Investigating Latent Interactions between Students’ Affective Cognition and Learning Performance: Meta-Analysis of Affective and Cognitive Factors

Abstract

Affective and cognitive factors play significant roles in influencing students’ learning performance. However, limited studies exist that examine the latent interactions between these factors and students’ learning performance. This study applied a meta-analytic approach to examine the relationships between affective and cognitive factors and students’ learning performance through the selected publications. We identified 18 affective and cognitive influencing factors related to student learning achievement/performance. It was found that academic performance was significantly impacted by learning scores, future aspirations and goals, peer support for learning, and family support for learning. A moderate impact was observed for cognitive benefits, skill development, self-regulation, values, knowledge, character, self-belief, attitudes and beliefs, affective benefits, motivation, optimism, and behavioral engagement. A weak influence was observed for control and relevance of schoolwork and self-efficacy. The discussion and limitations of this study have also been provided in the last sections.