The Joint predictive effects of Teachers’ Enjoyment, Anxiety, and Boredom on Students’ Enjoyment in Higher Education Settings

Abstract

The flourishing of positive psychology (PP) in education has shifted the focus to the crucial role of neglected emotions (e.g. enjoyment, boredom, hope). Yet, studies about how teachers’ emotions are combined and have joint effects in predicting students’ emotions are hardly available. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between student-perceived teacher enjoyment (PTE), anxiety (PTA), and boredom (PTB) and students’ self-reported enjoyment (SE). As such, how the three perceived teacher emotions jointly predict SE was also investigated. A total of 760 university students (Mage= 21.07, SD = 3.59), enrolled in a public university in Morocco, participated in this study through completing an anonymous questionnaire. Statistical analyses (correlation and regression) showed that PTE and PTB were found to be the only significant predictors of SE. They contributed uniquely and significantly to the overall model, which explained 9% (R2 = .9) of the variance in the outcome variable (SE). The effect of PTB was increased within the regression model compared to the independent effect. This is interpreted as a demonstration of the positive emotional crossover from teachers to students. Furthermore, PTA did not emerge as a significant predictor for SE. Implications for future research and educational practice are discussed.