Students’ School Performance in Language and Mathematics: Effects of Hope on Attributions, Emotions and Performance Expectations

This study examined (a) students’ (n= 342, both genders, grades 5 and 6) attributions and emotions for theirsubjectively perceived school performance in language and mathematics as successful or unsuccessful, (b) therole of students’ hope (pathways thinking, agency thinking) in the: perceived performance in the above schoolsubjects as successful or unsuccessful, subsequent attributions and emotions, impact of attributions on emotions,and,in turn,interactive effect on performance expectations. The estimated as successful and unsuccessful schoolperformance was predominately attributed to stable and unstable (external in language) factors, respectively. Thestudents experienced intense positive and moderate negative emotions for the perceived successful andunsuccessful school performance, respectively. Hope (mainly, agency thinking) positively influenced theattributions (particularly, stability) and emotions (mainly, pathway thinking), and the impact of attributions onemotions, mainly in unsuccessful performance in mathematics. Hope, attributions and emotions had unique andcomplimentarily effect on performance expectations.