The impact of Academic Emotions and motivation on Academic Performance of undergraduate science students

Abstract

Background: The success rate of undergraduate science students depends on identifying the characteristics that boost academic performance. The goal was to understand if there is a link between undergraduate science students' emotions, motivation, and academic achievement.

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to determine the link between student’s academic feelings, their motivation level and their academic performance.

Methodology: A descriptive-correlative study was done from July 1st, 2021 to August 1st, 2021, among undergraduate science students at Malir University of Science and Technology. The data was collected using a 75-item academic emotions questionnaire (AEQ) and a 30-item work preference inventory version for college student. Cronbach's alpha varied from 0.80 to 0.91 for the 8 types of academic emotions, and 0.94 and 0.95 for intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, respectively. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the data. For all eight types of emotions, however, mean and standard deviation were calculated.

Results: A total of 27 students filled the online survey questionnaires. Out of 27, 59.3% were females while 40.7% were males. The students’ age ranged from 19 to 25. Greater levels of positive emotions (hope, pride and enjoyment) were found to be associated with higher levels of academic performance (p0.01). Academic performance was negatively connected with negative emotions such as hopelessness, anger, boredom anxiety and shame.

Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that motivation and pleasant emotions play a critical role in improving undergraduate science students' academic performance.