and outcomes. The purpose of this investigation was to explore CVTAE as a potential framework to understand students’ achievement emotions in PE. We focus on emotional antecedents associated with the PE learning context and the role of emotions in facilitating desired PE outcomes.

Teacher humor: longitudinal effects on students’ emotions

Characteristics of teaching are associated with the emotions students experience in the classroom; however, empirical evidence regarding longitudinal effects is scarce. The present study investigated changes in positive and negative achievement emotions (enjoyment, boredom, and anger) vis-a-vis different teacher humor types (course-related, course-unrelated, self-disparaging, and aggressive), using the instructional humor processing theory and control-value theory of achievement emotions as a theoretical foundation. A total of 668 German upper track secondary school students from 41 classrooms with a mean age of 12.7 years (SD = 1.76) reported their perceptions of teacher humor and their experienced achievement emotions by completing online questionnaires (retest interval 6 months). Using the corresponding levels of emotions at the first measurement point as control values, results from multilevel analyses indicate that course-related humor weakens both decreases in enjoyment and increases in boredom and anger. Consistent with the hypotheses, aggressive humor leads to less enjoyment and more boredom and anger. Directions for future research are discussed and suggestions on how to best relate humor to course content are made.

Control-Value Appraisals, Enjoyment, and Boredom in Mathematics: A Longitudinal Latent Interaction Analysis

Based on the control-value theory of achievement emotions, this longitudinal study examined students’ control-value appraisals as antecedents of their enjoyment and boredom in mathematics. Self-report data for appraisals and emotions were collected from 579 students in their final year of primary schooling over three waves. Data were analyzed using latent interaction structural equation modeling. Control-value appraisals predicted emotions interactively depending on which specific subjective value was paired with perceived control. Achievement value amplified the positive relation between perceived control and enjoyment, and intrinsic value reduced the negative relation between perceived control and boredom. These longitudinal findings demonstrate that control and value appraisals, and their interaction, are critically important for the development of students’ enjoyment and boredom over time.

Learning-related emotions in multimedia learning: An application of control-value theory

The present study investigated assumptions of Control-value Theory of Achievement Emotions in multimedia learning. By applying an experimental 2x2-factorial between-subject design, the factors learner control (high vs. low) and value induction (high vs. low) were systematically varied. Results showed that high learner control led to higher perceived control and higher learning outcomes. There were no main effects of value induction. Significant interaction effects showed that the group with induction of a high positive task value and high learner control had most positive learning-related emotions and highest learning outcomes. Serial mediation analyses revealed that the main effect of learner control on learning outcomes was serially mediated by perceived control, learning-related emotions, and use of cognitive resources. The interaction effect on learning outcomes was serially mediated by control and value appraisals, learning-related emotions, and use of cognitive resources, as well. In particular, the results of the serial mediation analyses support assumptions of Control-value Theory and its validity in an experimental setting.

Cognitive Appraisals, Achievement Emotions, and Motivation towards Learning Mathematics among Lower Secondary Students

Guided by the control-value theory of achievement emotions, we examined the relationship between cognitive appraisals (i.e. self-efficacy and task value), learning anxiety, test anxiety, enjoyment and motivation towards learning mathematics among 302 students in their first year of lower secondary school in Uganda. Students were randomly selected from four urban schools located in Central and Western Uganda. Data were collected using several subscales from the Attitudes towards Math Inventory, the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale, and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and analysed by structural equation modelling in Mplus 7.4. Results indicated a significant contributions of students’ cognitive appraisals towards enjoyment and anxiety for math. Additionally, enjoyment mediated the relationship between students’ cognitive appraisals and learning motivation. Several ways are discussed of strengthening students’ self-efficacy and task value as early as the first year of lower secondary school for higher enjoyment and motivation for learning maths.

Effects of an Inquiry-Based Short Intervention on State Test Anxiety in Comparison to Alternative Coping Strategies.

Background and Objectives: Test anxiety can have undesirable consequences for learning and academic achievement. The control-value theory of achievement emotions assumes that test anxiety is experienced if a student appraises an achievement situation as important (value appraisal), but feels that the situation and its outcome are not fully under his or her control (control appraisal). Accordingly, modification of cognitive appraisals is assumed to reduce test anxiety. One method aiming at the modification of appraisals is inquiry-based stress reduction. In the present study (N = 162), we assessed the effects of an inquiry-based short intervention on test anxiety.Design: Short-term longitudinal, randomized control trial.Methods: Focusing on an individual worry thought, 53 university students received an inquiry-based short intervention. Control participants reflected on their worry thought (n = 55) or were distracted (n = 52). Thought related test anxiety was assessed before, immediately after, and 2 days after the experimental treatment.Results: After the intervention as well as 2 days later, individuals who had received the inquiry-based intervention demonstrated significantly lower test anxiety than participants from the pooled control groups. Further analyses showed that the inquiry-based short intervention was more effective than reflecting on a worry thought but had no advantage over distraction.Conclusions: Our findings provide first experimental evidence for the effectiveness of an inquiry-based short intervention in reducing students’ test anxiety.