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Abstract
Drawing upon the control-value theory (CVT), various subject domains have explored the relationship and mediating mechanism between academic boredom and academic achievement. However, few studies have explored the potential mediating effect of cognitive strategies in the association between academic boredom and achievement, especially intheEnglish as a foreign language (EFL) learning context. A sample of 524 Chinese secondary EFL learners from one middle school using convenience sampling participated in the study. Results of structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses and mediation analysis indicated that organizational strategies partially mediated the link between foreign language boredom (FLB) and foreign language proficiency(FLP). This research further revealed the mediating mechanism between FLB and FLP. Implications, shortcomings, and directions for future research are discussed
The present study explores the under-researched phenomenon of boredom, its antecedents, and solutions, as well as the boredom-generating parts of English classes among 227 young learners of English in an Iranian context. Data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews were thematically analyzed using MAXQDA (Version 2022) to extract themes concerning the issues under study. Findings revealed that teachers’ lack of control over students’ behavior, lack of classroom management, lack of fun in teaching, excessive repetitions, teacher-centered teaching, and classroom physical environment were the main causes of boredom. As for solutions to learners’ boredom, introducing better classroom management strategies, making the class more effervescent, making teaching more learner-centered, and enhancing classroom physical environment were suggested. The findings also revealed that the middle of the English class was the most boredom-generating part for the young learners of English.
The objective of the present study was to explore the direct and indirect effects of academic boredom on foreign language (FL) proficiency in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). As a prominent negative emotion, the detrimental effect of FL boredom on FL proficiency has been verified. However, the mediating mechanism between FL boredom and FL proficiency, especially the mediating effect of cognitive strategies, needs to be further explored. We recruited 505 Chinese EFL learners (236 female, 46.73%) from one secondary school using convenience sampling to verify the mediating role of elaboration strategies between FL boredom and FL proficiency. Structural equation modelling (SEM) and mediation analysis yielded two major findings. First, FL boredom was negatively correlated with FL proficiency. Second, after controlling for gender and age, FL boredom, mediated through elaboration strategies, influenced FL proficiency. Third, elaboration strategies partially mediated the relationship between FL boredom and proficiency. Implications and limitations are discussed.
In addition to anxiety, academic boredom has also begun to enter the vision of educational researchers in recent years. However, studies on academic boredom in the English as a foreign language (EFL) domain could be more comprehensive, especially the mediating mechanism of academic boredom on EFL achievement needs to be further explored. The present study investigated the direct and indirect effects of academic boredom on EFL achievement in a sample of two hundred and thirty-five Chinese secondary EFL learners. SPSS Process and Mplus were utilized to analyze the data. The findings revealed that academic boredom and behavioral engagement scales were valid and reliable in measuring Chinese secondary EFL learners’ boredom and engagement in learning English. Also, mediation analysis showed that behavioral engagement partially mediated between academic boredom and EFL achievement. Implications and directions for future studies are discussed.
Purpose
This study draws on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model to analyze if (1) social and organizational resources impact students' satisfaction, via academic engagement, and (2) psychological capital moderates the mediating path.
Design/methodology/approach
To test our hypotheses, the authors collected data from two well-established higher education institutions (HEIs), in which 840 students participated.
Findings
Additionally, the results demonstrated that the indirect relationship between resources and satisfaction through academic engagement was conditional on the individual's levels of psychological capital, in such a way that it became stronger for those who presented lower levels of psychological capital, compared to those with higher levels. The students' satisfaction can be an indicator of the institution's perceived quality, in addition to positioning the HEI as a healthy organization.
Research limitations/implications
The cross-sectional design of the study is a limitation.
Practical implications
The students' satisfaction levels can be an indicators of the institution's perceived quality, in addition to positioning the HEI as a healthy organization. Thus, these conclusions can contribute to guiding the actors of HEIs in designing and promoting interventions to promote students' satisfaction.
Originality/value
However, the study presents some guidelines for academic and organizational practice, namely regarding the relevance of resources for increasing academic engagement and, consequently, satisfaction.
Motivated by the positive psychology movement in the English as Foreign Language (EFL), existing studies have demonstrated that subject-related enjoyment has a positive correlation with academic achievement. However, quite a few studieshave examined why academic enjoyment can predict positive academic achievement. This study aimed to investigate whether behavioral engagement, self-concept, and organizational strategy mediated relations between academic enjoyment and achievement in EFL setting. 528 Chinese secondary school students (Male: N = 280; Female: N = 248) participated in the survey and completed the questionnaires on EFL-related enjoyment, behavioral engagement, self-concept, organizational strategy, and academic performance. Structural equation model (SEM) analyses showed that students’ academic enjoyment positively predicted their English achievement. Academic engagement, self-concept, and organizational strategy had parallel multiple mediating effects between academic enjoyment and English achievement. Multi-group SEM analysis demonstrated that the model had invariance across genders, indicating that the model is applicable to both male and female students. Limitations and implications are discussed.
This study utilises a holistic approach of positive psychology (PP) in the second language acquisition (SLA) domain to test a model of
willingness to communicate in English language (L2WTC) among 328
Saudi learners. The model examines how potential connections among learners’ negative emotions (anxiety and boredom), positive emotions (enjoyment and grit), and motivation have a positive effect on learner L2WTC. Questionnaire data were analyzed using a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis to identify and verify direct, indirect, and total effects in the model. The final model adequately fit the data. All learner emotions except boredom significantly directly predicted L2WTC. The strongest direct predictors of L2WTC were motivation, followed by anxiety. Grit directly affected motivation, and enjoyment mediated the relationship between motivation and L2WTC. Significant negative direct paths were detected from anxiety to motivation, enjoyment, and grit, and indirect paths from anxiety to L2WTC were shown through the mediation of these variables. Anxiety had the largest total effect on L2WTC, followed by motivation. These findings support the feasibility of a holistic perspective of PP in the SLA by which positive and negative emotional/affective variables can inherently interact to account for L2WTC via classroom pedagogical interventions for emotion regulation.
Researchers paid ample attention to an important variable called boredom in numerous contexts; however, limited research exists regarding the association of boredom with listening comprehension performance in EFL settings. Thus, the current study aims to establish the association between listening boredom and listening comprehension performance by deploying listening boredom coping strategies as a mediating construct. A quantitative research approach, and a cross-sectional and correlational research design was used to conduct this study. A listening comprehension test and questionnaires were used to gather the data from 313 Saudi EFL learners. Results directed that there exists a negative yet significant association between listening boredom and listening comprehension performance. In addition, listening boredom showed a positive and significant association with all of the four listening boredom coping strategies. Furthermore, three out of four listening boredom coping strategies (i.e., behavioral, cognitive, and behavioral avoidance) showed a positive and significant association with listening performance; however, cognitive avoidance strategies showed a significant yet negative association with listening comprehension performance. Lastly, results regarding mediation indicated that listening boredom coping strategies mediated the relationship between listening boredom and listening comprehension performance. Based on the results, various recommendations were presented to EFL learners, instructors, and policymakers.
Many previous studies have examined metacognitive strategy use among ESL students in offline reading settings, but very few have linked them to a gender context, especially among EFL students when reading online English texts. This research, therefore, explored gender differences in metacognitive strategy usage among Indonesian EFL students in relation to online reading abilities and English proficiency. It enlisted the participation of 426 female and 176 male students from the University of Borneo Tarakan. The data was collected using the OSORS (Online Survey of Reading Strategies), a self-rated online reading ability question, and an English proficiency test. An independent sample t-test, Pearson correlation, and simple and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data. Significant gender differences were discovered in overall, problem-solving, and support strategy usage, despite the small effect size values, with the female students scoring better on average than the males. For self-assessed online reading ability and online English proficiency, no gender difference was identified. Among the less skilled readers, significant gender differences were identified in overall and support strategies, whereas among the skilled readers, no significant gender differences were observed in both overall and category strategies. There were no gender differences in online English proficiency among the less skilled and skilled readers. Overall strategy use among the females predicted online reading abilities and online English proficiency, while among the males only predicted online reading abilities. These findings add to the growing body of research demonstrating female dominance in EFL online reading programs and have pedagogical implications.
Background
Online multiple‐text comprehension is a key skill of the 21st Century, yet the study of its relations with boredom in young students has been disregarded. Boredom is an achievement emotion expected to be predicted negatively by antecedents like control and value appraisals and to be associated to a negative performance. Notwithstanding its documented domain‐specificity, scarce attention has been paid to investigating these relations with primary‐school students in the reading domain, and specifically for online multiple‐text comprehension, and to how such relations are moderated by basic cognitive abilities.
Aims
Considering separately two settings (homework, test), we studied the mediation of boredom in the relation between control‐value appraisals and online multiple‐text comprehension in primary‐school students, focusing on the moderating role of word‐reading fluency.
Sample
Participants were 334 fourth and fifth graders.
Methods
We evaluated students’ reading‐related self‐efficacy and task‐value, reading‐related boredom for homework and tests, word‐reading fluency, and online multiple‐text comprehension.
Results
Path analyses revealed negative relations between control‐value appraisals and boredom for homework and tests, and between boredom and online multiple‐text comprehension for tests only. For the latter, word‐reading fluency moderated the relation between appraisals, boredom, and comprehension: Boredom negatively related to comprehension only for students with high word‐reading fluency.
Conclusions
Findings are discussed focusing on antecedents of online multiple‐text comprehension as a literacy skill critical in the 21st Century. We underlined their implications for learning in general and specifically for the current educational changes due to the COVID‐19 pandemic.
Boredom coping strategies were incorporated with control-value theory variables of control, value, boredom and academic performance to test an integrated model of the antecedents and effects of boredom experienced while studying among university students. A diverse sample of 177 Australian university students with a mean age of 29.64 years (SD = 10.03 years) completed an online survey for the study. Independently, students’ lower appraisals of value and control for their course of study were associated with higher experiences of boredom. Additionally, a conditional process analysis revealed dually moderated mediation where the interaction of control and value appraisals negatively predicted experience of boredom while studying, and the combination of higher boredom and a high tendency for behavioural avoidance coping was subsequently linked to lower academic performance. Practical implications for students and universities are discussed, as well as suggestions about future research to further extend our understanding in these important areas of research.
This study examined to what extent teacher–student conflict and closeness, on the one hand, and students’ self-concepts of ability in literacy and mathematics, on the other, are related to students’ achievement emotions (enjoyment, anxiety and boredom) in mathematics and literacy among Finnish early adolescents (N = 854). We also investigated the extent to which these associations are moderated by student temperament (surgency/extraversion, negative affectivity and effortful control). The results showed, after accounting for relevant covariates, that in both school subjects, teacher–student conflict was negatively related to enjoyment and positively to anxiety and boredom, whereas teacher–student closeness was positively related to enjoyment and negatively to boredom. Self-concepts of ability in both school subjects were positively related to enjoyment and negatively to anxiety, whereas the self-concept of ability was only negatively related to boredom in mathematics. Student temperament also moderated some of the associations in the literacy domain. Lower levels of conflict in the teacher–student relationship were related to higher levels of enjoyment in literacy, particularly among students who had lower levels of surgency/extraversion. Also, a closer relationship with the teacher or a lower self-concept of ability in literacy was related to higher levels of anxiety, particularly among students who had low effortful control. In the mathematics domain, the associations between the self-concept of ability and achievement emotions were somewhat stronger than in literacy, and the domain-specific associations were not dependent on student temperament.
Building on functional models of emotion, we propose that boredom creates a seeking state that prompts people to explore new experiences, even if those experiences are hedonically negative. Specifically, as emotional responses fade, boredom motivates the pursuit of alternative experiences that differ from the experience that resulted in boredom. Participants who reported a higher degree of boredom after a neutral task were more likely to choose negative experiences (Study 1). Compared with a low-boredom condition, participants in a high-boredom condition desired novel experiences and, as a result of this desire, were more likely to choose novel negative experiences (Study 2). In Study 3, participants were made bored by positive or negative stimuli. Participants in the positive-boredom conditions were more likely to choose a novel experience that was more negative; participants in the negative-boredom conditions were more likely to choose a novel experience that was more positive. These findings reveal that boredom motivates people to seek out novel experiences that elicit different (even more negative) feelings. (PsycINFO Database Record
The authors examined the relationships among students' levels of boredom, boredom coping strategies, epistemic curiosity, and graded performance regarding mathematics lessons, with the intention to explore the mediating roles of boredom coping strategies and epistemic curiosity in the relationship between the level of boredom and graded performance. A total of 557 students from a small city located in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey voluntarily participated in the study. Of them, 211 enrolled in an Anatolian high school and 346 enrolled in a science high school. Results showed that the level of boredom, boredom coping strategies, epistemic curiosity, and graded performance were significantly related to each other. Results also showed that deprivation-type epistemic curiosity and interest-type epistemic curiosity played significant mediating roles in the relationship between the level of boredom and graded performance. Notably, the mediating roles of interest-type epistemic curiosity and deprivation-type epistemic curiosity differed across gender groups.
This paper is devoted to examining the factors responsible for the low achievement in English as a foreign language (EFL) among Saudi students. While some of these factors are demographic variables that pertain specifically to the learners themselves, such as gender, age, motivation, attitudes, aptitude, anxiety, autonomy, learning strategies, and learning style, most are external and outside the learners’ control. These external factors are particularly represented by sociocultural factors, such as the influence of Arabic as the first language (L1); religion, culture, and society; instructional variables, such as teacher behavior and teaching styles, the curriculum, and the teaching methods; and finally, problems with the educational system in Saudi Arabia, such as overcrowded classes, lack of teacher training, and a lack of technology. This paper begins by emphasizing the importance of English language learning for Saudis, followed by an analysis and a discussion of the factors that might explain their lack of achievement. The paper concludes by presenting some implications and offering recommendations for EFL practitioners and policymakers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to address the factors contributing to low EFL achievement among Saudi learners.
This structural equation modeling study aimed to investigate both direct and indirect relationships among self-efficacy for learning and performance, cognitive self-regulated learning strategies (CSR), metacognitive self-regulated learning strategies (MSR), time and study environmental management strategies (TSEM), effort regulation strategies and biology achievement of Turkish high schools students. Results of a path analysis showed that students who have high self-efficacy, MSR, TSEM and organizational strategies to complete a task in the face of difficulties can become successful in biology. Also, the findings were found that higher levels of self-efficacy directly associated with CSR, MSR, TSEM and effort regulation strategies. Moreover, mediator analyses explained several mediator effects between these variables that are discussed with the importance of motivational and learning strategies in achievement.
The authors analyzed the domain specificity of emotions and focused on experiences of enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom in the domains of mathematics, Latin, German, and English. On the basis of assumptions in R. Pekrun's (2000; in press) control-value theory and findings of pilot studies, the authors hypothesized the existence of a largely domain-specific organization of emotional experiences. The sample consisted of 721 students from grades 7 to 10. Confirmatory multitrait-multimethod factor analysis of the 2-faceted dataset (emotions and domains) corroborated assumptions of domain specificity. Furthermore, using multilevel analysis, the authors found that emotions were significantly more domain-specific than students' grades, with enjoyment being the most domain-specific of the three emotions under investigation. The authors discuss implications for future research and practice.
This article outlines the construction and validation of the Goal Orientation and Learning Strategies Survey (GOALS-S). This 84-item survey was designed to measure students’ motivational goal orientations and their cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Results of first-order confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) supported the factorial validity of the GOALS-S scales measuring students’ goals and strategies (with goodness-of-fit indices in post-hoc models ranging from .908 to .981). In addition, higher order CFAs (HCFAs) support hierarchical structure of the GOALS-S scales (with goodness-of-fit indices ranging from .904 to .980). Finally, tests of invariance supported the factorial stability of the GOALS-S scales across gender groups (with goodness-of-fit indices ranging from .901 to .981).
Our central goal is to provide a definition of boredom in terms of the underlying mental processes that occur during an instance of boredom. Through the synthesis of psychodynamic, existential, arousal, and cognitive theories of boredom, we argue that boredom is universally conceptualized as "the aversive experience of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity." We propose to map this conceptualization onto underlying mental processes. Specifically, we propose that boredom be defined in terms of attention. That is, boredom is the aversive state that occurs when we (a) are not able to successfully engage attention with internal (e.g., thoughts or feelings) or external (e.g., environmental stimuli) information required for participating in satisfying activity, (b) are focused on the fact that we are not able to engage attention and participate in satisfying activity, and (c) attribute the cause of our aversive state to the environment. We believe that our definition of boredom fully accounts for the phenomenal experience of boredom, brings existing theories of boredom into dialogue with one another, and suggests specific directions for future research on boredom and attention.
© The Author(s) 2012.
Aside from test anxiety scales, measurement instruments assessing students’ achievement emotions are largely lacking. This article reports on the construction, reliability, internal validity, and external validity of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) which is designed to assess various achievement emotions experienced by students in academic settings. The instrument contains 24 scales measuring enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom during class, while studying, and when taking tests and exams. Scale construction used a rational–empirical strategy based on Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions and prior exploratory research. The instrument was tested in a study using a sample of university students (N = 389). Findings indicate that the scales are reliable, internally valid as demonstrated by confirmatory factor analysis, and externally valid in terms of relationships with students’ control-value appraisals, learning, and academic performance. The results provide further support for the control-value theory and help to elucidate the structure and role of emotions in educational settings. Directions for future research and implications for educational practice are discussed.Research highlights► First comprehensive instrument measuring students’ multiple achievement emotions. ► Findings corroborate Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions. ► Need to differentiate between various discrete emotions. ► Achievement emotions linked to motivation, strategies, self-regulation, performance.
This study examined creativity, age and gender as predictors of academic achievement. Participants (N= 153, 105 = male & 48= female) completed creativity test. Cumulative grade point average (CGPA) was used to select the participants. A multiple regression analysis revealed creativity, age and gender explained 0.143 of the variance in academic achievement. The significance level was indicated by the F-value of 8.294. Multiple regression analysis showed interaction effects between creativity, age and gender as low predictors of academic achievement. The findings also show a lower correlation of CGPA and the independent variables of this study. No significant difference between CGPA and gender was observed. However implications of the findings to investigate in creativity, age and gender are discussed. [Journal of American Science 2009;5(5):101-112]. (ISSN: 1545-1003).
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.
Psychological capital (PsyCap), the resource that responds to developing an individual’s positive psychological capacities, is positively related to academic behaviours, achievement emotions, and academic resource. However, the domain-specificity of the PsyCap scale and the prediction of PsyCap resources have not been examined in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, especially in China. This study aims to conceptualise EFL PsyCap, develops its corresponding measurement, and explore how EFL PsyCap resources were associated with EFL-related achievement emotions, academic engagement, and EFL performance. Item-level analyses, internal consistency analyses, and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to assess the reliability and validity of the EFL PsyCap scale in a sample of 1,396 Chinese EFL learners. Furthermore, structural equation modelling analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between EFL PsyCap resources, achievement emotions, academic engagement, and EFL performance after controlling for gender and age. Results showed that the 16-item EFL PsyCap scale retains excellent psychometric properties and EFL PsyCap is a hierarchical construct underpinned by its four first-order components of optimism, hope, resilience, and self-efficacy. Additionally, EFL PsyCap resources positively predicted academic enjoyment, behavioural engagement, and EFL performance and negatively predicted academic boredom and anxiety.
Reading ability has had a prominent role in English language education in Taiwan. The comprehension of materials and teacher instruction in English depends on students' English proficiency, and their achievement emotions regarding competence-related activities may influence how they read and complete tasks in English. This study aims to investigate the mediating role of positive and negative achievement emotions in the relationship between instructional clarity, English proficiency, and reading strategies. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 640 university students in Taiwan. The findings corroborated control-value theory. The structural model revealed that the participants' use of reading strategies was strongly influenced by teachers' instructional clarity and students' English reading proficiency. Only positive emotions mediated the relation between instructional clarity, English proficiency, and reading strategies. Negative emotions, though correlated with the two predictors and the reading strategies , did not mediate the relationship between them.
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DPXMC4KSBRHHWGKDY64A/full?target=10.1080/01443410.2021.1882660
This classroom-based study investigated the antecedents of boredom among Thai university students enrolled in an English oral communication course. The primary data collection tool was a whole-class survey (n = 25) eliciting the learners’ boredom experiences in a particular class over the course of seven weeks. Concurrently, focus group interviews (n = 5) were conducted five times to gain in-depth views about boredom and its antecedents in the L2 learning context in general, as well as the learners’ boredom experiences in the class. A modified version of constant comparative analysis of the survey data yielded nine thematic factors as the antecedents of boredom, which were supported by the interview findings. Activity mismatch, lack of comprehension, insufficient L2 knowledge/ability, task difficulty, input overload, and lack of ideas were shown to create conditions under which internal learner factors and external classroom factors were ill-balanced or mismatched, resulting in the emergence of boredom. Learners’ physical fatigue, unfavorable appraisals of classroom tasks, and negative behaviors of classmates were also identified as the antecedents of boredom. Adopting a situated approach to exploring L2 learners’ boredom, this study sheds light on the situated, context-dependent view of how and why learners experience boredom through an emic perspective.
This review and synthesis of relevant literature considers the nature of boredom and boredom proneness in general terms before focusing on how the academic boredom experienced by undergraduates at university is sufficiently different from other known types to warrant a unique and important field of study. Derived from within the literature itself, academic boredom is commonly presented as a largely negative and deactivating achievement-related emotion known to impact usually adversely on student engagement and performance. Tracing traditional as well as contemporary views from within psychology, which has tended to dominate the field, findings that remain largely quantitative and highly statistical in nature are exemplified alongside the more exploratory but mixed-methods and educational work recently conducted in the UK. A comparison of the questionnaire-based self-report instruments frequently used in data collection is also included. Rooted largely within Control-Value Theory, the implications associated with academic boredom are far from trivial, particularly with respect to understanding sites and triggers, how students respond and cope and how the overall quality of the student experience might be improved. Limitations in the work undertaken to date draw attention to opportunities for further educational and interdisciplinary research.
This study investigates the role of biological age and L2 exposure on the achievement of two groups of Catalan-Spanish intermediate learners of English in secondary school (Group A, Formal Instruction (FI), N = 50; Group B, FI + CLIL, N = 50) regarding receptive and productive L2 skills as well as grammatical knowledge. Learners were matched for hours of exposure (1.330–1.400) in a first comparison, and secondly, for age (13–14 years old). When matched for number of hours of exposure, results confirmed the older learners’ advantage in FL contexts, as non-CLIL students (2 years older) significantly outperformed CLIL learners in listening comprehension and in two measures of writing: accuracy and coordination index. When matched for age, the group with extra L2 exposure (FI + CLIL) was significantly better than the non-CLIL group in reading comprehension and in several dimensions of writing: lexical richness, linguistic and communicative competence. These findings illustrate the language learning potential of a partial CLIL programme in an EFL context. A threshold of 300 CLIL hours may need to be surpassed for CLIL learners to reap the benefits of additional exposure across L2 skills.
The present study investigated the contributions of an overall personality taxonomy (HEXACO) and boredom proneness to creativity and curiosity. Past research has indicated that creativity and curiosity are related processes that are informed by personality variables. Prior, largely theoretical, work also suggests that the tendency to experience boredom may be linked to creativity and curiosity. In the present study, hierarchical multiple regressions were used to evaluate the role of personality and boredom proneness in the prediction of creativity and curiosity. The results confirmed the importance of personality (especially Openness to Experience) as an important predictor of creativity and curiosity. Furthermore, we found that boredom proneness was a positive predictor of curiosity in several forms once its shared variance with overall personality structure was partialled out. In addition, while the literature has found that boredom as a state triggers creativity, the results of this study indicate that boredom as a personality trait is not predictive of creativity. These findings suggest several interesting possibilities. Of note, if its inhibited qualities could be overcome, boredom proneness might be able to play a positive role in curiosity.
Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.
Under what conditions does a collective strategy exist among organizational members? Where should a scholar look for one? To offer one way to start solving these puzzles I propose a view of organizational strategy as a language game that governs the use of strategy labels at the level of the organization. Organizational strategy exhibits a division of linguistic labour, where responsibility for key concepts is assigned to particular individuals or organizational functions. Such linguistic experts oversee the proper use and maintenance of strategy language. The language-based view helps to understand linkages between institutional, network, organizational, and micro level views on strategy. It also problematizes widely held intuitions regarding the relationship between strategy and organizational outcomes.
Learning strategies can be defined as behaviors and thoughts in which a learner engages and which are intended to influence the learner's encoding process. Thus, the goal of any particular learning strategy may be to affect the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge. Good teaching includes teaching students how to learn, remember, think, and motivate themselves. Teachers enter the classroom with two distinctly different kinds of goals which are teaching students "what" to learn and teaching students "how" to learn. Some major categories of learning strategies are: (1) rehearsal strategies such as copying, underlining, or shadowing; (2) elaboration strategies such as paraphrasing or summarizing; (3) organizational strategies such as outlining or creating a hierarchy; (4) comprehension monitoring strategies such as checking for comprehension failures; and (5) affective strategies such as being alert and relaxed. Many current approaches to classroom learning emphasize the role of the learner in creating, monitoring, and controlling a suitable learning environment. Learning strategies research, by providing strong evidence that these learning strategies can be taught, is creating a useful data base from which applications can and will be derived. (EM)
Academic emotions have largely been neglected by educational psychology, with the exception of test anxiety. In 5 qualitative studies, it was found that students experience a rich diversity of emotions in academic settings. Anxiety was reported most often, but overall, positive emotions were described no less frequently than negative emotions. Based on the studies in this article, taxonomies of different academic emotions and a self-report instrument measuring students' enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom (Academic Emotions Questionnaire [AEQ]) were developed. Using the AEQ, assumptions of a cognitive-motivational model of the achievement effects of emotions, and of a control/value theory of their antecedents (Pekrun, 1992b, 2000), were tested in 7 cross-sectional, 3 longitudinal, and 1 diary study using samples of university and school students. Results showed that academic emotions are significantly related to students' motivation, learning strategies, cognitive resources, self-regulation, and academic achievement, as well as to personality and classroom antecedents. The findings indicate that affective research in educational psychology should acknowledge emotional diversity in academic settings by addressing the full range of emotions experienced by students at school and university.
Two Monte Carlo studies were conducted to examine the sensitivity of goodness of fit indexes to lack of measurement invariance at 3 commonly tested levels: factor loadings, intercepts, and residual variances. Standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) appears to be more sensitive to lack of invariance in factor loadings than in intercepts or residual variances. Comparative fit index (CFI) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) appear to be equally sensitive to all 3 types of lack of invariance. The most intriguing finding is that changes in fit statistics are affected by the interaction between the pattern of invariance and the proportion of invariant items: when the pattern of lack of invariance is uniform, the relation is nonmonotonic, whereas when the pattern of lack of invariance is mixed, the relation is monotonic. Unequal sample sizes affect changes across all 3 levels of invariance: Changes are bigger when sample sizes are equal rather than when they are unequal. Cutoff points for testing invariance at different levels are recommended.
This chapter presents a brain-based model of adult learning and connects the model to practice.
The linkages of achievement-related boredom with students appraisals and performance outcomes were examined in a series of 5 exploratory, cross-sectional, and predictive investigations. Studies 1 and 2 assessed students boredom in a single achievement episode (i.e., state achievement boredom); Studies 3, 4, and 5 focused on their habitual boredom (i.e., trait achievement boredom). Samples consisted of university students from two different cultural contexts (North America and Germany). In line with hypotheses derived from Pekruns (2006) controlvalue theory of achievement emotions, achievementrelated subjective control and value negatively predicted boredom. In turn, boredom related positively to attention problems and negatively to intrinsic motivation, effort, use of elaboration strategies, selfregulation, and subsequent academic performance. Findings were consistent across different constructs (state vs. trait achievement boredom), methodologies (qualitative, cross-sectional, and predictive), and cultural contexts. The research is discussed with regard to the underdeveloped literature on achievement emotions.
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