MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AMONG STUDENTS

OF DAPDAP HIGH SCHOOL

MEMBERS:
Kyla Rodrigueza
Erika Puno
Joshua Panlaqui
Darwin Manguerra
Adonai Montoya
Karlo Tolentino
Christian Jay Briones
Jhennel Escoto
Joey Dingle
Aaron John Mallari
Michael Arien Tadeo
Romar Del Rosario
 Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Most students have the account of struggling with mathematics subject which make them
think about if they will use the knowledge in real world life. Certain teachers and parents admit
having been asked about the application of mathematics in life. Some answered that knowledge
in mathematics is necessary and important to everyone regardless of the occupations and status
they have in society.
From home to school, mathematics tools have become a part of our day to day life. Mathematics
is a unique subject and it is a fundamental part of school curriculum.
According to Shernan et al. (2014) “Mathematics instruction must provide many
opportunities for concept building , relevant challenging question , problem solving , reasoning
and connections within the curriculum and real world situation “ Students need to relies a
memorization and listing all the information and variables you need to identify in a mathematical
situation.
However, majority of students all over the world dislike mathematics. Scarpello (2007)
stated that “Seventy five percent of American stop the study of mathematics and stay away from
many careers that related to mathematics”. The main reason for this is the mathematics anxiety.
Mathematics is a subject that causes many negative emotions of students. One of the
main challenges to mathematics teacher is to make a positive behaviour in students towards
learning mathematics therefore, teachers should be aware of students affective beliefs and
interrelations of those In learning mathematics.
Truly in the Philippine context, education remains a top priority. However, there are
some reasons demotivating students when it comes in Mathematics education. When being
tested, they become anxious causing them to lose confident in answering different math
problems and math equations.
According to Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA’s partner
organization Anxiety.org), “Anxiety is an in-depth analysis and explanation of key anxiety
disorders.”
The term “anxiety disorder” refers to specific psychiatric disorders that involve extreme fear or
worry, and includes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder and panic attacks,
agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety, and specific phobias.
Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life; you might feel anxious when faced with
problem, before taking a test, or making an important decision. But anxiety disorders involve
more than temporary worry or fear. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not
go away and can get worse over time. The feelings can interfere with daily activities such as job
performance, school work and relationships. There are several types of anxiety disorders namely:
generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder. (National Institute of
Mental Health)
Mathematics anxiety is the feeling of tension and anxiety hinders with operation and
solving the mathematical problems in everyday life and academic situations. Students who suffer
from mathematics anxiety have little confidence in their ability to do mathematics; they tend to
take least numbers of required mathematics courses which limits their career choice options
(Garry, 2005).
Math anxiety usually begins with unpleasant experiences in the math classroom.
Typically math performance in classrooms demands an over reliance on procedures as opposed
to a primary focus on understanding math concepts and empowering students to think critically
and analyze a problem before being simply shown what to do. Trying to memorize procedures
rather than understanding math concepts, rules and routines without much understanding often
causes the math to quickly forgotten, which is when panic sets in for learners. High school
mathematics is more on analyzation, understanding with complex problems and lessons which
become an issue for some students and can even hinder their performance on tests. Feelings of
nervousness, anxiousness and tension tend to take over, essentially preventing the student from
completing the problem to the best of his or her ability.
Expected under stress have some degree of anxiety. Anxiety is your body’s way of
communicating to something either it makes you feel temporarily unsafe or stressed. There are
different ways your body corresponds to anxiety which causing different symptoms as the level
of anxiety increases. The founder of psychiatric nursings, Hidridge E, Peplau, and Described 4
levels of anxiety namely: mild, moderate, severe and panic.
 Mild anxiety is common in everyday life. At this level, you’re likely open minded,
although stressed. You might experience irritability, sweaty palms and heightened senses. At a
moderate level of anxiety, you’re likely to focus exclusively on the stressful situation directly in
front of you and ignore other tasks. You might experience a faster heartbeat, dry mouth, sweating
and stomach pain or nausea with severe anxiety, symptoms intensify and others develop, such as
a pounding heartbeat, chest pain, headache and scattered thoughts with this your ability to focus
and solve problems is impaired which can lead to further anxiety panic-level of anxiety is the
most disruptive and challenging, as it overwhelms your capacity to function normally. You may
experience an inability to move or speak, but sometimes the opposite is true.
In Dapdap High School, it is clear in class that students have their difficulties in
understanding and answering different kinds of mathematics problem solving. Thus, their
performances in Math at times are considerably poor. In connection, Math teachers make use of
other methods to make it more easy and understandable, but others are not conscious of the
teaching methods they employ. With the said review, the researchers are motivated to conduct
the study in determining the level of mathematics anxiety among junior high school students.
Given these preparatory interpretations, the researchers have the positive mind that the results of
the study will help the students to know their views in math subject and their mathematics
anxiety will be painted.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to identify the level of mathematics anxiety of the junior high school
students. Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions:
1. What are the factors affecting the mathematics anxiety of the junior high school
learners of Dapdap High School?
2. What is the anxiety level of each grade level in the junior high school?
3. What is the overall anxiety level of the junior high school students?
4. What are the implications of the study in teaching and learning mathematics?
Significance of the Study
The results of the study will help the Junior High School students, teachers, parents, and
futureresearchers to persistently work for a better understanding of the math anxiety.
To the Students. Not of all students liked mathematics. In fact, some students report
tension, apprehension and fear when facing mathematical tasks during class which makes the
learners to perform math related activities poorly. This study will be a great help to the learners
allowing them to think they have anxiety issues towards mathematics.
To the Teachers. The given data would guide the teachers on what to do with students
who have math anxiety. The results will provide the teachers important knowledge about the
attitude of students toward mathematics anxiety. The study contains the factors that affect the
anxiety level of each grade level in the junior high school. Therefore teachers can guide their
students to gain assertive attitude towards mathematics.
To the Parents. Like the teachers, the parents will also have important knowledge about
math anxiety and informs them that their children might be experiencing math anxiety. The
parents would be able to understand what their children are going through.
To the Future Researchers. Researchers absolutely gain ideas/knowledge about the
math anxiety level of junior high learners per grade level in this study; this can also help to
decrease the predictions and speculations of our readers. The outcome of the study is beneficial
to the neither present researches or the future researchers. This study may be one of the basis that
a new theory in learning will arise.

Scope and Delimitation

This study will focus on the mathematics anxiety among the junior high school students
of Dapdap High School, Bamban, Tarlac during the school year 2017-2018. 100 students from
grade 7 to 10 are the subject of this study. The researchers will randomly pick 25 students each
grade level.
The study will be delimited by determining the different factors affecting the
mathematics anxiety of the respondents and to identify and measure the anxiety level of the
junior high school learners with the use of Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) in terms
of the following levels of anxiety: mild anxiety, moderate anxiety, severe anxiety and panic-level
anxiety. Furthermore, researchers will also Identify the level of mathematics anxiety of each
junior high school grade level; implications of the study to mathematics teaching and learning.

Definition of Terms:
The study defined the following terms both conceptually and operationally for a clear
view and differentiation.
Anxiety. This refers to a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive
uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behaviour or panic attacks. In this study,
this refers to the feeling or tension, or fear that interferes with the mathematics subject.
Factors. This refers to the things that affect an event, decision or situation. In this study,
this are the elements which can affect or contribute to the main problem
GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder). This refers to the excessive, exaggerated anxiety
and worry about everyday life events with no obvious reasons for worry.
MARS (mathematics anxiety rating scale). This refers to a major scale used to measure
the mathematics anxiety level (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/12674278) In this study,
this refers to the scale that was used to identify the levels of mathematics anxiety of the subjects.
MAS(Mathematics Anxiety Scale). The MAS consists of 10 items with the first 5 items
positively worded and the last 5 items negatively worded.
Mathematics. This refers to the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships
between figures and forms, and relations between quantities expressed symbolically. In this
study, this refers to the subject being taught in the school in the Philippines.
 Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the literature, concepts, ideas, and complete researches which are
related in the conduct of this study. They were selected to support the knowledge of ideas and
perceptions included in the paper for well and meaningful improvement. Both local and foreign
studies have been pondered which the researchers thinks have connection with the present study.

Related Literature

Wigfield and Meece (1988) there are some people who have moderate or severe specific
mathematical learning disabilities and many people acquire some aspects of mathematics to be
cognitively difficult. A large number of children and adults have mathematics anxiety, which
may affect their mathematical learning and performance and some of these is avoidance of
activities and tasks related to mathematics in which it resulted to negative implications for
mathematical development, mathematics education and engagement in mathematics-related
activities.

Hembree (1990) stated that with regards to mathematics, mathematics anxiety seems to
be related to self-rating. People who think that they are not good in mathematics are more
probably to be anxious.

According to Richardson and Suinn (1972), There are methods that you can use to assess
and measure the math anxiety. Most of these measures involve questionnaires and rating scales,
and are basically used with adolescents and adults, one of these is the Mathematics Anxiety
Rating Scale or MARS.

The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) is a 98 item survey. Because of its
length researchers have turned to the Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS) which was adapted by
Betz (1978) from the Anxiety subscale of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales
Math Anxiety 7 (Fennema & Sherman, 1976). The MAS consists of 10 items with the first 5
items positively worded and the last 5 items negatively worded. If the positively worded items
are reversed for scoring, then a high score will indicate high anxiety.

Good reliability has also been found for other mathematics anxiety measures such as
Betz's (1978) Mathematics Anxiety Scale Dew et al., (1984); Pajares and Urban, (1996) and the
Fennema–Sherman scales Mulhern and Rae, (1998). The mathematics anxiety scales developed
specifically for children have also been found to have good reliability, including Thomas and
Dowker's (2000) Mathematics Anxiety Questionnaire Krinzinger et al.,( 2007); James' (2013)
Children's Anxiety in Math Scale; and the scale developed by Vukovic et al. (2013).

Scarpello (2007) stated that teachers who make threatening comments frequently
produce math-anxious students. Thus, if the teacher provides encouragement, the mathematics
anxiety of the students can be reduced. On the other hand, language of encouragement was
assumed to have a positive relationship to self-efficacy and mathematics performance.

One of the factors that affect the math anxiety of students is their prior knowledge about

mathematics, in recent study of Archarya (2017) it is stated that “Students who have lack of

sufficient prior knowledge did not want to learn and could not get success in the further level.”

Therefore students who have insufficient knowledge about math can have difficulty in

understanding new mathematical concepts as the lesson progress. Lack of student’s Labor is

another and important aspect of students related factors that affect students. Mathematics is

needed practice which has different theory and several formulas. So in learning mathematics,

students should manage extra time for practice. Acharya (2017) said “Some mathematics teacher

says students do not try to learn mathematics and do not want to do extra labor.” Mathematics is

more complex subject to understand than other subjects, therefore requires more effort.

There are two theories that depicts the relationship between math anxiety and math performance
as said in the article of (Carey,2016). The first one is te Deficit Theory which states that people
who have poorer math performance are more likely to develop anxiety about math. Poor
performance could be the result environmental factor such as poor math teaching and the like.
Thus, having poor mathematics performance in early childhood could draw out mathematics
anxiety. On the other hand, the Debilitating Anxiety Model depicts that people who have
mathematics anxiety are more likely to have their mathematics performance decreased leaving
devastating consequences on learning and recalling math skills. Math anxiety may have an effect
on mathematics performance. People with math anxiety are less willing to engage with math
tasks. Having math anxiety could interfere with learning which could decrease their performance
in math and also could have poorer working memory.

Local Studies

No subject is avoided and labeled negatively the way mathematics has been. Probably, a
person experiencing the situation has mathematics anxiety. Mathematics anxiety involves
feelings of tension 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). It was also described as a"sudden death" (Tobias, 1978), any situation when one
experiences anxiety "when confronted with mathematics in any way" (Byrd, 1982), an irrational
phobia (Hodges, 1983), and a rational fear rooted in real experience of failure and inadequacy
(Perry, 2004). While mathematics anxiety could be seen as early as in elementary pupils
(Lazarus, 1974; Jackson and Leffingwell, 1999; Steele and Arth, 1998), it is disturbing that even
pre-service teachers exhibit mathematics anxiety (Hembree, 1990; Jackson, 2008; Rayner, et al.,
2009).

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 specific to mathematics anxiety is a lack of
confidence, which often leads to reduced motivation. According to Edelmuth (2006), and Kesici
and Erdooan (2004; 2009) learners with mathematics anxiety will often observed their skills in
mathematics as less than those in other subject and will not enjoy mathematics or will not have
the desire to master it. Motivation is another factor that may play an important 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.

Foreign Studies

According to Dreger and Aiken, mathematics anxiety is “the presence of a syndrome of

emotional reactions to arithmetic and mathematics.” Math anxiety is commonly defined as a
feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance. The first
systematic instrument for assessing math anxiety was the mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale
(MARS), published by Richardson and Suinn (Richardson, & Suinn, 1972). In this test,
participants rate themselves on the level of anxiety they would feel in various everyday
situations, such as trying to refigure a restaurant bill when they think they have been overcharged
or taking a math test. Highly math-anxious individuals are characterized by a strong tendency to
avoid math, which ultimately undercuts their math competence and forecloses important career
paths (Ashcraft, 2001).
Owens and Newbegin, (1997) Students who experience mathematics anxiety are more
likely to delay completion or not do tasks assigned to them at all. As an irrational fear towards
mathematical operations in mathematics classes, mathematics anxiety is found to hinder learners’
positive thinking about mathematics learning and feeling calm. This fear causes low self-esteem,
disappointment and academic failure Gresham, (2004); Akin & Kurbanoglu, (2011). In this
study, the researchers focused on aspects of mathematical anxiety such as students’ uneasiness
behaviour when doing mathematics, a failure to complete tasks on time and lack of confidence
when handling mathematics tasks. Iossi (2007) identified strategies for minimizing anxiety
which include (a) curricular strategies, such as retesting, self-paced learning, distance education,
single-sex classes, and math anxiety courses, (b) instructional strategies, such as manipulative,
technology, self-regulation techniques, and communication, and (c) non-instructional strategies,
such as relaxation therapy and psychological treatment. Alternative instructional formats such as
problem solving, co-operative learning and process-oriented have been suggested in order to
prevent or limit mathematics anxiety von Glasersfeld, (1991); Vacc, (1993) and Greenwood
(1984). Reform efforts in the teaching of mathematics have been under way to replace the
behaviourist paradigm with methods based on constructivist models of learning such as problem-
based learning, inquiry-based learning and guided discovery learning.

Math anxiety is caused by poor test grades, inability or willingness to complete difficult
assignments, negative predisposition of parents, and even the mathematics teacher. Moreover,
teachers need to be aware of the effects of anxiety on student’s achievement and motivation.
Zakana and Nordin (2008) said “Teachers should develop teaching strategies that will help
highly anxious students”. There are ways to manage math anxiety for students by teachers to
help in overcoming the anxiety of their students. Woodard (2004) suggested that the teacher
should create an environment where students do not feel threatened and allow them to relax and
teaching at a slow face can help the students to understand the lessons being taught.
MATHEMATICS
ANXIETY
RATING SCALE
M MILD
A ANXIETY
T
H MODERATE
E ANXIETY
M
A
T SEVERE
I ANXIETY
C
S
PANIC-LEVEL
A
ANXIETY
N
X
I
E
T
Y
 RESULTS

IMPLICATIONS TO
TEACHING AND
LEARNING
MATHEMATICS

PARADIGM OF THE STUDY

The main concern of this study is to determine the mathematics anxiety level of junior
high school students of Dapdap High School Dapdap, Bamban , Tarlac. The conceptual
paradigm shows the process on how the researchers will able to measure the anxiety level of the
respondents. Twenty five students per year level will be the respondents of this study for a total
of one hundred students. Each of the students will be given a questionnaire which is the
Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS). From the result of the MAS , the researchers will be able to
determine the anxiety level of each grade level; the overall anxiety level of junior high school
students as mild anxiety, moderate anxiety, severe anxiety, panic-level anxiety; implications of
the study on teaching and learning mathematics.
 Chapter 3
METHODS OF STUDY AND SOURCES OF DATA
Research design
A descriptive, survey research design was chosen in this study to identify the level of
mathematics anxiety of the junior high school students. Descriptive studies are aimed at finding
out "what is," so observational and survey methods are frequently used to collect descriptive data
(Borg & Gall, 1989). Prior to the surveying, the subjects are selected at random to have an equal
distribution.
In this research technique, data will be gathered by asking questions of the respondents.
Descriptive survey research design is an applicable method for this study. The survey research
employs applications of scientific method by critically examining the source materials, by
analyzing and interpreting data, and by arriving at generalization and prediction. Since, the
present study will be undertaken to identify the level of mathematics anxiety of junior high
school. Hence, the descriptive survey research method was adopted.

Research Locale
The venue of the research is Dapdap High School (DHS) during the School Year 2017-
2018. Dapdap High School was created as a resettlement high school by virtue of RA7637. It
was initially constructed in 1992 by the Task Force Pinatubo and was completed in 1994 by the
Mt. Pinatubo Commission. It was founded July 11, 1994, its first year of operation offered all
year levels in the secondary education as prescribed by the Department of Education, Culture
and Sports.
 From the start of its initial operation in 1994 the school has been under the direct control and
supervision of DECS, as a satellite school of San Roque High School. Due to the unexpected
turn out of enrollees, the need for classroom teachers became inevitable. Through the
commendable efforts of DECS – MPC Coordinator and through the managerial expertise of the
School Principal of San Roque High School, Mrs. Ester S. Medina and The Mount Pinatubo
Commission Coordinators, Dapdap High School gradually improved.

With the initiative of the previous and present school administrators, Dapdap High
School emerged as the MOST OUTSTANDING PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL in the
whole Division of Tarlac Province. DHS as a learning institution had offered STVEP merged
K-to-12 BEC curricula in the year 2011-2013. In the light of the full implementation of the
RA 10533 better known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2012, the school is now
offering the general curriculum which is the K to 12 BEC.

The Respondents
The learners from grade 7 to grade 10 of Dapdap High School during the school year
2017-2018 are the respondents of the study. All of the participants will be selected through
random sampling this sampling method will be conducted where each member of a population
has an equal opportunity to become part of the sample. For this purpose, a survey questionnaire
in math anxiety is given to the respondents to answer.

Samples and Sampling Techniques

The researchers will select randomly from the students of Junior High School each grade
level. There is a total of one hundred respondents in conduct the study: twenty-five subjects for
each grade level. According to Cates and Rhymer (2003) as cited by May (2009), found that
students with higher levels of mathematics anxiety had significantly lower computational fluency
in all areas of mathematical computations; these students, in turn, had lower levels of
achievement in mathematics. The Math Anxiety Scale (MAS) will apply to the students from
Grade 7 to Grade 10 (twenty-five each grade level). This method serves as a basis to identify the
different level of math anxiety each grade level. The researchers will float the questionnaires into
two shifts, morning shift (Grade 7 and Grade 9) and afternoon shift (Grade 8 and Grade 10).

The Research Instrument and Validation of Instrument

For this research, the survey-questionnaire instruments will be used to achieve the main
objective of the study. The survey questionnaire will be distributed to the selected students. The
questionnaire given to the learners aimed to assess the level of mathematics anxiety.

The questionnaire will be structured in a way that respondents will be able to answer it
easily. Thus, the set of questionnaire will be designed using the math anxiety scale (MAS) MAS
is a rating scale that requires the respondents to indicate his or her degree of agreement or
disagreement to a statement.
In order to test the validity of the evaluation tool, which will be used for this study, the
researchers will assess the answers from the questionnaires given to the 100 respondents.

Data Gathering Procedure

Related studies, literature and other citations were gathered from the Internet for the
study to be filled with relevant information and data.
Letter of request to permit the researchers to conduct the study among junior high school
students of Dapdap High School will be given to the Dapdap High School principal. Upon
approval, the research followed. In a research study, appropriate data gathering and procedure is
a must to find and get the desired result. In this research, the researchers will apply the survey
method technique wherein the researchers will give questionnaires to the respondents, the
respondents will be pick randomly. Respondents are composed of 25 students per year level for a
total of 100. The scores that will be obtain will determine their level of anxiety in mathematics.
The researchers will also get the scores per grade level and the overall score of the
respondents using MAS to identify whether they are experiencing mild anxiety, moderate
anxiety, severe anxiety and panic-level anxiety.

Statistical Treatment
  Mean. The mean will be used to identify the average level of math anxiety of the
students in each grade level. Mean will be obtained by this formula:

Where:
x̄ = Mean
X = scores that will be obtain by the students
𝑁 = total number of students who will take the test
The MAS consist of 10 items with the first five items positively worded and the last 5
items negatively worded. In positively worded items, the high score will indicate high anxiety
while the in negatively worded items low score will indicate high anxiety.

Scale to be use for the Mathematics Anxiety Scale scores:

Positively worded items
Range Verbal Description
0 - 1.25 - mild anxiety
1.26 - 2.51 - moderate anxiety
2.52 - 3.77 - severe anxiety
3.78 – 5 - panic-level anxiety

Negatively worded items

Range Verbal Description
0 - 1.25 - panic-level anxiety
1.26 - 2.51 - severe anxiety
2.52 - 3.77 - moderate anxiety
3.78 – 5 - mild anxiety