Affective Processes in Learning

Education

In the last decade the role of emotions in education seems to have been rediscovered (Maehr, 2001). Affective processes are now recognised as playing an important role in learning. Students’ emotions, such as, enjoyment, boredom, pride, and anxiety are seen to affect achievement by influencing the student’s involvement and attitude towards learning and learning environments, which also affects how (intensively) students process and/or interpret information (for a discussion see e.g., Boekaerts, 2003; Boekaerts & Simons, 1995; Pekrun, 2005; Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002). This (renewed) attention for affect is the result of several developments. A first development is the change from teacher-directed to learner-centred approaches in education, which often involve giving more responsibility for and control over the learning process to the learners.