Students’ emotions and academic engagement: Introduction to the special issue

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the role of emotions in academic settings, especially in how emotions shape student engagement and learning. This special issue highlights new research in this area and aims to inspire others to join us in conducting empirical research on emotions in education. Using a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives, all contributions share a unique focus on the linkages between students’ emotions and their academic engagement. What is particularly important about this set of papers is their consideration of how and why student emotions emerge, how these emotions in turn shape students’ engagement and achievement, and the ways in which students can harness emotional resources for facilitating their engagement and achievement. In this introduction to the special issue, we briefly highlight each of the manuscripts and suggest several directions for future research.