Toward More Enjoyment and Less Anxiety and Boredom: The Role of Teachers' Diagnostic Skills

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Wellness, Burnout, and Teaching: Relations to Motivation in Academic Contexts

Abstract

Students’ achievement emotions are critical in their academic development. Therefore teachers need to create an emotionally positive learning environment. In this light, the present study investigated the connection between students’ enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom and teachers’ diagnostic skills, the level of challenge in class, and classroom management, while controlling for students’ gender, self-concept, and achievement. Our sample comprised N = 1,803 eighth-grade students. Hierarchical models indicated that students experience more enjoyment and less anxiety and boredom if teachers exhibit better diagnostic skills. The role of teachers’ diagnostic skills in relation to students’ emotions was in part moderated by the level of challenge in class and students’ self-concept. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for effective teaching.

Authors

• Andrea Westphal, University of Potsdam, Germany

• Julia Kretschmann, Universität Potsdam

• Anna Gronostaj, Universität Potsdam

• Miriam Vock, Universitat Postdam