The Mediating Role of Implicit and Explicit Emotion Regulation in the Relationship Between Academic Emotions and Approaches to Learning: Do Defense Styles Matter?

The exploration of a ‘model’ for understanding the contribution of emotion regulation to students learning. The role of academic emotions and sense of coherence

The present study is exploring a pathway connecting emotion regulation with academic progress. Specifically, the pattern through which emotion regulation is implicated in learning and academic progress through academic emotions and sense of coherence. This cross-sectional study involves of 406 undergraduate social science students recruited from a university in western Greece. Participants anonymously and voluntarily completed a number of self-report measures. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Sense of Coherence Scale, the Student Experience of Emotions Inventory and the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory, were used to measure emotion regulation, sense of coherence, academic emotional experiences and approaches to learning, respectively. Α four-stage model was tested with structural equation modelling techniques. In particular, the model examined associations between emotion regulation, sense of coherence, academic emotions, approaches to learning and academic progress. The analysis revealed pathways through which these associations appear to be maintained and driven by emotion regulation. Emotion regulation is associated with students’ academic emotions that in turn are linked with approaches to learning and academic progress. Both positive and negative emotions appear to play a role in enabling an adaptive approach to learning. Moreover, sense of coherence may serve as an important meta-cognitive factor enabling students to approach the learning process more effectively. The findings are discussed in the light of the recent literature.

Investigating the Effect of the State, Stability, and Change in Deep Approaches to Learning From Kindergarten to Third Grade: A Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling Indicator-Specific Growth Model Approach

Adopting deep approaches to learning can have a profound impact on learning outcomes. The extent of change in the learning approach could be attributed to the effect of contextual factors (e.g., instruction). After a substantive review, it was found that research interested in investigating the longitudinal effect of deep approaches to learning on learning outcomes were rarely directly concerned with the longitudinal state and trend of the approach itself. Moreover, the limitations of past analytical methods (e.g., using a single indicator to represent deep approaches to learning at each point in time), has not been appropriately acknowledged. This study examined deep approaches to learning in students from kindergarten to third grade using a multilevel structural equation modeling indicator-specific growth model (MSEM-ISGM). This was used to highlight the methodological issues (e.g., consider four indicators separately at each wave) to investigate the effect of context and the states, stability, and changes in deep approaches to learning over this developmental period. The current study comprised of a large-scale sample of 21,490 kindergarteners in kindergarten. Results showed: (1) there was a contextual effect on the longitudinal changes of deep approaches to learning; (2) deep approaches to learning was high but showed considerable individual differences; (3) most indicators relating to deep approaches to learning declined (however, one increased), whereas the trend were relatively stable over time. Corresponding suggestions were proposed at the end of this article.