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This article describes the control-value theory of achievement emotions and its implications for educational research and practice. The theory provides an integrative framework for analyzing the antecedents and effects of emotions experienced in achievement and academic settings. It is based on the premise that appraisals of control and values are central to the arousal of achievement emotions, including activity-related emotions such as enjoyment, frustration, and boredom experienced at learning, as well as outcome emotions such as joy, hope, pride, anxiety, hopelessness, shame, and anger relating to success or failure. Corollaries of the theory pertain to the multiplicity and domain specificity of achievement emotions; to their more distal individual and social antecedents, their effects on engagement and achievement, and the reciprocal linkages between emotions, antecedents and effects; to the regulation and development of these emotions; and to their relative universality across genders and cultures. Implications addressed concern the conceptual integration of emotion, motivation, and cognition, and the need to advance mixed-method paradigms. In closing, implications for educational practice are discussed.

A reciprocal effects model linking emotion and achievement over time is proposed. The model was tested using five annual waves of the Project for the Analysis of Learning and Achievement in Mathematics (PALMA) longitudinal study, which investigated adolescents' development in mathematics (Grades 5-9; N = 3,425 German students; mean starting age = 11.7 years; representative sample). Structural equation modeling showed that positive emotions (enjoyment, pride) positively predicted subsequent achievement (math end-of-the-year grades and test scores), and that achievement positively predicted these emotions, controlling for students' gender, intelligence, and family socioeconomic status. Negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, hopelessness) negatively predicted achievement, and achievement negatively predicted these emotions. The findings were robust across waves, achievement indicators, and school tracks, highlighting the importance of emotions for students' achievement and of achievement for the development of emotions.

Achievement emotions are emotions linked to academic, work, or sports achievement activities (activity emotions) and their success and failure outcomes (outcome emotions). Recent evidence suggests that achievement emotions are linked to motivational, selfregulatory, and cognitive processes that are crucial for academic success. Despite the importance of these emotions, syntheses of empirical findings investigating their relation with student achievement are scarce. We broadly review the literature on achievement emotions with a focus on activity-related emotions including enjoyment, anger, frustration, and boredom, and their links to educational outcomes with two specific aims: to aggregate all studies and determine how strongly related those emotions are to academic performance, and to examine moderators of those effects. A meta-analytical review was conducted using a systematic database of 68 studies. The 68 studies included 57 independent samples for enjoyment (N = 31,868), 25 for anger (N = 11,153), 9 for frustration (N = 1418), and 66 for boredom (N = 28,410). Results indicated a positive relation between enjoyment of learning and academic performance (ρ = .27), whereas the relations were negative for both anger (ρ = –.35) and boredom (ρ = –.25). For frustration, the relation with performance was near zero (ρ = –.02). Moderator tests revealed that relations of activity emotions with academic performance are stronger when (a) students are in secondary school compared with both primary school and college, and (b) the emotions are measured by the Achievement Emotions Questionnaires – Mathematics (AEQ-M). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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.

In its original version, control-value theory describes and explains achievement emotions. More recently, the theory has been expanded to also explain epistemic, social, and existential emotions. In this article, I outline the development of the theory, from preliminary work in the 1980s to early versions of the theory and the recent generalized control-value theory. I provide summaries of the theory’s evidence-based propositions on antecedents, outcomes, and regulation of emotions, including the fundamentally important role of control and value appraisals across different types of human emotions that are relevant to education (and beyond). The theory includes descriptive taxonomies of emotions as well as propositions explaining (a) the influence of individual factors, social environments, and socio-cultural contexts on emotions; (b) the effects of emotions on learning, performance, and health; (c) reciprocal causation linking emotions, outcomes, and antecedents; (d) ways to regulate emotions; and (e) strategies for intervention. Subsequently, I outline the relevance of the theory for educational practice, including individual and large-scale assessments of emotions; students’, teachers’, and parents’ understanding of emotions; and change of educational practices. In conclusion, I discuss strengths of the theory, open questions, and future directions.

Test anxiety is a widespread and mostly detrimental emotion in learning and achievement settings. Thus, it is a construct of high interest for researchers and its measurement is an important issue. So far, test anxiety has typically been assessed using self-report measures. However, physiological measures (e.g., heart rate or skin conductance level) have gained increasing attention in educational research, as they allow for an objective and often continuous assessment of students’ physiological arousal (i.e., the physiological component of test anxiety) in real-life situations, such as a test. Although theoretically one would assume self-report measures of test anxiety and objective physiological measures would converge, empirical evidence is scarce and findings have been mixed. To achieve a more coherent picture of the relationship between these measures, this systematic review and meta-analysis investigated whether higher self-reported test anxiety is associated with expected increases in objectively measured physiological arousal. A systematic literature search yielded an initial 231 articles, and a structured selection process identified 29 eligible articles, comprising 31 studies, which met the specified inclusion criteria and provided sufficient information about the relationship under investigation. In line with theoretical models, in 21 out of the 31 included studies, there was a significant positive relationship between self-reported test anxiety and physiological arousal. The strengths of these correlations were of medium size. Moderators influencing the relation between these two measures are discussed, along with implications for the assessment of physiological data in future classroom-based research on test anxiety.

This research examined how motivation (perceived control, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation), cognitive learning strategies (deep and surface strategies), and intelligence jointly predict long-term growth in students' mathematics achievement over 5 years. Using longitudinal data from six annual waves (Grades 5 through 10; M age = 11.7 years at baseline; N = 3,530), latent growth curve modeling was employed to analyze growth in achievement. Results showed that the initial level of achievement was strongly related to intelligence, with motivation and cognitive strategies explaining additional variance. In contrast, intelligence had no relation with the growth of achievement over years, whereas motivation and learning strategies were predictors of growth. These findings highlight the importance of motivation and learning strategies in facilitating adolescents' development of mathematical competencies.

Two studies were conducted to examine gender differences in trait (habitual) versus state (momentary) mathematics anxiety in a sample of students (Study 1: N = 584; Study 2: N = 111). For trait math anxiety, the findings of both studies replicated previous research showing that female students report higher levels of anxiety than do male students. However, no gender differences were observed for state anxiety, as assessed using experience-sampling methods while students took a math test (Study 1) and attended math classes (Study 2). The discrepant findings for trait versus state math anxiety were partly accounted for by students' beliefs about their competence in mathematics, with female students reporting lower perceived competence than male students despite having the same average grades in math. Implications for educational practices and the assessment of anxiety are discussed.

Theories in motivation science, and in psychological science more generally, are in a state of fragmentation that impedes development of a robust body of knowledge. Furthermore, fragmentation hinders communication among scientists, with practitioners, and with policymakers and the public. Theoretical integration is needed to overcome this situation. In this commentary, I first provide an overview of the integrative frameworks presented in this collection of articles. Based on this overview, I discuss if and when we should integrate theories. Several non-trivial conditions need to be met for integration, including convergence of phenomena, constructs, and theoretical propositions. Next, I address strategies for integration, including rules for merging constructs and ways to integrate propositions. I also discuss how the generation of integrative frameworks, if not successfully enacted, can paradoxically lead to further proliferation rather than a reduction of theories. In contrast, successful integration reduces redundancy and simplifies the conceptual space used to describe, explain, or predict a set of phenomena. Successful integration may require not only theoretical work but also empirical validation, strategic efforts in the scientific community, and change of institutional policies. In conclusion, I argue that within-discipline integration alone is not sufficient to overcome the current theoretical stagnation in the field. Attention to advances in neighboring disciplines, formalization of models of motivation, and theoretical differentiation to consider the specificity of constructs, populations, and contexts are needed as well.

Teachers' emotions are critically important for the quality of classroom instruction, and they are key components of teachers' psychological well-being. Past research has focused on individual differences between teachers, whereas within-teacher variation across contexts has rarely been considered. As such, the present research addresses the long-standing yet unresolved person-situation debate pertaining to the emotional experiences of teachers. In two diary studies (N = 135, 70% female, and N = 85, 28% female), we examined the role of person, academic subject, and group of students for teacher emotions; focusing on three of the most salient emotions found in teachers: enjoyment, anger, and anxiety. Findings from multi-level analysis confirmed the person specificity of enjoyment, anger, and, in particular, anxiety. In addition, underscoring the existence of within-teacher variability, findings supported that teachers' emotions considerably varied depending on the subject and group of students taught, particularly so for enjoyment and anger. Implications of the person and context specificity of teacher emotions are discussed in relation to assessments and intervention programs aiming to improve teachers' emotional lives in the classroom.