Students’ Emotions in Educational Assessment: Insights from Social Media Big Data

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Saturday 11:45 am
  In Poster Session: Global Perspectives on Classroom Assessment

Abstract

This study investigates the range and interaction of students’ emotions in educational assessments using large-scale social media data. Drawing on 17,883 Reddit posts by Singaporean students in the "r/SGExams" community, 7,237 emotionally salient posts were analyzed. Quantitative analysis revealed anxiety as the most prevalent emotion, frequently co-occurring with shame, hopelessness, and disappointment. Network analysis revealed positive emotions like hope, joy, and pride clustering in posts reflecting confidence or satisfaction. Hope emerged as a key emotional buffer, mitigating negative emotions when students felt supported. Relaxation, typically post-assessment, also appeared as an in-the-moment coping strategy. By combining quantitative network analysis and qualitative interpretive methods, this study highlights the complex emotional ecology of assessment and offers insights for educators to support emotional regulation.

Authors

• Amir Rasooli, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Farhan Ali, Nanyang Technological University - National Institute of Education

• Joenathan Halim, Nanyang Technological University