Teacher-student relationship and mathematical problem-solving ability: mediating roles of self-efficacy and mathematical anxiety

On the different effects of teacher–student rapport on urban and rural students' math learning in China: An empirical study

“…Second, the findings demonstrate that teacher–student rapport exists a direct and positive impact on students' mathematical academic outcomes in rural and urban regions. This finding justified that a warm teacher–student rapport has advantages for students in different groups (urban students/rural students), indicating that focusing on promoting teacher–student rapport may be an effective approach to increasing students' mathematical academic outcomes (Hughes et al, 2008; Zhou et al, 2020) in both urban and rural schools. Moreover, when considering the mediation effects of mathematics self‐efficacy and mathematics anxiety, the findings further reveal that mathematics self‐efficacy and mathematics anxiety substantially mediate the relations between teacher–student rapport and mathematical academic outcome in both regions, which is generally consistent with previous studies (Domino, 2009; Hill et al, 2005; Jerome et al, 2009; Justicia‐Galiano et al, 2017; McConney & Perry, 2010).…”

“…This study extends our understanding of the urban–rural unbalanced development by identifying rural–urban differences at a more micro level and a more student‐centered level. That is, this study not only articulates academic differences but also specifies differences in rural and urban students' emotional and motivational development, which are areas that are especially essential for students' holistic and long‐term mathematics development (Zhou et al, 2020). The study highlights the need for researchers, educators, administrators, and policymakers to pay special attention to the educational processes that happen in classrooms that exist in rural and urban regions.…”

“…On one hand, mathematics self‐efficacy strongly influences students' academic outcomes, and on the other hand, it is regulated by other external factors (Chong et al, 2018), suggesting its mediating role. Researchers found that a good teacher–student rapport built a supportive classroom climate for students' deeper engagement, which also enhanced their mathematics self‐efficacy (Baker et al, 2008; Jerome et al, 2009; Zhou et al, 2020). Many studies on teacher–student rapports based on the attachment theory shown a friendly teacher–student rapport that plays a crucial role in increasing students' mathematics self‐efficacy (Bergin & Bergin, 2009; Kikas & Mägi, 2017; Roorda et al, 2011).…”

“…mathematical academic outcome, mathematics anxiety, mathematics self-efficacy, teacher-student rapport, urban-rural difference Although the quality of education in China has been improved, a learning gap still exists in urban and rural schools (Hallinger & Liu, 2016;Zhang & Pang, 2016). One consistent finding is that rural students performed significantly lower than their urban peers in academics (Wang & Li, 2008;Wang et al, 2017;Zhou et al, 2020). Therefore, narrowing the urban-rural achievement gap has become a core problem that needs to be addressed in the current stage of China.…”

“…Except impacting students' academic outcomes directly, a warm teacher–student rapport enhanced students' motivation for math learning like mathematics self‐efficacy (Zhou et al, 2020), and decreases students' helplessness in math learning, including feelings of mathematics anxiety (Zee & Roorda, 2018). According to social cognitive theory, the degree to which students can make a reasonable estimation of their ability to solve a specific task or problem effectively is predictive of their actual academic performance (Pajares & Miller, 1997).…”