Academic Emotional Learning: A Critical Component of Self-Regulated Learning in the Emotional Learning Cycle

Abstract

The aim of this article is to map the academic emotional learning cycle from a theoretical and practical perspective through the lens of self-regulated learning. Focusing on the learner, a further iteration of the emotional dimension of the integrated self-regulated learning model is articulated by considering within-individual components (i.e., the intraindividual system). Academic emotions are considered an important component of learning that, along with intellectual behavioral-cognitive goals, should be explicit targets of learning. An emotional learning cycle is presented, according to which broader affective inclinations––the expectation to experience certain affect or emotion––shape the relations between emotions and self-regulated emotions that occur during a learning episode. Strategies for self-regulated emotions are outlined in light of the need for more research in this field, along with proposed future directions for research and educational implications.

Acknowledgment

I gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers and editor for their close read of the manuscript and for their invaluable feedback and insights.

Notes

1 Task value is different from Pekrun’s (2006) definition of value, which includes emotional valence; it is defined “with respect to the qualities of different tasks and how those qualities influence the individual’s desire to do the task” (Wigfield, Tonks, & Klauda, 2009, p. 57).

2 The Stroop test was originally developed to measure selective attention by asking participants to name a color or read a color word from incongruent stimuli. For example, the word white in black print is an incongruent stimulus, whereas the word gray in a gray font is a congruent stimulus. Naming the color of an incongruent stimulus takes longer than naming the color of a congruent stimulus or reading the word in both types of stimuli.