The Influence of Emotions, Motivation and Habits in the Academic Performance of Primary Education Students in French as a Foreign Language

Abstract

Schools have traditionally focused on the cognitive development of students without paying attention to how emotions modulate the students’ psychological state and how this affects their academic performance. For that, the aim of this study is to determine the influence of emotions on the motivation of primary school students to learn French as a foreign language, and their influence on the adoption of adaptive habits and academic performance. For this purpose, the sample of participants consisted of 394 students who ranged in age from 10 to 13 years who answered three questionnaires on the study variables. Several statistical analyses were carried out that helped explain the causal relationships between the study variables and a predictive model hypothesized through structural equation modeling was created. The results revealed that positive emotion positively influenced academic motivation. At the same time, academic motivation was positively related to leisure habits related to French, and this was positively related to academic performance. In light of these results, the importance of attending to emotions in a foreign language class is highlighted, as well as the academic motivation of the students as it leads to adaptive behaviors and habits related to the learning of French.