Publications

The adaptation and validation of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Physical Education-Elementary School

Mehmet Ceylan, Kevser Ceylan, Oğuzhan Yoncalık

Journal: International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 2026
DOI: 10.21449/ijate.1730488

In brief

Young students feel enjoyment, anxiety and boredom in physical education, but few questionnaires suit their age. We adapted a brief questionnaire with visual support for third- and fourth-grade students and tested it with 772 children. It measured the three emotions reliably and as separate experiences. Measurement invariance was supported across gender. Across grades 3 and 4, configural, metric and scalar invariance were supported, while strict invariance was not fully supported.

Issue: Volume 13, issue 3, pp. 674–688
First online: 2 April 2026
Article type: Scale adaptation and validation
Access: Open access; CC BY 4.0
Themes: Achievement emotions; measurement and psychometrics

Cite Data and materials Use this measure

Summary drafted from the published article. Awaiting author approval.

Research question

Achievement emotions are emotions tied to learning activities and their outcomes. In physical education, enjoyment, anxiety and boredom relate to how motivated and engaged students are. Most questionnaires are written for older students.

We asked whether a short, visually supported questionnaire could measure these three emotions validly among elementary school students in PE.

What we did

We translated the questionnaire forward and back, asked experts to check that each item kept its meaning, pre-tested the items for clarity, and piloted the visual layout. We then examined its structure with confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modelling.

Participants: 772 students (388 girls)
Grades: 3 and 4
Schools: 6 public elementary schools
Sampling: Convenience sample, one province
Analyses: CFA, ESEM, multi-group CFA
Ethics: Kırıkkale University Ethics Committee

What we found

The data supported three separate factors: enjoyment, anxiety and boredom. Model fit was strong, and items loaded clearly on their own factor with few cross-loadings.
Reliability was satisfactory: Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω were above .70.
Composite reliability exceeded .70 for all three factors. Average variance extracted was .452 for enjoyment, .566 for anxiety and .469 for boredom, so only anxiety reached the conventional .50 threshold. Discriminant validity among the three emotions was supported.
Measurement invariance was supported across gender. Across grades 3 and 4, configural, metric and scalar invariance were supported; strict invariance was not fully supported.

Why it matters

For teachers

A short questionnaire with pictures lets teachers check how young students feel in PE lessons without a long, text-heavy survey.

For researchers

Scalar invariance across grades 3 and 4 supports comparing average levels of each emotion between these two grades.

What this study does not show

Students came from schools in a single province and were recruited as a convenience sample, so the results may not apply to other regions. All data came from students’ own reports. The study did not test external validity, such as links with other measures or outcomes. The questionnaire covers only enjoyment, anxiety and boredom, so it does not capture other emotions such as pride or shame.

Cite this paper

Ceylan, M., Ceylan, K., & Yoncalık, O. (2026). The adaptation and validation of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Physical Education-Elementary School. International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 13(3), 674–688. https://doi.org/10.21449/ijate.1730488

BibTeX

@article{ceylan2026aeqpees,
  author  = {Ceylan, Mehmet and Ceylan, Kevser and Yoncalık, Oğuzhan},
  title   = {The adaptation and validation of the {Achievement Emotions
             Questionnaire for Physical Education-Elementary School}},
  journal = {International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education},
  year    = {2026},
  volume  = {13},
  number  = {3},
  pages   = {674--688},
  doi     = {10.21449/ijate.1730488}
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ceylan, Mehmet
AU  - Ceylan, Kevser
AU  - Yoncalık, Oğuzhan
TI  - The adaptation and validation of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Physical Education-Elementary School
JO  - International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education
PY  - 2026
VL  - 13
IS  - 3
SP  - 674
EP  - 688
DO  - 10.21449/ijate.1730488
ER  -

Data and materials

Data, codebook and analysis outputs on OSFPublicly available, as stated in the article’s data-availability statement
Use the AEQ-PE-ES in Appendix 1 of the published articleThe complete instrument and visual response format are included in the open-access article under CC BY 4.0. Please cite the publication when using or adapting it.
The article is open access under CC BY 4.0 at the journal website. No PDF is hosted on this site.

Adaptation of the achievement emotions questionnaire for physical education (AEQ-PE) to the Turkish languageCeylan, M., & Karlı, Ü. (2024). Journal of Sport Sciences Research, 9(2), 132–148.