The influence of motivational and emotional factors in mathematical learning in secondary education

Hanin, Vanessa [UCL] Van Nieuwenhoven, Catherine [UCL]

Introduction While motivation has, for decades, been investigated as a key component of academic learning and performance, academic emotions have often been left out of the scope of investigation. According to several researchers, mathematics learning seems to be particularly affected by students’ emotions. Objective This paper is aimed at characterizing the emotions and motivation of eighth grade students in a mathematical setting and highlighting the cluster of emotions–activity emotions vs outcome emotions–which best predict math value, math self-concept, behavioral engagement and math performance. Method Data were collected through questionnaires from 115 students and analyzed through means comparisons and linear regressions. Results Results indicated that eighth grade students give a relatively high value to mathematics have a positive mathematics self-concept and are moderately engaged in mathematical tasks. Regression analysis showed that mathematics value and behavioral engagement are better explained by activity emotions while mathematics self-concept and performance are better predicted by outcome emotions. Conclusion The implications of these findings in terms of educational practices are discussed at the end of this study.