Chapter 1

Introduction

Background of the Study

Mathematical anxiety has been defined as feelings of apprehension and increased

physiological reactivity when people deal with mathematics such as: when they have to

manipulate numbers, solve mathematical problems, or when they are exposed to a math-related

evaluative situation (Luttenberger, Wimmer, and Paechter, 2018). Joseph (2017) stated that it is

an emotional problem with extreme nervousness before or during math tests. In math-related

cases, math-anxious individuals experience increased levels of anxiety

Students experience such anxiety at variety levels of intensity, but for some, merely going to

a math class can be a challenge. It is not limited to a test or classroom environments, resulting in

influencing and developing a serious avoidance of circumstances involving any kind of

mathematics. Even home-schooled learners can encounter this anxiety. Some researchers further

differentiate math anxiety according to different situations in which math tasks are encountered,

such as homework in math or mathematical tasks in daily life. (Kohn, Richtmann, and Rauscher,

2013). Although theories and measurement instruments vary considerably in the differentiation

of math anxiety, nearly all of them agree on three facets found within it: test, classroom, and

numerical anxiety.
 Math anxiety is recognized as a significant issue in mathematics education nationally and

internationally (Wilson 2012, 2015). Math anxiety is a current issue for learners as it

significantly impacts their academic performance in math. It affects learners as early as first

grade by influencing their working memory. Working memory is essential when people need to

keep track of numbers, but this working memory can be disrupted by math anxiety in both

elementary and secondary school students (Scuzs, McLellan, & Dowker, 2013, 2019). This

interferes with a person's capability to optimally do math problems, thus becoming into an

intellectual problem (Joseph, 2017).

Math anxiety takes immediate effect in math-related conditions such as examinations or in

the classroom. According to the Rosario (2018), the major causes of math anxiety are pressure of

time limits on test, fear of public embarrassment, and influence of teachers. Similarly, a study

confirmed that pressure of time limits on test and fear of public embarrassment have long been

acknowledged as causing students to be unproductive with the subject math (Curtain-Phillips,

2017). Time limits on test can make students feel anxious. This lets them forget the things that

they have studied due to the pressure caused by the time limit. McGlynn (2017) stated that

students should be measured on how much they have learned and not their ability to take tests

under pressure.

It is a need that humiliation needs to be recognized and resolved in educational

environments, and specifically in mathematics classrooms. A study by Wilson (2017) stated that

the students interpret the teacher's possibly unintentional and deliberated dismissal as criticism
and disapproval and is therefore embarrassed. Nevertheless, despite the teacher's intentions, this

may create a connection between mathematics and public embarrassment in the minds of

students, leading to humiliation and a long term lock down or choke, and further humiliation.

Students often develop mathematical anxiety in schools, often as a result of learning from

teachers who are themselves anxious about their mathematical abilities in certain areas.

Goulding, Rowland, and Barber (2002) indicate that there are connections between a teacher's

lack of subject knowledge and the ability to effectively plan teaching material; these findings

suggest that teachers with insufficient experience in mathematics that struggle to develop

detailed teaching plans for their students. Likewise, a research indicates that math-certified

teachers are more likely to be passionate and committed to teaching math than non-certified

(Laturner, 2002).

Recently, mathematic are now being taught as getting the right answers correctly are necessary.

mathematics problems almost always have a correct answer with a solution, unlike most

subjects. The subject is usually taught by way of teachers seeing the only correct solution to

solve the problem, and any other methods would be wrong, even if students had the right answer.

When it comes to understanding the fundamentals should be paramount, but with a right or

wrong approach to math education, students are discouraged from trying not to find solutions

that work for them and is hard to take challenges for them. (Furner and Berman, 2003).
Statement of the Problem

This study aims to answer the following research questions:

1. How many students have math anxiety?

2. What are the causes of math anxiety for the grade 9 students?

3. What is the most cause of math anxiety for the grade 9 students?

4. Is there a significant effect of math anxiety to the academic performance of the grade 9

students?

Conceptual Framework

The Conceptual framework below shows the independent and dependent variables of this

study. The independent variable are the causes of math anxiety while the dependent variable are

the 1st and 2nd Quarter academic performance in Math of the respondents.
 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Causes of Math Anxiety

 Pressure of time limits on

1st and 2nd Quarter Academic
tests Performance in Mathematics
 Fear of public

embarrassment

 Influence of teachers

Figure 1

Significance of the Study

Students these days have been having poor academic performance in the subject

mathematics. The researchers made this research to let the people know that math anxiety is not

a joke and is an urgent problem in the school because it greatly affects the students’ academic

performance. It could lose their confidence to do their daily tasks.

 With this research, the respondents can learn how does math anxiety affects their academic

performance in math by learning the causes and effects of math anxiety. It could enable them to

overcome their math anxiety and boost their confidence to do better in the subject math. It can

help students to understand the cause and effect of math anxiety in their academic performance

in math.

As a result, the educators would know why the students are having a bad time in math

understand the reason why students hate the subject math. The educators would improve

themselves to help and teach the students to overcome their anxiety in math. With this, the

students could do better in their class with the help of their educators.

To future researchers, it could determine the correlation between the math anxiety and

academic performance in math. They could also use this as a future reference to their study.

Definition of Terms

Anxiety. A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or

something with an uncertain outcome.

Math Anxiety. It has been defined as unpleasant feelings of tension and anxiety that hinder the

ability to deal with numbers and math in variety of situations.

Working Memory. The part of short-term memory that is concerned with immediate conscious

perceptual and linguistic processing.

Academic Performance. The extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their

short or long-term educational goals.

Algorithm. A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving

operations, especially by a computer.

Arithmetic. The branch of mathematics dealing with the properties and manipulation of

numbers.

Physiological. The relating to the branch of biology that deals with the normal functions of

living organisms and their parts.

 MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AFFECTING THE

GRADE 9 STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

IN MATHRMATICS

A Research Proposal Presented to the

Junior High School Department
AMA Basic Education, Davao City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the subjects

English, Math, and Science

Joshua Jave A. Jagutin

Takahiro S. Largo
Buena Cristita A. Parenas
 Abbygale Marie Nicole I. Samson

November 2019

Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

Mathematic Anxiety and Academic Performance

The effect of mathematics anxiety on mathematics achievement has been examined in many

recent years. With the research of Sokolowski and Ansari (2017), they found that individuals

with high math anxiety to be slower and less precise, and brain scans showed behavior different

from that of people with low math anxiety doing the same tasks. Since understanding numerical

magnitude is a basis for other calculations, he suggests that minor, early deficiencies in this field

can lead to difficulties, dissatisfaction, and negative reactions over time to math problems. Most

studies and measurement instruments assume at least two dimensions of math anxiety relevant to

assessment: anxiety experience when taking a test, and anxiety experienced in the classroom.

There may also be mathematical distress felt in the classroom. All this physical and emotional

damage can lead to exhaustion due to loss of motivation, resulting in students performing less

than stellar work and failing from their grades. This can lead to a cycle of failure in their

academic performance, experiencing more math anxiety, and then doing even worse on the next

test.
 A person with mathematical anxiety does not necessarily lack skill in mathematics, but

because of the interfering symptoms of their anxiety, they cannot fulfill their full potential

(Beilock and Willingham, 2014). Math anxiety presents itself in a variety of ways, including

physiological, mental, and behavioral symptoms which can all affect the mathematical

performance of a student; the strong negative association between high math anxiety and low

performance is often thought to be due to the effect of math anxiety on working memory. Blazer

(2011). Math anxiety affects both reading speed and task-solving errors, although it only depletes

memory resources in math-related tasks for efficiency, not in other domains. Recent research

suggests that mathematical anxiety is correlated with cognitive processes to forget math

information (McDonough and Ramirez, 2018).

Pressure of Time Limits on Test

Secondary students indicated that the transition from primary to secondary school had been a

cause of math anxiety, as the work seemed harder and they couldn't cope. There was also greater

pressure from tests and an increased homework load. Three practices that are a regular part of the

traditional mathematics classroom and cause great anxiety in many students are imposed

authority, public exposure and time deadlines. Although these are a regular part of the traditional

mathematics classroom cause great deal of anxiety (Curtain-Phillips, 2017). In a study conducted

by Sokolowski and Ansari (2017), it confirmed the concept that math anxiety requires working

memory. Math anxiety drains the working memory of students and can affect the students’

academic performance. Students have been evaluated to take test under pressure. The results
show that a lot of students had low academic performance in math, and students that are

generally promising are most likely to be affected by it.

Recently, it has been shown that highly math-anxious individuals may be less skilled in

arithmetic tasks, especially those involving complex issues. Thirty participants in a timed and

untimed situation solved arithmetic problems of varying difficulty. High-pressure situations in

this study led to more errors when high working memory kids had to solve common carry

problems, while low working memory kids struggled under pressure when they had to solve

unknown carry problems; problems that can only be effectively solved by computational

strategies. The was no difference developed, regardless of the pressure from individual working

memory variations with simpler no-carry issues. Such issues could be solved with two major

approaches: mathematical strategies, which are challenging for our working memory, or more

heuristic strategies and estimation. Children's decision to use logical methods or simpler

methodologies to solve problems depends on both the difficulty of the task and the available

resources of a subject's working memory, affected by pressure. These results show that different

strategies are optimal depending on the state of mind caused by the context of the problem

(DeCaro, Van Stockum, and Weith, 2010)

Math is known to be the hardest subject in the basic education of the Philippines. Having the idea

that math is difficult and confusing, when learning it, most students are under pressure and

anxious. The more anxious they become, the more pressure they feel on time-limited tests. The

deadlines put on students by timed assessments make them uncomfortable, causing them to

forget what they've learned and as a result they'll get lower grades. Also, some students might
not be able to focus when there is a time limit because they feel that the time is not sufficient to

solve the mathematical problems in a test (Rosario, 2018).

Fear of Public Embarrassment

Students usually feel embarrassed and shame through the way teachers speak to students,

their facial expressions and movements, and the amount of time they devote to each individual

learner, teachers communicate these messages. Students may have negative experiences in the

classroom because they are mocked by teachers or peers or they hear frequently that they are

disruptive or slow or "dumb." (Navales, Flora, and Estremera, 2017). Students feel shame when

teachers make reductionistic snap judgments based on visible student performance (Bayer and

Camfeild, 2018). Shame produces fear, risk-aversion, and the creation of a negative shame spiral.

It does not only hurt students but in fact also creates barriers to equitable teaching and learning.

Others might characterize rants against students as harmless or even argue that venting is healthy

and critical to managing the emotional toll of faculty work, perhaps even building community

amongst beleaguered professors, yet this is not what seems to be happening, especially in the

digital sphere. When students are subject to public scorn with limited or no ability to respond,

any presumed prosocial contract is breached, and faculty are unable to tap into an empathetic

understanding of what prompted the behavior in question.

In the Philippines, people embarrass others by smart shaming them. What may initially seem

as harmless, offhand remarks can pierce through the recipient's heart like a double-edged sword,

making one harbor doubts about his or her own intellectual capabilities. Common characteristics
of anti-intellectualists include disbelief in scientific and logical facts, actively shaming

intellectuals, and fear-mongering, among others. The roots of the culture of smart shaming may

have likely stemmed from a crucial part of our identity as Filipinos. (Navales, Flora, and

Estremera, 2017). Shaming others would hinder people to participate in things they want to do.

Thus, thinking that may be embarrassed if they would try to do so. These things usually happen

in the classroom wherein students humiliate their co-students if they got the wrong answer in the

question. Teachers, also, play a big role in this fear of public embarrassment of the students.

They tend to automatically judge their students based on what their performance without

knowing whether the student is scared to even participate in class.

Influence of Teachers

Students often discussed the role that their teachers and parents played in their development

of math anxiety. Consequently, there should be more emphasis on teaching methods which

include less lecture, more student directed classes and more discussion. Even the fact that many

students experience math anxiety in the traditional classroom, teachers should design classrooms

that will make children feel more successful. Students must have a high level of success or a

level of failure that they can tolerate. Therefore, incorrect responses must be handled in a

positive way to encourage student participation and enhance student confidence. One study that

gives an example of this showed that teachers with high math anxiety were more likely to have

students with poorer math achievement at the end of the school year. Researchers suggests that

the way the teacher acted somehow affected the math ability of the students. Therefore, teaching
methods must be re-examined. Consequently, there should be more emphasis on teaching

methods which include less lecture, more student directed classes and more discussion.

(Sokolowski, H. and Ansari, D., 2017).

Effective teachers have observed and witnessed that behavioral issues are relatively rare in

classrooms where children are actively involved and informed and valued for who they are, what

they come from and what they can contribute. An educator needs to take care of many different

students, including those from poor, struggling homes, students who may have to work before or

after school, children from different ethnic, religious and linguistic minority groups, and those

with a range of learning disabilities. Children learn about whether they are important or

irrelevant, quick or slow, liked or criticized through daily interactions with teachers. Evidence on

teacher-student communication reveals that teachers sometimes act differently on the basis of

their own understanding of what a student cannot do. (Navales, Flora, and Estremera, 2017).

Findings show poor to below average mathematical learning ability of the students, but the

level of attitudes in teaching math of second year math teachers support of the students are

positively high. Hence, it is believed that majority of students feel tiresome to learn mathematics.

Thus, it a big responsibility of the teachers to earn couple of solutions in coping these problems

in the classroom. One of these, the teacher must incorporate cooperative learning in the class.

Hence, it is important for teachers to be sensitive to students’ understanding and misconceptions

and determine their learning gaps in mathematics. Therefore, in order to meet students’ needs

and thirst for mathematics, effective teaching pedagogy must be applied in the classroom.
Pearson product-moment correlation show that there is no significant relationship between the

mathematical learning ability of the students and the level of attitudes of teachers in teaching

math. There is, however, a significant relationship between the mathematical learning ability of

students and students’ attitudes in learning the subject in terms of confidence, interest, anxiety

and motivation. There is also a significant but negligible relationship on mathematical learning

ability of students and their similarities and variations of attitudes in terms of confidence,

interest, anxiety and motivation (Agcopra, 2009).

Review of Related Studies

According to Andrews and Brown (2014), math anxiety is a widespread problem for all ages

around the globe. A majority of adolescents show stress and anxiety in math classes and when

doing mathematics in the worldwide assessments of the International Student Assessment

System (PISA) studies. It has to be treated as a factor within an ensemble of interacting variables

to understand how math anxiety works. The antecedents relate to environmental factors such as

the attitudes of teachers and parents towards mathematical ability of their students and children,

social expectations, or personal factors such as traits or gender. Math anxiety deals with factors

that can worsen or reduce math anxiety, such as self-efficacy and motivation in math. The results

of mathematical anxiety correspond not only to success in math-related circumstances, but also

to long-term effects involving effective (or not-so-effective) training, as well as, course and

vocational choices. Support towards mathematical anxiety can be provided at various levels: by

educational institutions, educators, and an improvement in teaching methods, family, or the

person affected. Nonetheless, there is a need for much more research to establish successful math

anxiety treatments according to the characteristics and needs of a person.

The related study's analysis revealed that a range of descriptive statistics and frequency analyzes

were carried out using SPSS. Then, a series of correlational analyzes were performed for math

anxiety pre-enrollment (LMA and MEA subscales), standardized test scores, math placement

scores, and academic success during freshman math practice. The researchers used Cohen's

(1988) criteria to measure the strength of a relationship, establishing a correlation coefficient

between.10 and.30 as a weak relationship, a correlation coefficient between.30 and.50 as

moderate and a correlation coefficient above.50 as strong. It is considered that a correlation

coefficient between-.10 and.10 has no relationship. Researchers understand that anxiety often

pushes a student to do well instead of hindering their progress, but the data shows a higher

percentage of students in the latter group. Although several of this study's comparisons were too

poor to prove a relationship, some conclusions can be drawn. With respect to quantitative anxiety

and standardized test scores, there was the greatest negative correlation between the anxiety level

of participants on the AMAS LMA subscale. These findings suggest higher levels of anxiety in

math testing for students than in math instruction. There were some limitations in this report. The

sample size was limited and carried out within a college The participants appeared to be women,

including only a couple of majors. In addition, during their freshmen year, not every student took

a math course. The explanation for this phenomenon may be an anxiety-based student avoiding

mathematics; however, there is no evidence to support this hypothesis

Another study conducted by Estonanto (2017) reported that at Sorsogon State College, the

influence of math anxiety and the factors that caused anxiety in the pre-calculusof senior high

school students taking Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) beach. The

research design used was correlationally descriptive. Eighty-eight (88) of one hundred and eighty

(180) learners or two (2) of four (4) Laboratory High School sections are randomly assigned to

take a quantitative anxiety test. The study's results showed that out of the 88 student respondents,

39 or 44% were diagnosed with mathematical anxiety and the nature of the subject itself was

responsible for it. In addition, Student Factor was next to the factor listed. Twenty-one or 24% of

respondents were identified as the second primary cause of their anxiety by the student factor. In

addition, 16 respondents or 18 % said that parent’s variable was the source of their anxiety. This

18% represents the group of students whose parents were not actively involved in monitoring the

educational needs of their child especially in the subjects of mathematics. On the other hand, as

students whose causes of math anxiety are socio-cultural economic factor and teacher factor,

only three respondents or 4 % and nine respondents or 10 % were identified. The main cause of

the anxiety of the students are the Nature of the Subject. At a scale of 3.0, the majority of

measures of a student with math anxiety scored above 2.0, suggesting that the

respondents overwhelmingly confirmed that the subject is indeed very difficult for them to

understand. The performance level in pre-calculus of senior high school students during the 1st

Grading Period can be observed that among the total 88 respondents, majority of the students are

in the low-performance level category. Of these, 41 % or 36 respondents registered at low a

performance level in pre-calculus and 24 % or 21 respondents are identified under the very low

performance level category. These findings could be overwhelmingly surprising since students

under the STEM strand are expected to be mathematics enthusiasts. On the contrary, only 4 % or
4 respondents, 9 % or 8 respondents, and 22% or 19 respondents are identified with very high,

average performance level in pre-calculus respectively. Since the majority of the respondents

registered low academic performance in pre-calculus, this suggests that a critical analysis of the

factors that contributed to these results must be done on the part of the teacher. The results of this

study clearly show that math anxiety had an impact on the academic performance of the

respondents in pre-calculus subject. Furthermore, the factors that caused math anxiety of the

students must be given proper attention by teachers. Instruction should not only focus on a

cognitive aspect of the lesson but psychological as well by enhancing performance by

eliminating anxiety among students.

References

Agcopra, S. A. (2009). Attitudinal factors and mathematical learning ability. ADDU-SAS

Graduate School Research Journal, 5(1). Retrieved from http://ejournals.ph/form/cite.php?

id=240

Andrews, A. and Brown, J. (2015). The Effects of Math Anxiety. Education, Volume 135,

Number 3, pp. 362-370(9).

Bayer, L., & Camfeild, E. (2018, April 10). Student Shaming and the Need for Academic

Empathy. Retrieved from Hybrid Pedagogy.

Beilock, S. L., & Willingham, D. T. (2014). "Math Anxiety: Can Teachers Help Students Reduce

It? Ask the Cognitive Scientist". American Educator. 38 (2): 28–43. ISSN 0148-432X.

Blazer, C. (2011). "Strategies for Reducing Math Anxiety". Information Capsule. 1102: 1–8.
Carey, E., Hill, F., Devine, A., & Szucs, D. (2016). The chicken or the egg? The direction of the

relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance. Frontiers in

Psychology, 6(1987). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01987

Curtain-Phillips, M (2017). Math Goodies. Retrieved from The Causes and Prevention of Math

Anxiety.

DeCaro, M. S., Van Stockum, C. A., and Wieth, M. B. (2016). When higher working memory

capacity hinders insight. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 42, 39–49. doi:

10.1037/xlm0000152

Estonanto, Aldrin John Jao. Impact of Math Anxiety on Academic Performance in Pre-Calculus

of Senior High School. Journal of Higher Education Research Disciplines, [S.l.], v. 2, n. 2, dec.

2017. ISSN 2546-0579.

Furner, Joseph M., Berman, Barbara T., "Math anxiety: Overcoming a major obstacle to the

improvement of student math performance", Childhood Education, Spring 2003

Goulding, M., Rowland, T., Barber, T. (2002). Does it matter? Primary teachers trainees' subject

knowledge in mathematics. British Educational Research Journal, 28, 689-704

Harms, William. "When People Worry about Math, the Brain Feels the Pain." UChicago News.

The University of Chicago, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

Joseph, A. (2017, April 24). Definition of Math Anxiety. Retrieved from Sciencing:

https://sciencing.com/factors-affecting-performance-mathematics-8461363.html
Kellogg, Jeffry & Hopko, Derek & Ashcraft, Mark. (1999). The Effects of Time Pressure on

Arithmetic Performance. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 13. 591-600. 10.1016/S0887-

6185(99)00025-0

Kohn, J., Richtmann V, Rauscher L, et al. Das Mathematikangstinterview (MAI): Erste

psychometrische Gütekriterien [Math Anxiety Interview (MAI): First Psychometric Properties].

Lernen und Lernstörungen. 2013;2(3):177–189. German

Laturner, R.J. (2002). "Teachers' academic preparation and commitment to teach math and

science". Teaching and Teacher Education. 18 (6): 653–663. doi:10.1016/s0742-051x(02)00025-

Luttenberger, Silke & Wimmer, Sigrid & Paechter, Manuela. (2018). Spotlight on math anxiety.

Psychology Research and Behavior Management. Volume 11. 311-322. 10.2147/PRBM.S1414

McDonough IM, Ramirez G. Individual differences in math anxiety and math self-concept

promote forgetting in a directed forgetting paradigm. Learn Individ Differ. 2018;64:33–42.

Navales, R. g., Flora I. O., & Estremera, S. A. (2017, April 03). SunStar Pampanga. Teaching

Effectively and Classroom Management, p.7.

Ramirez, Gerardo & Shaw, Stacy & Maloney, Erin. (2018). Math Anxiety: Past Research,

Promising Interventions, and a New Interpretation Framework. Educational Psychologist. 53. 1-

20. 10.1080/00461520.2018.1447384

Rosario, L. F. (2018, July 13). Sunstar Pampanga. Math Anxiety… Causes…What To Do…, p.17

Sokolowski, H. and Ansari, D. (2017). Who is Afraid of Math? What Is Math Anxiety? And

What Can You Do about It?. Front. Young Minds. 5:57. doi: 10.3389/frym.2017.00057
Sparks, S. D. (2011). Researchers Probe Causes of Math Anxiety.’Math Anxiety’ Exploredin

Studies, Vol. 39, Issue 31, Pages 1, 16.

Szucs, D., McLellan, R., & Dowker, A. (2019). Understanding mathematics anxiety. Improving

social well-being through education, research and innovation.

Tan, Denis & Guita, Gilbert. (2018). Mathematics Anxiety and Students’ Academic

Achievement in a Reciprocal Learning Environment. 7. 112-124.

Wilson, S. (2012). Investigating pre-service teachers’ mathematics anxiety using the revised

mathematics anxiety scale (RMARS). In J. Dindyal, L. P. Cheng, & S. F. Ng (Eds.),

Mathematics education: Expanding horizons: Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the

Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (pp. 777-784). Singapore: MERGA.

Wilson, S. (2015). Using critical incident technique to investigate pre-service teacher

mathematics anxiety. In K. Beswick, T. Muir, & J. Wells (Eds), Climbing mountains, building

bridges: Proceedings of the 39thConference of the International Group for the Psychology of

Mathematics Education. Hobart, TAS: PME

Wilson, S. (2017). Maths Anxiety: The Nature and Consequences of Shame in Mathematics

Classroom. Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia