Math Anxiety and Academic Performance

An Action Research Presented to the Faculty

of Philippine Women's College of Davao

Davao City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

Leading o the Degree of

Bachelor of Secondary Education

Major in Mathematics

Julgin S. Senajonon
Researcher

December, 2013
Chapter 1

1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

Statement of the Problem

Hypothesis

Theoretical Framework

Conceptual Framework

Scope and Limitations of the Study

Significance of the Study

Definition of Terms

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE/ STUDIES

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Method

Research Local

Research Respondents

Research Instruments

Data Gathering Procedures

Statistical Tools

4. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

5. SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

LIST OF TABLES
 Chapter 1

The Problem and Its Setting

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, there has been an increasing recognition that mathematics

anxiety plays an important role in students’ learning of mathematics and thus

mathematics anxiety has gained heightened awareness by mathematics educators as

an important factor in the teaching of mathematics (Bursal & Paznokas, 2006; Thomas

& Higbee, 1999; McLeod, 1988; Singh, Granville, & Dika, 2002; Sloan, Daane, &

Geisen, 2002; Vinson, 2001; Zettle & Raines, 2002.

The attitude of students also affect to the student's performance. In the field of

mathematics education, research on attitude has been motivated by the belief that

'something called "attitude" plays a crucial role in learning mathematics’ (Neale, 1969).

The fear of Math or math-anxiety has been common. Anxiety as defined by (Noting,

2006) is stress, tension and strain brought into one’s body and mind. It can be of two

types-somantic that involves the loss of control of the body, having sweaty palms, pain

in the neck or sick to the stomach, which involves loss of concentration, having negative

self-talk, feelings of doubt or mind wanders from test .It is accompanied by feeling of

helplessness because the anxious person feels blocked, unable to find a solution to his

problem. Further, Tobias (1993) defines mathematics anxiety as feelings of tension and

anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical

problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations and can cause one to

forget and loose one’s self-confidence.

 In international setting there exists a crisis in mathematics education in South

Africa. Central to economic prosperity is that a numerically literate citizenry be able to

engage, manipulate, and understand mathematics as it constitutes an indispensable

facet of our daily lives (Adler, Brombacher & Shan 2000 ). City Press (2012) reports that

one in six Grade 12 mathematics learners scored less than 10% in the subject

Mathematics in 2011. There has also been a massive decline in the number of learners

enrolling for mathematics in recent years. For example, 300,000 learners wrote the

mathematics paper in 2008, compared to only 225,000 in 2011. Many South Africans

involved 268 South African Journal of Education, Volume 32(3), August 2012 in

education and business view the decline in passes and enrollments in scarce or

gateway subjects as a worrying trend.

In the Philippine concept, as cited in a research conducted by Cabahug and

Ladot (2005), the University of the Philippines’ greatest failure is in mathematics. It is

also said that repetition in mathematics is common among UP students that most one

out of three repeat a mathematics course. Cabahug and Ladot (2005) also said that the

faculty of the UP Cebu Natural Science and Mathematics Division or NSMD have felt

the declining performance of students in basic mathematics. It is also stated that the

attitude towards mathematics and achievement in mathematics have always been a

factor Fullarton (1993) as cited in Cabahug and Ladot (2005), stated that poor attitude

towards mathematics is often being said as one of the contributing factors to lower

participation and less success in the courses. Neale(1969) still cited in Cabahug and

Ladot (2005), said that the attitude towards mathematics affects performance as

performance in turn affects attitudes.

Statement of the Problem

This study sought to determine the relationship between math anxiety and.

academic performance of the students.

This study focus to answer the following questions.

1. What is the level of math anxiety of the students in terms of?

1.1 environmental factors

1.2 intellectual factors

1.3 personal factors

2. How does math anxiety affect the academic performance of the students?

3. What is the relationship of student's attitude of mathematics towards their

performance?

Hypothesis

The null hypotheses of this study were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

Ho. There is no significant relationship between the student's attitude to their academic

performance.

Ha. There is a significant relationship between the student's attitude to their academic

performance.

Theoretical Framework

This study is related to the work as cited by Effandi Zakaria et al. (2012) in

their study that according to Sherman and Wither (2003), a five-year study conducted

on students from the age of 6 to the age of 10 revealed that the level of mathematics
anxiety in students is strongly related to student achievement. This is supported by

studies by Elenchothy (2007), which showed an inverse relationship between

mathematics anxiety and student achievement. His findings were based on the results

of Lower Secondary Assessments (PMR) for students in the district of Klang, Malaysia.

This inverse relationship means that students with high mathematics anxiety will realize

low achievement in mathematics. The results conform to the findings of Khatoon and

Mahmood (2010); Yuksel-Şahin (2008) and Satake and Amato (1995). Students will

often feel worried, tired and afraid or feel that mathematics is not important and will

generally refuse to learn mathematics, even though it is the primary gateway to

engineering, science and technology. According to Arem (2009), students with high

mathematics anxiety levels engage in negative thinking about their self-ability. These

students will exhibit less confidence in working with numbers and mathematical

concepts through a problem-solving process. Zakaria (1997) also explained that

students with high performance levels in mathematics have a positive attitude toward

mathematics. This is in line with several researchers who reported that teachers’ interest

and self-confidence play an important role in student success. A student who has a

deep interest can be encouraged to work and train without being asked by the teacher.

Interest and confidence in this aspect are very important in learning to reduce anxiety in

mathematics and eventually being able to obtain good results on examinations.

Conceptual Framework

The framework of this study is based on the study as cited in the Master Thesis

of by HİLAL KURUM, 2012. As stated in Figure 1 the Independent Variable is the Math

Anxiety while the Dependent Variable refers to the student’s performance in terms of the
student's grades in the subject of Mathematics.. The Independent variable had three

indicators influenced the dependent variable. The indicators are environmental,

intellectual and personal factors that causes Math Anxiety.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

 environmental factors

 intellectual factors  Students grades

 and personal factors

Figure 1 Shows the Schematic Diagram of the Study

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study focuses on the level of student's math anxiety and it's

relationship to the students performance in mathematics. The respondents of this study

are the students enrolled at the Philippine Women's College of Davao under the Sunday

High School Program. All students of the Grade 7 were the respondents with the total

population of

Significance of the Study

The result of this study is very significant to the following persons:

Administration. This study will benefit the administration for having a basis for the

future implementations or guidelines of programs that will help the situations of students

having math anxiety.

Teachers. For the teacher's to be aware that there are some situations like math

anxiety to their students for them to have an idea and understand the situations of some

students.

Students. To be inform that there are some factors to be considered in having this kind

of situation.

Parents. For parents to be aware also that as a parent they will help their

sons/daughters having this kind of situations and they can help through continuous

support.
Definition of Terms.

Math-anxiety- in this study math anxiety refers to the conditions of the students who
are afraid to the subject of mathematics.

Academic performance- refers to the student's grades in terms of their quizzes and
examinations.
 Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE/ STUDIES

This section presents the different ideas, precepts and concepts of the different

authors that are relevant to this study.

Math anxiety has been an interest of many experts because they want to find out

the factors that triggers this situations. Tobias (1978) described it as "sudden death" (p.

46), but Kogelman and Warren (1979) say it is an adverse reaction to mathematics,

while Byrd (1982) says it is any situation when one experiences anxiety "when

confronted with mathematics in any way” which includes the three main factors:

environmental, intellectual and personality variables.

Environmental factors include classroom issues, parental pressure and the perception

of mathematics as a rigid set of rules. However, Suggate, Davis and Goulding

(1998:X)suggest a lack of enjoyment in students of mathematics who are mentally

scared by past experiences of failure with teachers’ expectations set too high (Haylock,

2003). Likewise, Brady and Bowd (2005) provide evidence of students being expected

to understand after brief explanations of concepts, and even teachers embarrassing

students causes math-anxiety. Haylock (2003) provides evidence of the negative effect

of the teacher’s response failure to understand on the part of the learner. Another

identified concern is the feeling of ‘being found out’ by someone judgmental and ‘in

authority’ (Buxton, 1981), with teachers always seen as correct and students accepting

blame for not understanding. Brady and Bowd (2005) describe hostility, impatience and

insensitivity in mathematics teachers that added to mathematics anxiety.While, Rossnan

(2006) emphasized that math anxiety could develop as a result of a student’s prior

negative experiences learning mathematics in theclassroom or at home. Furthermore,

most observed failures and substandard performance in mathematics are due to

insufficient teaching-learning environment (Reusser, 2000). Other studies such as those

of Faust,Ashcraft and Fleck (1996), Ashcraft (2002), Aschraft and Kirk (2001), and

Brady and Bowd (2005) defined math-anxiety as a form of state anxiety as it is

manifested in certain situations. The range of descriptions mentioned above comes

about because maths anxiety is a broad term used by many individuals to cover a wide

range of observed characteristics in students. For example, some use it to describe the

supposed cause of physiological symptoms when encountering maths, such as sweaty

palms, nausea, heart palpitations, a hot tingling feeling, stomachaches or stomach

cramps, and/or tightening muscles (Godbey, 1997; Perry, 2004). Others use this term to

classify the psychological symptoms that manifest themselves in situations involving

mathematical tasks.

Intellectual variables include a mismatch of learning styles and self-doubt.

Mathematics done at speed is revealed as a negative past school experience (Buxton,

1981) alongside the need for accuracy and showing neat working out (Cockcroft, 1982).

Personality factors include a reluctance to ask questions in class and low self-esteem.

According to Cockcroft (1982) Once attitudes have been formed, they can be very

persistent and difficult to change. Chinn (2008) argues that the advantage of this

tripartite model is that it considers several, often inter-related factors. However, besides

parents, other individuals who either contribute to or are experiencing mathematics

anxiety are not clearly stated. A further classification by Baloglu and Kocak (2006) cite
three anchors of mathematics anxiety, namely: dispositional, situational, and

environmental. In addition to Hadfield and McNeil’s elements of the environmental

variable, Baloglu and Kocak view the elements thereof as issues that affect learners

prior to their mathematical engagements; these include age, gender, academic subjects,

and previous mathematics experience. The dispositional anchor deals with

psychological and emotional features such as attitudes towards mathematics, self-

concept, and learning styles. The self- concept refers to the learners’ perception of their

own ability to perform well in mathematics and to learn new topics. The situational

anchor refers to direct features that result from the The developers of the MARS (Math

Anxiety Rating Scale) say it "involves feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with

the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety

of ordinary and academic situations" Richardson and Suinn, 1972, p.551). However

according (Newstead, 1995) stated that is not easy task to determine the causes of

math anxiety, where and how it begins and grows. There is some lack of agreement

about the possible causes of mathematics anxiety in children . In his studies the

possible causes include teacher anxiety, societal, educational or environmental factors,

innate characteristics of mathematics, failure and the influence of preschool experiences

of mathematics. Beginnings of anxiety can often be traced to negative classroom

experiences seems particularly strong and well documented (Tobias, 1978; Stodolsky,

1985). In assessment and evaluation system also there is a tendency to develop a

negative attitude to the students‟ minds.

Results reveal that there still exists mathematics anxiety among secondary school

students. However, gender-related factors do not influence mathematics anxiety. This

study also shows that there is a difference in mathematics achievement of students

based on their level of mathematics anxiety. Therefore, teachers should strive to

understand mathematics anxiety and implement teaching and learning strategies so that

students can overcome their anxiety. Yuksel-Şahin (2008) suggests that teachers should

be positive and supportive and should also employ teaching methods that empower

students to develop healthy attitudes toward mathematics. In addition, Smith (2004)

suggests that teachers demonstrate their own interest in mathematics in order to raise

students’ motivation in mathematics as a means of helping students reduce their math

anxiety. Thus, this study has implications for all parties, including teachers, schools and

parents, encouraging those with a vested interest in the success of their students to

take into account math anxiety levels before determining effective and appropriate

strategies when teaching and learning is carried out. In this way, it is hoped that the

level of mathematics anxiety can be reduced.

Mathematics anxiety and academic performance

The learning of mathematics is affected by the confidence of learners in their

mathematical abilities and the attitudes,beliefs, and feelings they harbor towards

mathematics (Coben, 2003). Their conceptions of the subject and theirperceptions of

themselves and of their relationship to mathematics lie at the heart of their mathematics

learning behaviour (Philippou & Christou, 1998).It is generally accepted that teachers

impact learners in many ways. Levine (2008) found that teachers with mathematics

anxiety emphasize rule-based strategies and treat mathematics as an arbitrary

collection of facts, perhaps to promote an illusion of their expertise and disciplinary

power to students. Furthermore, there is often limited classroom interaction, resulting in

students’ questions not being asked or answered, and knowledge presented as limited

and confusing. Frequently, these teaching strategies perpetrate and perpetuate

mathematics anxiety in learners. Mathematics anxiety has been found to relate to

mathematics performance of learners (Zakaria & Nordin, 2008; Karimi & Venkatesan,

2009). Mathematics anxiety has been found to decrease the efficiency of an individual’s

working memory because intrusive thoughts and worries take the focus away from the

mathematics tasks at hand. This makes it difficult for individuals to think logically and

results in increased errors and longer processing times when solving problems

mentally. In the long-term, mathematics anxiety leads to decreased competence,

reduced completion rates and lower academic performance in the subject (Ho,

Senturk,Lam, Zimmer, Hong, Okamoto & Chiu, 2000). Ho et al. (2000) found that

learners with higher levels of mathematics anxiety tend to have lower levels of

performance in mathematics, suggesting the existence of a negative correlation

between mathematics anxiety and performance. Mathematics anxiety can influence

students’ mathematical performance physically by affecting memory (Kogelman and

Warren, 1978) and creating nervousness and an inability to concentrate (Tobias, 1978).

Cockcroft (1982) found people developing coping strategies for everyday life, and Brady

and Bowd (2005) describe people avoiding mathematics where possible.

Other study by Tapia (2004) and Zakaria and Nordin (2008) reported that

learners having little or no mathematics anxiety scored significantly higher in motivation

than learners with some or higher anxiety. One of the factors attributable to

mathematics anxiety is a lack of confidence, which often leads to decreased motivation.

According to Edelmuth (2006), and Kesici and Erdoðan (2004; 2009) learners with
mathematics anxiety will often perceive their skills in mathematics as less than those in

other subjects and will not enjoy mathematics or will not have the desire to master it.

Motivation is another factor that may play a significant role in the experience of

mathematics anxiety. Linnenbrink and Pintrich (2002) define motivation as an academic

enabler. Pintrich (2004) further stresses the importance of motivational beliefs in the

learning process. Learners’ effective learning is positively related to their motivational

beliefs.

On the other hand, According to Arem (2009), mathematics anxiety is an

emotional, mental and physical act related to the mathematical thinking and problem-

solving process and resulting from uncomfortable past experiences related to

mathematics. Feelings and experiences like this will further affect a student’s ability to

learn mathematics. Based on the study, students who have experienced disappointment

in their mathematical abilities will have difficulty believing in their abilities in the future.

Arem (2009) found that contributing factors to mathematics anxiety are bitter

experiences in mathematics, social pressure and the expectation to achieve

outstanding results, the desire to excel, myths about the study of math, societal gender

stereotypes and negative self-talk. These factors give rise to feelings of deep shame for

the student experiencing mathematics anxiety in the classroom setting.

 Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the discussions of research method. Research locale, research

respondents, research instruments, data gathering procedure and statistical tools.

Research Method

This study used the descriptive-correlation method. This method according to

(Fraenkel 2003) determines the relationship among two or more variables and seeks to

investigate the extent to which one or more relationship of type exists.

Research Locale

This study was conducted in Davao City. Davao Is known to be the largest city in

the world in terms of land areas with 2,443.61 square kilometers. The ever famous

Mount Apo, famed to be the 2nd highest peak in the world, where lots of hikers and

trekkers found it to be their favorite destination. and the Durian fruit, many said it smells

like hell but tastes like heaven. Davao was formally inaugurated as a chartered city on

October 16, 1936, by President Manuel L. Quezon. The City of Davao then became the

Provincial capital of the then undivided Davao Province. Davao officially became a city

in 1937. Specifically the study was done at the Philippine Women's College of Davao

located at University Avenue,Juna Subdivision, Matina, Davao City. The school was

founded in 1953 by the late Dr. Conrado Benitez and Dr. Francisca Tirona Benitez. The

school campus sits on a 7-hectare property along University Avenue inside the Juna

Subdivision in Matina, Davao City. It is a regional school of the Philippine Women's

University in Taft Avenue, Manila and operates under the PWU Systems.
Research Respondents.

The respondents of this study were all the students in Grade 7enrolled in the

Philippine Women’s College under the in the Sunday High School Program

Research Instruments

The research instruments use in gathering data is through questionnaire.

:

Necatibey Eğitim Fakültesi Elektronik Fen ve Matematik Eğitimi Dergisi (EFMED) Cilt
5, Sayı1, Haziran 2011, sayfa 163-180. Necatibey Faculty of Education Electronic
Journal of Science and Mathematics Education Vol. 5, Issue 1, June 2011, pp. 163-
180.

Revised Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis Ahmet

AKIN, N. İzzet KURBANOĞLU and Mithat TAKUNYACI*
Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey
Received: 25 10 2010 Accepted: 24.04.2011

http://www.nef.balikesir.edu.tr/~dergi/makaleler/yayinda/10/EFMED_MTE155.pdf