An Empirical Study Of In-service Teachers’ Achievement Emotions During Online Learning

Due to the development of web technology and the promotes of government policy, the number of teachers’ online professional development (oTPD) programs increased greatly in China during recent decade. Under this background, the quality of oTPD programs is becoming the key issue of concern for teacher educators. And the understanding of how in-service teachers learn in these programs is the key point of quality assurance.This study takes the perspective of "emotion", which is largely neglected in pervious studies, and explores the learning experience of in-service teachers in oTPD programs by answering four questions:(1) What emotions in-service teachers experienced during learning in oTPD programs? (2) As to in-service teachers learning, which emotion is beneficial and which emotion is disadvantageous? (3) Why in-service teachers experience beneficial and disadvantageous emotions? (4) How to improve in-service teachers’beneficial emotions and reduce in-service teachers’ disadvantageous emotions?This study takes achievement emotion, control-value theory as theoretical framework. Two oTPD programs (summer program, fall program) in City S are chose as research subjects. The study implies person-centered and variable-centered quantitative analysis to answer four questions in two sub-studies. Sub-study Ⅰ is a survey study, which explores what emotions in-service teachers experienced during online learning, the relationship of these emotions and learning, as well as the reasons of the arousal of these emotions. Sub-study Ⅱ is an experiment study. A "peer-feedback strategy" is designed and used in BBS activities according to the findings of sub-study Ⅰ. The effects of this strategy on in-service teachers’ emotions are then analyzed.Data analysis results show that (1) While learning in oTPD programs, in-service teachers experience multiple and even ambiguous emotions; (2) There are individual differences in the kinds and strengths of emotions in-service teachers experienced; (3) Different emotions result in significant differences in deep cognitive strategies and self-regulated strategy usage; (4) Both personal reasons and specific evens during learning cause the arousal of these emotions; (5) To some extent, the "peer-feedback strategy" improves in-service teachers’beneficial emotions and reduces in-service teachers’disadvantageous emotions; (6) As to different in-service teachers, the strategy has different influences on their emotions. A follow-up tri-discussion is used to understand these data results. By taking the perspectives of researcher, in-service teachers, teacher educators, the discussion acknowledges the results of two sub-studies. Besides, the discussion provides the reason why in-service teachers take these courses, how mature these in-service teachers are, the type of BBS discussion questions as additional reasons, which may influence in-service teachers’ emotional experience, as well as the effect of "peer-feedback strategy".In sum, this study reveals that in-service teachers’emotions, their reflects toward emotion regulation strategy are complex and personalized. Based on these conclutions and the limitations of this study, several implications to the practice of oTPD, directions and suggestions of further studies are provided at the end of this thesis.