Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

Foreign
“The absence of academic motivation and lack of interest is also
likely to be reflected in students’ neglect of their studies. Research
over the last two decades has indicated that adolescents’ academic
motivation declines over time. Recent studies show that as children
get older, their interests and attitudes toward school in general and
toward specific subject areas such as mathematics, art, and science
tend to deteriorate (Hidi and Harackiewicz [1]).”

Informally, interest is defined in Collins Dictionary as “[2]

something that interests you and attracts your attention so that you
want to learn or hear more about it or continue doing it.” Self-
motivation can also be defined as the “[2] motivation arising from an
individual’s internal desires for the satisfaction and fulfillment of
specific needs.” In this paper, we seek to investigate the effect of a
student’s interest and self-motivation on his learning and
understanding of mathematics. This is relevant because if indeed the
gross self-concept of a student influences his or her performance in
mathematics or any subject area, educationists and stakeholders would
want to channel their strength in motivating students to have a good
self-concept about themselves, especially in Ghana, a country where
student’s performance in mathematics is on the decline.

A questionnaire circulated by Math Lib and Lab in Ghana (2015) showed

that most students and pupils in this population think that
mathematics is difficult and they lacked interest and personal
motivation for mathematics. Let us think upon these; could it be that
the mathematics instructors around these individuals are not good in
mathematics or that these mathematics instructors have not known how
well to guide their students in patience, so that the total impression
made by these mathematics instructors is deadening? Are there those
today who will not come to appreciate the beauty of mathematics
because it was their peculiar misfortune to at a critical point in
their lives come into contact with a deadening mathematics teacher and
have lost all interest in the study of mathematics? Or, how much
difference do students’ interest and self-motivation make to the
learning of mathematics?

In this paper, students’ confidence and motivation were conceptualized

to have a direct effect on their interest in mathematics. Anxiety and
usefulness of mathematics were conceptualized to have indirect effects
on their interest in mathematics, moderated by confidence and
motivation. Although significant research has been conducted to
identify the factors that influence students’ interest and self-
motivation for learning mathematics, the variables such as confidence,
motivation, math anxiety, and usefulness conceptualized in this were
not thoroughly examined. It is also important to add that no research
like this has been done in Ghana.
Local
Mathematics is considered the mother of all learning in both arts and
sciences. It is essential in almost every field: measurement in
fashion, angles in sports, technology and economics. This perspective
on Mathematics has gained more attention with the rapid advances of
information and communication. Mathematics is not just computation but
a tool for understanding structures, relationships and patterns to
produce solutions for complex real life problems. Mathematics is a
necessity for people of all ages to be successful in life.
Despite the usefulness of mathematics in daily life, there are factors
that adversely affect the students' ability to understand and apply
mathematics concepts.

Leongson (2003) reveals that Pilipino students excel in knowledge

acquisition but fare considerably low in lessons requiring higher
order thinking skills. This disappointing condition is evident in the
performance of students in national and international surveys on
mathematics and science competencies. Performance of pre-service
teachers and mathematics teachers in the Professional Board
Examination reveals the same picture of poor competencies (Philippine
Daily Inquirer, 1986; Ibe,1995). The Third International Mathematical
Science Study (TIMMS,2000) examined patterns of students achievement
in mathematics and found out that the school effectiveness and
teachers competency impact learning and promote higher level of
achievements 
The quality of instruction and effective instructional design are
necessary to alleviate problems related to teaching and learning
mathematics (Dursun & Dede,2004).
College students are not exempted from the problem in learning and
mastering mathematics. Tests in Mathematics reveal low performance of
students of Philippine Normal University,Isabela Campus. Aware of the
importance and relevance the problem in Mathematics pose, this study
is conducted.
A growing body of research finding indicates that demographic,
individual, instructional; classroom management and evaluation factors
have an impact on the Mathematical Achievement of the students.
Identifying factors that affect Mathematics Achievement is important
to effectively educate students.
Foreign

Mathematics is one of the most important school subjects in the

curriculum worldwide. It is a subject that has direct relationship
with other subjects, particularly technical and sciences. Mathematics
is also a subject that cuts across primary and secondary school as a
compulsory subject. Umameh, (2011) in Tshabalala and Ncube, (2013) was
of the view that mathematics is bedrock and an indispensable tool for
scientific, technological and economic advancement of any nation. In
addition to that Davies and Hersh, (2012) see mathematics as the
important subject not only from point of view of getting an academic
qualification at school or college, but also is a subject that
prepares the students for the future as well irrespective of which
work of life they choose to be a part of. Mefor, (2014) summarized it
all by saying that mathematics relates to everything in the universe
from the smallest to the largest. Umameh, (2011) added that
mathematics is intimately connected to daily life and everybody’s
life-long planning. Therefore, mathematics is a subject that education
and human life cannot function effectively without it.
Equally, in Nigeria, mathematics is given all the necessary importance
in the curriculum and all policies related to education, right from
primary to higher levels. In relation to that Federal Republic of
Nigeria (FGN) (2004) categorically stated that mathematics is one of
the core or basic subject for all primary and secondary school
children. In addition to that mathematics is one of the compulsory
subjects that must be passed at credit level by students before
getting admission into any tertiary institution in Nigeria. The
secondary school mathematics has the following objectives as
identified by Comparative Education Study and Adaptation Centre
(CESAC) (1982):
 To develop computational skills and foster the desire and ability to
be accurate in a degree relevant to
the problem at hand.
 To develop precise, logical and abstract thinking.
 To develop ability to recognize problems and to solve them with
related to mathematics knowledge.
 To provide necessary mathematical background for further education.
 To stimulate and encourage creativity, originality and curiosity in
the learner.
However, it is disheartening to note that with all the importance
attached to mathematics in Nigeria’s
education system, poor performance is recorded in public examinations
in recent time. This poor performance in mathematics is one of the
major reason for decline in science and technology courses and
development, even though FGN, (1998) emphasis on 60:40 ratio in favour
of sciences in the area of admission into higher institutions. Ukeje,
(1977) in Ojimba, (2012) was of the view that without mathematics,
there is no science, without science there is no modern technology and
without modern technology there is no modern society. Despite the
importance attached to mathematics by all stakeholders in education,
senior secondary school students still perform poorly.The Daily Trust
of Wednesday, August 25, 2010 as cited by Sa’ad and Usman (2014)
reported that “seventy-five per cent of candidates who sat for
May/June WAEC 2010 examinations failed to meet the minimum entry
requirement into tertiary institutions. Again, the Daily Trust of 21st
August, 2014 in Sa’ad and Rabiu (2014) reveals that the recently
released WAEC results indicated that over seventy percent fail in
November/December results. 86,612 candidates, representing 29.17
percent of the total number of candidates who sat for the NOV/DEC
examinations of West African Examination Council (WAEC), obtained
credits in five subjects and above, including Mathematics and English
language. Again, the WAEC has released its May/June 2014 WASSCE
results, recording mass failure in mathematics and English language.
Head of National Office, WAEC Charles Eguridu, while announcing the
results said ”A total of 529,425 candidates; representing 31.28
percent obtained credits. According to him when compared to the 2012
and 2013 May/June WASSCE, there was marginal decline in the
performance of candidates as 38.81 percent was recorded in 2012 and
36.57 in 2013.
Local
Mathematics is the one of the most importance subject in our human
life. Without the knowledge mathematics, we can say nothing possible
in the world. Now a day’s mathematics is globally accepted but locally
useless. Mathematics has been accepted as an importance component of
formal education from ancient period to the present day. Our history
shows that ancient scholars developed mathematics practically being
obliged day-to-day problem. In the ancient period, mathematics has
developed by great shepherds. Mathematics is the body of knowledge in
the area of science and technology. The subject mathematics is
beautiful and interesting because its own symbols, language, terms,
technology etc. Mathematics is being main part of human lifestyle. In
the world, each society has their own mathematical languages, terms,
symbols, counting system in different countries like as Chinese,
American, Japanese, Arabian etc. The National Research Council
purported that students learn mathematics well only when they
construct their own mathematical understanding and that this
understanding requires them to examine, represent, transform, solve,
apply, prove, and communicate [10 ]. Mathematic is the significant
subject in our human life. As mathematics has emphasized like language
most of students have been failed in mathematics as a difficult
subject and majority of students fail in mathematics.. By this problem
the great deal of time, money effort and man power of the nation
subject matter, curriculum refineries available problem solving method
extra activities affect to study mathematics in every sectors,
Educationists as well as state are facing the challenges with the
problems of failure in SLC examination in mathematics. The students
are suffering by various problems and they are facing the challenging
of SLC examination being failure in mathematics. What are the main
influencing factors to learn mathematics? So, it try to answer the
questions like, What are the causes of difficulties in learning
mathematics? Question like this occurs it was motivated to carried out
this research.
Foreign
Mathematics occupies an important place in the curriculum. Keeping in
view its importance, the ‘Education Commission’ (1964-66) recommended
it as a compulsory subject for students at school level [3]. The
‘National Policy of Education’(1986), also considered the importance
of mathematics in general education and suggest that, “Mathematics
should be visualized as a vehicle to train a child to think, reason,
analyze and to articulate logically. Apart from being a specific
subject, it should be treated as concomitant to any subject involving
analysis and reasoning” [12]. The National Curriculum Framework for
School Education (NCFSE), 2000, also have thesame type of version [15,
16]. However, much of the curriculum development in mathematics has
taken place during the past thirty/forty years. This is because of the
new technological revolution which has an impact on society. It is
fact that, despite its utility and importance, mathematics is
perceived by most pupils as difficult, boring, not very practical,
abstract etc. For most students, the subject is not a source of
satisfaction, but rather one of frustration, discouragement and
anxiety [2, 6].Recent NCERT research has indicated that the maximum
number of failures at secondary level is in mathematics and social
sciences. In the field of education, it has become a burning problem
and the number of low achiever students in mathematics in the school
level are constantly increasing [4]. In spite of the pedagogic
progress and efforts of teachers of mathematics, results in general
are unsatisfactory.
This may be due to the lack of ‘interest’ of the students in the
subject of mathematics. Whatever one learns, ‘interest’ plays a
dominant role in making him learn that thing. When a student
attributes high value to a particular subject area, then it is said
that the student has interest in that area [17]. According to Gardener
and Tamir [10], the term ‘interest’ refers to engage in some types of
activities rather than others. ‘Interest’ may be regarded as a highly
specific type of attitude. When we are interested in a particular
phenomenon or activity, we are favorably inclined to it and give time
to it. The term ‘interest’ is used also to indicate a permanent mental
disposition. According to Mc Dougal, ‘taking interest’ means the
bearing of a condition or subject. If a person takes ‘interest’ in a
subject, then he would centralize himself in it despite being tired
[8]. It is utmost needed to create interest of students in
mathematics, so that different intellectual traits like power of
thinking, reasoning, analysis, synthesis, discovery etc develop in the
students and there by lead the society towards a positive and
constructive direction.Different studies done so far clearly bring out
the importance of ‘interest’ on students’ achievement. Cronback (1963)
confirmed positive correlation in ‘interest in mathematics’ and
mathematics achievement [3]. Several authors (e.g., Krapp, 1998a,
1998b, 1999; U.Schiefele, Krapp and Winteler, 1992) have proposed that
‘interest’ influences academic achievement and learning in school [7,
14]. But, a few number of studies have been conducted so far in this
area. So there is a great need to study different factors which are
responsible for making the students disinterested in mathematics and
suggest remedies for those. One of the consistent finding in the
literature on ‘mathematics interest’ is the effect of gender. A number
of studies have documented that boys are more interested in
mathematics than girls (Eccles et al., 1983; Fredricks & Eccles, 2002;
Hoffmann et al.,1998; Jacobs et al., 2002; OECD, 2004; Watt,2004)
[18].Again, after class VIII students enter into the secondary level
which is a bridge between primary level and higher secondary level.
Secondary level decides in which track a student will go. Therefore,
it has a great impact on students’ life. Hence, before entering this
level, students’ ‘mathematics interest’ should be analyzed so that
drawbacks can be removed for their betterments.
Local
Proficiency in languages, science, and mathematics is seen as an
essential precursor to success in modern society. In Portugal, recent
guidelines, set by the Ministry of Education regarding Mathematics and
Portuguese Language curricula, tasks, evaluation, and workload,
reflect this concern as these subjects are cross-curricular and are
used in daily life. Comparative international evaluations [1] revealed
that Portuguese students did not perform as well as expected, and that
they underachieved in mathematics and languages when compared to
students from other countries in the OECD. In mathematics, results
showed that whilst there was an improvement in mathematics performance
by Portuguese students from 2003 to 2009, in 2009, on a scale of six
levels, Portugal still has in the region of 25% of their students at
level 2 or below [1].
These results give impetus to the development of further research that
seeks to characterize and understand different variables which may
influence student performance. This will help to make possible
strategies for future action in schools, families, and communities, in
order to bring about an improvement in the failure rate in math.
The complexity of factors that can influence math performance is
demonstrated by Singh, Granville, and Dika [2] when they show that
high achievement in mathematics is a function of many interrelated
variables related to students, families, and schools. Among student
variables, attitudes are regarded by several researchers, as an
important/key factor to be taken into account when attempting to
understand and explain variability in student performance in maths [3–
6].
Mobilizing a set of different definitions concerning attitudes
presented since 1935, Eshun [7, page 2] defines an attitude towards
mathematics as “a disposition towards an aspect of mathematics that
has been acquired by an individual through his or her beliefs and
experiences but which could be changed.” When emphasizing the
importance of individual experiences, the contexts where students
interact with others and with mathematics become important focal
points. Fraser and Kahle [8] have also highlighted this aspect in
research which shows that learning environments at home, at school,
and within the peer group accounted for a significant amount of
variance in student attitudes and, furthermore, that class ethos had a
significant impact on the scores achieved by students for these
attitudes.
In addition, Mohamed and Waheed [5] when reviewing literature aimed at
understanding attitudes and the influences on their development in
relation to differences between students, identified three groups of
factors that play a vital role in influencing student attitudes:
factors associated with the students themselves (e.g., mathematical
achievement, anxiety, self-efficacy and self-concept, motivation, and
experiences at school); factors associated with the school, teacher,
and teaching (e.g., teaching materials, classroom management, teacher
knowledge, attitudes towards maths, guidance, beliefs); finally
factors from the home environment and society (e.g., educational
background, parental expectations).
Attitudes can be seen as more or less positive. A positive attitude
towards mathematics reflects a positive emotional disposition in
relation to the subject and, in a similar way, a negative attitude
towards mathematics relates to a negative emotional disposition [9].
These emotional dispositions have an impact on an individual’s
behavior, as one is likely to achieve better in a subject that one
enjoys, has confidence in or finds useful [7]. For this reason
positive attitudes towards mathematics are desirable since they may
influence one’s willingness to learn and also the benefits one can
derive from mathematics instruction [7].