DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY

SOUTH LA UNION CAMPUS

COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
Agoo, La Union

Researcher: Francis Ruel S. Flores

Program: Master of Arts in Mathematics Education
Title: Mathematics Anxiety and Academic Performance of Students

I. Introduction

a. Rationale

Math anxiety is an emotional reaction to mathematics based on a past

unpleasant experience which harms future learning. A good experience learning

mathematics can overcome these past feelings and success and future achievement

in math can be attained (Ellen Freedman 2006). Joseph A. 2017 describes math

anxiety as an emotional problem, and it is characterized be intense nervousness

before or during math tests. This interferes with a person’s ability to optimally do

mathematics problems, thus morphing into an intellectual problem.

Many children and adults feel stressed and anxious when they have to do

math. People who experience feeling of stress when faced with mathematics-related

situations may experience mathematics anxiety. Researchers have studied how

mathematics anxiety first appears, what is happening in the brain when people

experience math anxiety, and how to best help people who are suffering with math

anxiety (Sokolowski and Ansari 2017). Furthermore, math anxiety affects almost
half of students and it is more than dislike for the subject – it is a real problemfor

students, one that blocks the brain’s working memory and starts a self-perpetuating

cycle of mathematics avoidance, low achievement, and fear (Picha G. 2018).

As a mathematics teacher, it has been observed that most students had

negative view towards mathematics. Oftentimes one can see students uninterested

about the subject and in turn they keep on complaining that mathematics is such a

very difficult subject. Such attitude is often reflected during mathematics test

wherein most students had either passing or below passing scores. People who

suffer from math anxiety feel that they are incapable of doing activities and classes

that involve math and some math anxious people even have a fear of math; it's

called math phobia (Srivastava et.al 2015).

Researchers point out the importance of continuing the research in math

anxiety (Siebers 2015). A number of researches have been carried out to investigate

the relationship between mathematics anxiety in secondary schools‟ students and

their achievement score in mathematics (Khaliq 2016). Students having low

achievement in math have high anxiety levels than that of high achieving students

(Dagaylo 2016). Therefore, mathematics anxiety is a predictor of mathematics

performance (Recber et.al 2018).

In view of this, there is a need to determine the mathematics anxiety status

of students as to still improve their mathematics performance. And it is a must for

every mathematics teacher to understand the degree of association of mathematics

anxiety and performance of students. It is for this reason that the study was

conducted.
b. Statement of the problem

This study aims to determine the relationship between Mathematics

Anxiety and Academic Achievement of Grade 10 Junior High School

Students of Santol Vocational High School – Liguay Annex, SY 2018-2019.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the profile of students in terms of:

1.1 Gender;

1.2 Learning Styles?

2. What is the Mathematics Performance and Anxiety Level of Grade

10 in Mathematics?

3. Is there a significant difference about mathematics anxiety level of

students if they are grouped by gender and Learning Styles?

4. Is there a significant difference in the performance of students

based on their level of anxiety?

5. Is there a significant relationship between math anxiety level of

students and their mathematics performance?

c. Conceptual Framework

The following paradigm showed the independent and dependent variables

which are explored in this study.

DEPENDENT
INDEPENDENT Performance of Grade
Mathematics Anxiety 10 Students in
Mathematics

Figure 1. The Research Paradigm of the Study

d. Significance of the Study

This study will help mathematics educators in the implementation of strong

pedagogical practices that can address the issues of mathematics anxiety among

students. Taking into consideration, the recent trend of moving mathematics

education from traditional teaching into the realm of a pedagogy which caters to

the needs, interest, and abilities of students. Also, this study will add to the ongoing

research around math anxiety and the effect it has on student achievement.

Moreover, results in this study may help educators prescribe an early intervention

for those math-anxious students. Classroom teachers, schools, and districts, will be

able to monitor a student’s math anxiety during middle school.

 II. Methodology

a. Research Design

This study made use of descriptive-correlational research design. According to

Fraenkel and Wallen 2000, descriptive-correlational research design describes an

existing relationship between variables and seeks to clarify an understanding of an

important phenomena by identifying relationships among variables. In this study,

relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance was

examined. Thus, descriptive-correlational design was deemed most appropriate

because it describes the relationships of the two quantitative variables.

b. Samples/Participants

This study is conducted to the Grade 10 Students at Santol Vocational High School

– Liguay Annex SY 2018-2019. Forty (40) participants were chose using convenience

sampling, 18 males and 22 females. Students were also divided according to their

gender and Learning Styles.

c. Instruments

The main tool for the study was a questionnaire to identify the anxiety level of the

respondents. The 10-item mathematics anxiety test by Ellen Freedman was adapted to

ensure its reliability.

d. Data Analysis

To obtain the validity and reliability of results of the study, appropriate statistical

tools were used. To determine the level of performance of the respondents, their grades

for the third quarter were used. In interpreting the computed grades of students, the

researcher used the numerical and descriptive rating shown below based on the

Department of Education grading policy as guide.

The set of limits is given for the Numerical and Descriptive Rating for Mathematics

Performance:

Grades Description

95% and above Excellent

90% to 94.99% Very Satisfactory

85% to 89.99% Satisfactory

80% to 84.99% Fair

75% to 79.99% Passing

To determine the level of anxiety of the respondents, weighted mean of the adopted

Mathematics Anxiety Test was used. Responses are made on a 5-point scale. For

negative-affect items low scores indicate high anxiety. Reverse coded items include

positive-affect items were reversed for scoring so that a high score indicates high

anxiety.
 Weighted means were then interpreted using the following pre-set criteria:

Scale Description

4.21 - 5.00 Very High Anxiety (VHA)

3.41 – 4.20 High Anxiety (HA)

2.61 – 3.40 Moderate Anxiety (MA)

1.81 – 2.60 Low Anxiety (LA)

1.00 – 1.80 Very Low Anxiety (VLA)

To identify significant differences about mathematics anxiety level of students by

gender and Learning Styles, Independent Sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were

used respectively. One-way ANOVA was also used to determine significant

differences in the performance of students based on their level of anxiety and academic

performance. And to identify the relationships between Mathematics anxiety and

mathematics performance, the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r)

was used.
 III. Results and Discussion

a. Profile of Students
Table 1: Gender
Gender Frequency
Male 18
Female 22
Total 40

Table 2: Learning Styles

Learning Styles Frequency
Visual 15
Auditory 18
Tactile 7
Total 40

The Table 1 shows the profile of students in terms of gender in which eighten are males

and twenty-two are females for a total of forty students. As for the learning style as shown in table

2, out of forty students, visual learners consist of fifteen students, auditory learners are eighten in

numbers, and tactile learners are seven students.

b. Mathematics Performance and Anxiety Level of Students

Table 3: Mathematics Performance of Students as perceived on their GPA.
Gender Mean Grade Descriptive Interpretation
Male 78.6875 Fairly Satisfactory
Female 84.35483871 Satisfactory

From the table above, it can be interpreted that the mean grades of female students

(84.35%) are higher than the mean grade of male students (78.69%) in which female mean grade

is satisfactory while male mean grade is just fairly satisfactory.

Table 4: Mathematics Anxiety Level of Students.

Male Female
Descriptors Weighted Descriptive Weighted Descriptive
Mean Interpretation Mean Interpretation
1. I cringe when I
have to go to math 2.33 Low 2.14 Low
class.
2. I am uneasy about
going to the board 4.33 Very High 3.36 Moderate
in a math class.
3. I am afraid to ask
questions in math 2.94 Moderate 2.77 Moderate
class.
4. I am always
worried about
3.28 Moderate 3.55 High
being called on in
math class.
5. I understand math
now, but I worry
that it's going to get 4.17 High 4.45 Very High
really difficult
soon.
6. I tend to zone out in
2.28 Low 1.59 Very Low
math class.
7. I fear math tests
more than any other 3.17 Moderate 2.59 Low
kind.
8. I don't know how to
study for math 2.94 Moderate 3.09 Moderate
tests.
9. It's clear to me in
math class, but
when I go home it's 3.11 Moderate 2.95 Moderate
like I was never
there.
10. I'm afraid I won't
be able to keep up
2.78 Moderate 2.77 Moderate
with the rest of the
class.
Overall Weighted Mean Moderate Moderate
3.13 2.93
Anxiety Anxiety
 The mean anxiety of males is 3.13 and females is 2.93. The results clearly indicate that

males are more anxious in answering problems on the board and females are more anxious about

increasing difficulty of topics in mathematic as reflected in their anxiety scores of both males and

females. Males anxiety level is slightly higher than females contrary to the study of Srivastava, R.

et.al 2016 that females have more anxiety levels than males in mathematics.

c. Comparative Analysis on the Student’s Mathematics Anxiety Level based on their

Gender and Learning Styles
Table 5: Test of Significant Difference of Students’ Anxiety Level based on Gender

Gender Mean Std. Deviation t-value p-value

Male 3.1333 .59210

1.184 .244
Female 2.9273 .50914
p>.05, df = 38

The mean anxiety of males is 3.1333 with standard deviation of .59210 and that of females

2.9273 with SD of .50914. The tvalue has been calculated as 1.184 with df = 38, and p > .05. The

results clearly indicate that there is no significant difference between anxiety scores of both males

and females which is different from the result of the study of Alzahrani, A. and Stojanovski, E.

2017 which stated that males were significantly more anxious than females.

Table 6: Test of Significant Difference of Students’ Anxiety Level based on Learning Styles.
6.1 Comparison between Learning Styles
Learning Styles Mean p-value
Visual 3.07333
Auditory 2.97778 0.889
Tactile 3.01429
 6.2 Multiple Comparison between Learning Styles
Mean Difference
Learning Styles (1) Learning Styles (2) Sig.
(1-2)
Auditory .0956 .631
Visual
Tactile .0590 .820
Visual -.0956 .631
Auditory
Tactile -.0365 .885
Visual -.0590 .820
Tactile
Auditory .0365 .885

The two tables above clearly imply that there is no significant difference between the mean

anxiety scores of students whether they are visual learners, auditory learners, or tactile learners.

d. Comparative Analysis on the Student’s Performance based on their Level of Math

Anxiety
Table 7: Test of Significant Difference of Students’ Performance Level based on their level of
Anxiety.

Mathematics Anxiety Level f Significance

Very Low 2
Low 5
Moderate 27 0.616
High 5
Very High 1

The data shows that there is no significant difference between the academic performance of

students whether they have very low, low, moderate, high and high anxiety.

e. Relationship between Students Mathematics Anxiety Level and Mathematics

Performance
Table 8: Correlation Between the Students Mathematics Anxiety Level and Mathematics
Performance
Variables N r p
Mathematics Anxiety & 40 -.311 .051
 Students‟ Academic
Achievement
p>.05, df = 38

The Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation (r) was used to explore the

relationship between mathematics anxiety and student’s achievement in mathematics. The above

table demonstrates a moderate negative relationship between mathematics anxiety and students’

academic achievement; r(38) = -.311, p>.05. Therefore, there is no significant relationship between

mathematics anxiety and student’s mathematics achievement. On the other hand, the computed

correlation (r) dictates that math anxiety has effect to the academic performance of students.

Hence, there should be a continuing research in math anxiety (Siebers 2015).

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