Error-Handling and the Emotional Experiences of Beginning Teachers: Differential and Nonlinear Relationships

• In Event: The Role of Emotion in Teacher Learning and Instruction

Abstract

Not only students but also teachers make errors. For teachers, these errors are often associated with negative emotions. The research on the subject to date has not, however, explored the relationship between error orientation and emotional experiences in detail. Our study is intended to fill this gap. In it, we focus on potentially non-linear relationships between different emotions (anxiety, anger, guilt, sadness) and a learning-focused error orientation. Based on questionnaire data on 324 beginning teachers, our estimation of linear and quadratic effects using the latent moderated structural equations method revealed differential relationships between the various emotions and a learning-oriented error-handling profile (anger/anxiety: negative; guilt: positive, sadness: no association), as well as u-shaped associations relating to the intensity of anxiety.

Authors

• Anja Böhnke, Free University - Berlin

• Anabel Bach, Free University - Berlin

• Felicitas Thiel, Freie Universität Berlin