Emotional states during learning situations and students' self-regulation : process-oriented analysis of person-situation interactions in the vocational classroom

Abstract

Background<br />In reference to the interactionist paradigm, we analyse how students’ emotional states during class are affected by student’ self-regulation, by time-varying characteristics within learning situations, and by the interaction of self-regulation abilities and learning situations during class.<br /><br />Methods<br />We refer to existing empirical research on teaching and learning processes in vocational education and report findings from a process-oriented video study in naturalistic settings that was realised at a German vocational school. Altogether, 92 students were investigated during 1440 min of instruction by use of videography and continuous-state-sampling method (CSSM). The frequency of repeated measurement was 7 min, with 46–51 measures per student.<br /><br />Results<br />Via latent class analysis, we first identified two types of students who differ in their self-regulation abilities. Then, a multilevel analysis revealed that students’ self-regulation affects students’ emotional states. In addition, we found that emotional states tend to be affected by the interaction of self-regulation and learning situations within lessons (but that’s just a sample-related and non-significant effect).<br /><br />Conclusions<br />In view of a holistic understanding of teaching and learning processes in vocational education, a deeper knowledge surrounding the interdependencies between personality characteristics, emotional states, and learning situations seems to be essential for an evidence-based design for teaching and learning environments in vocational education and training.