Investigating the reciprocity between daily emotions and perceived learning progress in self-directed learning

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Learning Sciences
• Adolescent Development

Background:

• Control-value theory posits a link between learner emotions and academic performance.
• Existing research often focuses on traditional schooling and long-term emotional tracking.
• Gaps exist in understanding these dynamics within self-directed learning and short-term fluctuations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the short-term dynamics between emotions and perceived learning progress in self-directed learning.
• To examine the generalizability of control-value theory to self-directed learning contexts.
• To explore reciprocal associations and autoregressive effects over time.

Main Methods:

• Utilized dynamic structural equation modeling (dSEM).
• Analyzed longitudinal data from 321 adolescents over a ~10-week self-directed learning project.
• Examined daily autoregressive and reciprocal effects.

Main Results:

• Daily positive emotions, negative emotions, and perceived learning progress exhibited autoregressive effects.
• A reciprocal association was found between daily positive emotions and perceived daily learning progress.
• Daily negative emotions predicted decreased positive emotions the following day.
• Stronger positive emotion autoregression correlated with stronger perceived learning progress autoregression.

Conclusions:

• Positive emotions play a significant role in the daily learning progress of adolescents in self-directed learning.
• Interventions aimed at fostering positive emotions may enhance self-directed learning outcomes.
• The findings support the application of control-value theory to self-directed learning environments.