A Study of Students’ Sense of Shame and Guilt Based on Teachers’ Emotions and Classroom Goal Structures: The Mediating Role of Teacher Feedback

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of teacher feedback in the relationship between students’ feelings of shame and guilt, on the one hand, and teachers’ emotions and the structure of classroom objectives, on the other hand. The statistical population of this study included all fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade elementary students and their teachers in Lamerd, Fars province, Iran. A total of 400 students and 37 teachers were selected using multistage cluster sampling. Teachers completed the Teacher Feedback and Emotion Questionnaire, and students completed Classroom Goal Structure Questionnaire and Emotional Awareness Scale for Children. Path analysis was used to investigate the causal relationships, and the data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS version 24. The results showed that among the teachers’ emotions, only happiness, love, and anger correlated with students’ shame, but none of the components of teachers’ emotions correlated with students’ guilt. While mastery goal structure had a negative relationship and performance-avoidance goal structure had a positive and significant relationship with students’ emotion, shame, and guilt, performance goal structure had no significant relationship with either students’ emotion, shame, or guilt. Performance goal structure had an effect on teacher feedback through the mediating role of shame. Furthermore, teachers’ fear, sadness, and love had a significant indirect effect on shame through the mediating role of teacher feedback. Based on the results, it is recommended that a contingency contract be used to create a mastery goal structure in the classroom. In addition, teachers’ feedback should be offered in a way that engages students in educational activities but does not trigger emotions or a sense of shame or guilt in them.