Predictive Value of Sense of Self-efficacy and Attitudes of High School Students for Their Resistance to Mathematics

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the power of sense of self-efficacy in and attitudes toward math in predicting resistance to mathematics for high school students. In accordance with the aims of the study, a correlational survey model was used to determine covariance between the variables. The data for this study were collected through surveys given to 10 th graders in 2016 spring semester. The students who were administered the surveys were chosen using simple random sampling. 831 students participated in the study (413 females with 49.70% and 418 males with 50.30%). Three surveys were used for data collection: The Resistance Scale for High School Students (RSHSS), Math Self-Efficacy Survey and Math Attitudes Survey. Pearson correlation, means, standard deviation and simple linear regression were performed for data analyses. The significance level was accepted to be .01 for the analyses used in the study. According to the findings, there is a significant correlation at-.24 level between students' sense of self-efficacy in math and their resistant behavior toward math; a significant correlation at-.27 level (p<0.05) between their attitude toward math and resistant behavior toward math. According to the regression analyses, sense of self-efficacy in math accounts for six percent of the variance for resistant behavior toward math and attitudes toward math account for seven percent of the variance for resistant behavior toward math.

A systematic review of secondary students’ attitudes towards mathematics and its relations with mathematics achievement

“…Affective, cognitive & behavioural components "A persons' attitude to an idea or object determines what the person thinks, feels and how the person would like to behave towards that idea or objects" (Etuk et al, 2013, p. 197) "emotional reaction to an object, behavior tendency towards an object and beliefs about the object" (Idil et al, 2016, p. 210) "a mental, emotional and behavioural reactionary predisposition a person develops toward mathematics". (Koyuncu & Dönmez, 2018, p. 1631) "an aggregated measure of a liking or disliking of mathematics, a tendency to engage in or avoid mathematical activities, a belief that one is good or bad at mathematics, and a belief that mathematics is useful or useless" (Mutohir et al, 2018, p. 1) "attitudes consist of cognitive, affective and behavioural reactions that individuals display towards an object or the surrounding based on their feelings or interest" (Sanchal & Sharma, 2017, p. 89) "a liking or disliking of mathematics, a tendency to engage in or avoid mathematical activities, a belief that one is good or bad at mathematics, and a belief that mathematics is useful or useless" (Sengül & Dereli, 2013, p. 2527 "a tendency attributed to the individual and regularly constitutes his/her thoughts, feelings and behaviours related to the psychological incident" (Zakariya, 2017, p. 75)…”

“…Seven articles used multidimensional definitions, which treated mathematics attitudes as consisting of three dimensions: cognitive (the knowledge of mathematics, ideas and beliefs towards mathematics), affective (feelings associate with mathematics) and behavioural (actions towards mathematics) (Etuk et al, 2013;Idil et al, 2016;Koyuncu & Dönmez, 2018;Mutohir et al, 2018;Sanchal & Sharma, 2017;Sengül & Dereli, 2013;Zakariya, 2017). For example, Idil et al (2016, p. 210) proposed that a mathematics attitude is an "emotional reaction to an object, behavior tendency towards an object and beliefs about the object".…”

“…For example, Idil et al (2016, p. 210) proposed that a mathematics attitude is an "emotional reaction to an object, behavior tendency towards an object and beliefs about the object". Koyuncu andDönmez (2018, p. 1631) suggested mathematics attitude is "a mental, emotional and behavioural reactionary predisposition a person develops toward mathematics".…”