The relationship between emotional interaction and learning engagement in online collaborative learning: Moderated mediating effect

• Published in: Psychology in the schools 2024-04, Vol.61 (4), p.1549-1564
• Main Authors: Wang, Wei, Wang, Xiaoying, Li, Shanshan, Ma, Tianshu, Poni Liu, M. N., Sun, Hongzhi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collaborative learning; College students; Emotional experiences; emotional interaction; learning engagement; Loneliness; Measures; moderated mediating effect; Negative events; online collaborative learning; positive rumination; Rumination; Teachers
• ISSN: 0033-3085; 1520-6807
• DOI: 10.1002/pits.23125

The prevalence of collaborative learning in online virtual environments is on the rise. It is vital to investigate the effect of emotional interaction on the learning engagement of students. The university students who participated in 16 h of online collaborative learning responded to an anonymous survey. The instruments included Collaborative Learning Emotional Interaction Scale, Loneliness Scale, Positive and Negative Rumination Scale, and Learning Engagement Scale. The mediating and moderating roles of variables were tested. Both positive and negative emotional interactions in online collaborative learning positively predicted learning engagement. Positive emotional interaction can inversely predict loneliness, while negative emotional interaction has a positive effect on loneliness. Loneliness inversely predicts learning engagement. In the low level of positive rumination, loneliness has a significant inhibitory effect on learning engagement, and the effect is much greater than that in the high level of positive rumination. In online collaborative learning, loneliness mediates the effect of learners' emotional interaction on learning engagement. The level of positive rumination moderated the connection between loneliness and learning engagement, the second part of the mediation model. We can begin by increasing learners' positive rumination and reducing the detrimental impact of negative emotional interaction and isolation on learning engagement in online collaborative learning. Practitioner Points In online collaborative learning, both short‐term positive and negative emotional interactions promoted learning engagement. It was not recommended that teachers categorically stop negative emotional interactions between learners. It was recommended that teachers pay attention to learners' loneliness in online collaborative learning, which was induced by negative emotional interactions and undermines learning engagement. Teachers could mitigate the damage to learning engagement caused by emotional events brought about by negative emotional interactions in online collaborative learning by increasing learners' levels of positive ruminative thinking.