The structure of students' emotions

Several models have been developed in order to categorize the numerous expressions that people use in order to describe their emotional experiences. The focus of the present study is on one of these theoretical classifications proposed by Pekrun (1992) specifically concerning emotions which are directly related to learning and achievement in mathematics. In his model, emotions are classified according to their valence (positive vs. negative) and their level of activation. In testing the assumptions of this model, we investigated students’ enjoyment, anxiety, anger and boredom experienced before, during, and after the completion of a math test. Correspondence analyses which were used to generate a graphical illustration of structural interrelationships between these emotions provide empirical support for the theoretical classification. Kurzreferat: Vielfältige Modelle wurden bislang entwickelt, um die zahlreichen Ausdrücke zu kategorisieren, die zur Beschreibung emotionalen Erlebens verwendet werden. Der Fokus dieses Beitrags liegt auf einer theoretischen Klassifizierungen von Pekrun (1992), die insbesondere auf Emotionen im mathematischen Lernund Leistungskontext bezogen sind. Demnach werden Emotionen entsprechend ihrer Valenz (positiv vs. negativ) und ihrer Art der Aktivierung klassifiziert. Beim Testen der Modellannahmen untersuchten wir die von Schülerinnen und Schülern selbstberichteten Emotionen Freude, Angst, Ärger und Langeweile vor, während und nach der Bearbeitung eines mathematischen Leistungstests. Zur Auswertung wird die Korrespondenzanalyse verwendet, um eine graphische Abbildung der strukturellen Verbindungen zwischen Emotionen und dem Leistungsniveau in dem mathematischen Test zu generieren. Dabei soll insbesondere ein empirischer Beleg für die theoretische Klassifikation des emotionalen Erlebens während der Bearbeitung eines mathematischen Leistungstests erbracht werden. ZDM-Classifikation: C20, C40, D60 1. The structure of students' emotions There exist numerous theoretical criteria according to which emotional experiences can be classified. Criteria which are often utilized include the concepts of valence, activation, intensity, duration and frequency (see Shaver, Schwartz, Kirson, & O’Connor, 1987). Different research domains and empirical findings on the structure of emotions have led to various classification schemas (Tellegen, Watson, & Clark, 1999). These classification schemes correspond to specific research domains, for instance, in fields involving clinical practice, learning and achievement environment, the workplace, as well as leisure time. In this respect, theoretical classifications of emotions are determined to a large extent by the specific contexts in which they are developed. For example, Plutchik (1980) as well as Watson and Tellegen (1985) used the concept of "contrasting" couples to describe emotional experiences varying in valence and activation in what they refer to as a "Circumplex model." In this model, enjoyment and sadness would be represented “opposite” emotions. In the present study, we focus on academic emotions in mathematics, that is, emotions which are directly related to learning and achievement (Goetz, Zirngibl, Pekrun, & Hall, 2003; Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002). To this end, we adopted Pekrun’s (1992) conceptual model of emotions which specifically pertains to emotions experienced in an academic achievement context (see Pekrun et al., 2002). This classification schema takes the traditional criteria of valence (positive vs. negative) and activation (activating vs. deactivating) into account and classifies academic emotions according to these criteria. While valence is considered as a bipolar dimension (positive vs. negative), activation is understood as unipolar in nature, and indicates the extent to which a given emotion is activating. Table 1 shows the corresponding 2 x 2 table in which academic emotions are depicted. Table 1. Classification of academic emotions.