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Hindawi Publishing CorporationChild Development ResearchVolume 2012, Article ID 876028, 10 pagesdoi:10.1155/2012/876028Research ArticleAttitudes towards Mathematics: Effects of Individual,Motivational, and Social Support FactorsMaria de Lourdes Mata, Vera Monteiro, and Francisco PeixotoISPA, Instituto Universitário, UIPCDE, Rua Jardim do Tabaco 34, 1149-041 Lisboa, PortugalCorrespondence should be addressed to Maria de Lourdes Mata, lmata@ispa.ptReceived 11 May 2012; Revised 4 August 2012; Accepted 19 August 2012Academic Editor: Helga KrinzingerCopyright 2012 Maria de Lourdes Mata et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.This paper aims to understand how certain different but interrelated variables such as background, motivation, and social supportcould lead to an explanation of student attitudes towards math and to an understanding of the defining characteristics of theseattitudes in the school environment. Participants consisted of 1719 Portuguese students, from fifth-to-twelfth grade. The studyutilizes an adaptation of the “Intrinsic Motivation Inventory” assessing main determinants of intrinsic motivation. One section ofthe questionnaire—“In my Math Class”—also assesses student perceptions of teacher and peer support as well as student attitudes.The results revealed that, in general, students held positive attitudes towards mathematics and also highlighted the main effects ofgrade and math achievement on these attitudes. No gender effect was identified although the girls showed a continuous decline inattitudes the further they progressed in school. A hierarchical analysis using structural equation modeling showed that motivationrelated variables are the main predictors of attitudes towards mathematics and that teachers and the social support of peers arealso highly significant in understanding these attitudes.1. IntroductionProficiency in languages, science, and mathematics is seenas an essential precursor to success in modern society. InPortugal, recent guidelines, set by the Ministry of Educationregarding Mathematics and Portuguese Language curricula,tasks, evaluation, and workload, reflect this concern asthese subjects are cross-curricular and are used in dailylife. Comparative international evaluations [1] revealed thatPortuguese students did not perform as well as expected,and that they underachieved in mathematics and languageswhen compared to students from other countries in theOECD. In mathematics, results showed that whilst there wasan improvement in mathematics performance by Portuguesestudents from 2003 to 2009, in 2009, on a scale of six levels,Portugal still has in the region of 25% of their students atlevel 2 or below [1].These results give impetus to the development of furtherresearch that seeks to characterize and understand differentvariables which may influence student performance. Thiswill help to make possible strategies for future action inschools, families, and communities, in order to bring aboutan improvement in the failure rate in math.The complexity of factors that can influence mathperformance is demonstrated by Singh, Granville, and Dika[2] when they show that high achievement in mathematics isa function of many interrelated variables related to students,families, and schools. Among student variables, attitudes areregarded by several researchers, as an important/key factorto be taken into account when attempting to understand andexplain variability in student performance in maths [3–6].Mobilizing a set of different definitions concerningattitudes presented since 1935, Eshun [7, page 2] definesan attitude towards mathematics as “a disposition towardsan aspect of mathematics that has been acquired by anindividual through his or her beliefs and experiences butwhich could be changed.” When emphasizing the importanceof individual experiences, the contexts where students interact with others and with mathematics become importantfocal points. Fraser and Kahle [8] have also highlighted thisaspect in research which shows that learning environmentsat home, at school, and within the peer group accounted for
2a significant amount of variance in student attitudes and,furthermore, that class ethos had a significant impact on thescores achieved by students for these attitudes.In addition, Mohamed and Waheed [5] when reviewing literature aimed at understanding attitudes and theinfluences on their development in relation to differencesbetween students, identified three groups of factors that playa vital role in influencing student attitudes: factors associatedwith the students themselves (e.g., mathematical achievement, anxiety, self-efficacy and self-concept, motivation, andexperiences at school); factors associated with the school,teacher, and teaching (e.g., teaching materials, classroommanagement, teacher knowledge, attitudes towards maths,guidance, beliefs); finally factors from the home environmentand society (e.g., educational background, parental expectations).Attitudes can be seen as more or less positive. A positiveattitude towards mathematics reflects a positive emotionaldisposition in relation to the subject and, in a similar way,a negative attitude towards mathematics relates to a negativeemotional disposition [9]. These emotional dispositions havean impact on an individual’s behavior, as one is likely toachieve better in a subject that one enjoys, has confidence inor finds useful [7]. For this reason positive attitudes towardsmathematics are desirable since they may influence one’swillingness to learn and also the benefits one can derive frommathematics instruction [7].1.1. Attitudes and School Grades. Nicolaidou and Philippou [6] showed that negative attitudes are the result offrequent and repeated failures or problems when dealingwith mathematical tasks and these negative attitudes maybecome relatively permanent. According to these authorswhen children first go to school they usually have positiveattitudes towards mathematics. However, as they progresstheir attitudes become less positive and frequently becomenegative at high school. Köğce et al. [3] found significantdifferences between younger and older students’ attitudestowards mathematics with 8th graders having lower attitudesthan 6th graders.There are a number of factors which can explain whyattitudes towards mathematics become more negative withthe school grade, such as the pressure to perform well, overdemanding tasks, uninteresting lessons and less than positiveattitudes on the part of teachers [6].1.2. Gender and Attitudes towards Maths. Gender differencesare a recurrent theme throughout the literature in academicstudies in general and in math studies in particular. Math isoften considered to be a domain in which boys are higherachievers, both in terms of attitudes and self-concept. Contrary to this, findings show that math school achievementand grades do not differ significantly between boys andgirls (e.g., [10, 11]). This similarity in performance betweenmales and females is clear in the meta-analysis conducted byLindberg et al. [11] with data from 242 studies representing1.286.350 people, indicating no gender differences (d 0.05)and nearly equal male and female variances.Child Development ResearchThere are, however, noticeable differences in the beliefsheld by boys and girls. Research has consistently shown thatgirls have lower math self-concept than boys (e.g., [12]).Results concerning gender differences in attitudes are lessconsistent than those in self-concept. Some studies havereported significant differences when we compare girls andboys attitudes towards mathematics [7, 13–15], neverthelessthere are a number of studies where these differences arenot identified [3, 5, 6, 16, 17]. A meta-analysis conductedby Etsey and Snetzler [17] taking into consideration 96studies (n 30490) concluded that gender differencesin student attitudes toward mathematics do exist but aresmall. The results indicate that males show more positiveattitude. However in elementary school studies the effectsize was about .20 in favor of females and for grades 9 to12 the effect size was similar, .23, but in favor of males.Also Hyde et al. [18] in their meta-analysis confirm smallgender effects, which increase among older students (highschool and college), with females holding more negativeattitudes. Although these meta-analyses were developed inthe 1990s, there is recent research which confirms theseresults [13, 14] and attempts to provide a justificationfor it. Asante [13] states that, when compared with boys,“girls lacked confidence, had debilitating causal attributionpatterns, perceived mathematics as a male domain, andwere anxious about mathematics” [13, page 2]. The researchcarried out by this author in Ghana, showed that boyshad more positive attitudes towards mathematics than girls.Also Sanchez et al. [14] in a study with North Americanstudents found significant gender differences in eighth gradestudents’ attitudes towards math. American boys showedmore interest in math than girls, but girls perceived math asmore important than boys. Girls also presented higher scoreson items with regard to difficulties with math. According toAsante [13] school environment, developmental changes ingender identity, and teacher and parent attitudes and beliefstowards mathematics are factors that may contribute to thedifferences identified between boys and girls in their attitudestowards mathematics.Nonetheless there is research which concludes thatgender does not affect attitudes towards mathematics [3,5, 6, 15, 16]. The meta-analysis conducted by Ma andKishor [15] which looks at 113 studies (n 55265),when studying the effects of gender, concludes that thisvariable did not have a significant effect on the relationshipsbetween attitudes and performance in mathematics becauseseparate analysis by gender demonstrated similar significanteffect sizes. Georgiou et al. [16] showed that there was nodifference either in math achievement or in math attitudesbetween boys and girls. However, high achieving boys andgirls, despite both considering math as an attractive subject,differed in the explanations they gave for their performance.Since the ability attributions of boys were higher, theybelieved that their grades were due to their intelligence moreconsistently than girls did.1.3. Achievement in Mathematics and Attitudes. Severalstudies have been undertaken to try to reach an understanding of the relationship between student attitudes towards
Child Development Researchmathematics and academic achievement [4–6, 8, 15, 19]. InMa and Kishor meta-analysis [15] only weak correlationsbetween these variables were identified and these relationships were dependent on several variables (e.g., grade,sample size, ethnic background). With regard to grade, theseassociations become stronger among older students (7th to12th grade).However, more recent studies point to a positive correlation between student attitudes towards mathematics and student academic achievement. Along these lines are the resultsobtained by Nicolaidou and Philippou [6] which revealsignificant correlations between attitudes and performance.Students having positive attitudes achieved better. Mato andDe La Torre [4] in a study with secondary school studentsalso showed that those with better academic performancehave more positive attitudes regarding math than those withpoorer academic performance. These results were confirmedin wider research, concerning math study attitudes amongthe secondary school students of nine countries, developedby Sanchez et al. [14].Lipnevich et al. [20] in a study developed with USAand BieloRussian middle school students highlighted theimportance of attitudes in predicting academic achievement,when it showed that mathematics attitudes explained avariance of 25% to 32% in mathematics achievement, withmuch of the explained variance independent of ability inmath.Nevertheless, Georgiou et al. [16] showed that highachievement could serve to predict a positive attitudetowards math, but such an attitude could not predictstronger achievement. However, these authors emphasize therole of teachers and schools in changing attitudes statingthat, math achievement could be improved by, for example,better teaching methods, more motivated teachers or bettercourse books, which has as its corollary the improvement ofattitudes towards math.1.4. Mathematics Learning Environments and Attitudes.Akey’s [21] work showed that several aspects of schoolcontext (e.g., teacher support, student-to-student interaction, and the academic and behavior expectations of theteacher) were significantly related to student attitudes andbehaviors. Akey [21] concluded that the class environmentwhere teachers who students see as supportive promotestudent feelings of control and confidence in their abilityto succeed. The way students perceive teacher characteristicswill affect their attitudes towards mathematics [22]. Maatand Zakaria and Vaughan [22, 23] identified a significantrelationship between learning environment and attitudetowards mathematics. Students with a higher perception ofthe learning environment and a more positive perceptionof their teachers have more positive attitudes towardsmathematics [22]. Rawnsley and Fisher [24] also found thatstudents had more positive attitudes toward mathematicswhen their teacher was perceived to be highly supportive.1.5. Motivation and Attitudes. A number of authors haveshown that the relationship between aspects of the social3environment and student emotional aspects may be mediated by other variables such as control-related appraisals andvalues-related appraisals [25, 26]. Therefore, competencesupport, autonomy support, expectations, and feedbackthat students receive from others have an impact on theircognitive appraisals and these are the main sources of theiremotional dispositions. When studying attitudes, it is important to take into consideration the role of these mediatedvariables where we can include the motivation features ofeach student. In this sense, Wigfield [27], in reading specificdomain, maintains that attitudes, realized as the individual’sfeelings towards reading, could be related to the motivationof the individual concerned because they influence howmuch individuals involve themselves in reading activities.Attitudes are affective responses that accompany a behaviorinitiated by a motivational state [28]. Attitudes can thereforebe linked directly to motivation and provide key informationto a better understanding of attitudinal and motivationalprocesses. In the domain of maths there is little research thatstudies the relationships between motivation and attitudes.However, a number of studies have highlighted some specificassociations. Singh et al. [2] used two sets of items to tapmotivation, one related to attendance of school and classesand another to participation and preparedness for mathclasses. The authors concluded that mathematics attitudewas affected by motivational factors since significant directeffects of .19 and .21, of these two motivation componentswere identified in student attitudes. Students who displayedschool behavior associated with low motivation (e.g., cominglate to school, skipping classes, coming unprepared withoutbooks and homework) had a more negative attitude towardmathematics. Other authors have taken into considerationEffort as an indicator of motivation [29, 30]. Reynolds andWalberg [30] using structural equation modeling to analyzediverse factors effects on math’s performance and attitudeswith 11th grade students, identify a significant effect onmotivation in math attitudes. Hemmings and Kay [29] in astudy with 10th grade students also verified that Effort waspositively and significantly related to math attitudes.1.6. Objectives. This study has two main objectives: firstly,to analyze the effects on math attitudes of factors usuallyanalyzed in the literature (gender, grade, and achievement)among Portuguese school students; secondly, to analyze theeffect on attitudes in this group of other factors that havebeen less well researched, associated with learning environment (e.g., perceived math’s teacher and peers’ support) andwith the motivational characteristics of students.2. Method2.1. Participants. 1719 fifth-to-twelfth grade Portuguese students from different schools in Lisbon and the surroundingarea participated in the study. They were from a wide rangeof social and economic backgrounds. There were 869 boysand 850 girls. In Portugal, school grades are organized in fourcycles: 1st Cycle (1st to 4th grade), 2nd Cycle (5th and 6thgrades), 3rd Cycle (7th to 9th grade), and Secondary (10th
4Child Development ResearchTable 1: Distribution of participants by study cycle.Level2nd Cycle (5th and 6th grades)3rd Cycle (7th, 8th, and 9th grades)Secondary (10th, 11th, and 12th grades)n451847421%26.249.324.5to 12th grade). In this research participants were from the2nd and 3rd Cycles and Secondary. The student distributionaccording to study cycle is presented in Table 1.In terms of achievement at mathematics, Portuguesestudents from the 2th and 3rd Cycles have been evaluatedon a five point scale, where 1 and 2 are negative marks,3 is medium, and 4 and 5 are good or very good marks.Secondary students are assessed on a scale ranging from 0to 20 that we converted into a 5-point scale similar to thoseof other cycles. Based on a mean of the two last mathematicsevaluations, students in this research were organized in threedifferent achievement groups: Low—with marks lower than3 (27.4%), Medium—with marks of 3 or 3,5 (30.1%), andGood—whose marks ranging from 4 to 5 (42.5%)2.2. Procedure. Data used in this study was collected atschool. Letters describing the study were sent to parents whogave their written consent to the head teacher.Questionnaires were administered in the classroomunder the supervision of a member of our research team.Questionnaires were read aloud for younger students whenever it was thought necessary.2.3. Instruments. The motivation towards math was measured through a version of IMI Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, directed towards Mathematics, taking into consideration three dimensions: Perceived Competence, PerceivedChoice, and Value/Utility [31]. This instrument is conceptualized to take into consideration the main constructs of theSelf-Determination Theory (SDT) [32, 33]. Therefore, thePerceived Choice and Perceived Competence are theorized aspositive predictors of intrinsic motivation and are related tothe SDT innate psychological needs of autonomy and competence [34]. The Value/Usefulness subscale embodies theidea that people internalize and develop more self-regulatoryactivities when experience is considered as valuable anduseful for them [34].The questionnaire comprised 14 items, distributedover three dimensions: Perceived Competence—four items(e.g., “I think I am pretty good at Math’s activities”);Value/Utility—five items (e.g., “Math’s activities are valuableto me”); Perceived Choice—five items (e.g., “I only do theMath’s tasks because the teacher orders me to”). All itemswere scored on a 6-point scale ranging from 1(“Never”) to6 (“Always”). Items from the Perceived Choice dimensionwere reversed due to their negative formulation. In thisinstrument higher scores are related to intrinsic motivationcharacteristics.In order to verify the adequacy of item inclusion in thecorrespondent dimension, reliability has been analyzed usingCronbach’s Alpha. Reliability scores for our sample in thethree subscales can be considered adequate as Cronbach’sAlpha values were .80 for Perceived Competence, .84 forPerceived Choice, and .93 for Value/Utility [35].Student perceptions of classroom support (teacher andstudents support) and attitudes towards mathematics weremeasured by 16 items extracted fr
attitude. However in elementary school studies the effect size was about .20 in favor of females and for grades 9 to 12 the effect size was similar, .23, but in favor of males. Also Hyde et al. [18] in their meta-analysis confirm small gender effects, which increase among older students (high school and college), with females holding more .
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