MATHEMATICS ANXIETY AND MATHEMATICS PERFORMANCE OF GRADE 10

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF LABORATORY HIGH SCHOOL

By:

BANDALI, SANDRA I.

BATARA, GIRLIE C.

SAMONTAÑEZ, BLESSIE MARIE T.

A Research Proposal

Submitted to the Faculty of College of Education in Partial

Fulfillment of the Course Research in Mathematics II (MT221)

DR. OMBRA A. IMAM

College of Education

April 2019
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION.………………………...……………………………..1

Background of the Study ………………………………………………………. 1

Statement of the Problem ……………………………………………………… 3

Hypothesis ……………………………………………………………………... 4

Theoretical Framework and Conceptual Framework …………………………. 4

Significance of the Study ……………………………………………………... 5

Scope and Delimitation ……………………………………………………….. 6

Definition of Terms …………………………………………………………… 6

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE …………………………...8

Nature of Mathematics Anxiety ………………………………………………. 9

Levels of Mathematics Anxiety …………………………………………….... 10

Causes of Mathematics Anxiety …………………………………………….. 11

Effects of Mathematics Anxiety ……………………………………………... 12

Mathematics Anxiety and Mathematics Performance………..………….….. 13

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY …………………………………………………. 14

Research Design ……………………………………………………………... 14

Research Setting ……………………………………………………………... 15

Research Instrument ………………………………………….……………… 17

Data Analysis ………………………………………………………….…….. 18

References ……………………………………………………………………..……. 19

Appendices

A. (Survey Questionnaire)………………………………………….……. 20

B. (Letter to the Respondents)……………………….……………........... 21

C. (Letter to the Validator)........................................................................ 22

 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

It seems axiomatic that the subject of math portray as an integral part in education

and in our daily lives but it has been plagued with fear and anxiety by some students. Therefore,

it is commonly viewed as a complicated subject. To some students, the more mention the word

“Mathematics” can cause anxiety and trigger unusual behavior, it is called Mathematics Anxiety.

Mathematics anxiety has an actual effect of the brain’s functions that negatively impacts the

ability to complete mathematics tasks. This is not surprising as most of people intuitively know

that when one is feeling afraid or intensely nervous or frustrated he tends to have a hard time

concentrating. Mathematics anxiety can cause one to forget and loose one’s self confidence. Such

reasons can leave a student led to hate the subject and lose all confidence in their ability to excel

at it. This is an often repeated cliché but it is unfortunately true.

Anxiety is an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked

by psychological signs as sweating, tension and increased pulse by doubt concerning the reality

and nature of the threat and by self-doubt about one’s capability to cope with it. Fear and anxiety

often cause very similar symptoms such as muscle tension, increased heart rate and shortness of

breath brought about by the body’s flight-or-flight instinct. It is also no surprise then that for

many of us, fear and anxiety pretty much mean the same thing. But where psychologists are

concerned, fear and anxiety are two completely different disorders that require different

treatment. “Fear is the emotional response to or real perceived imminent threat,” “Anxiety

disorders differ from developmentally normative fear or anxiety by being excessive or persisting

beyond developmentally appropriate periods”. Anxiety disorders are persistent, typically lasting
six months or longer. Fear is referred to as emotional response to a situation in which an

individual feels threatened. The cause of the threat is realistic in nature. Oftentimes, fear of a

particular situation or event is caused by a traumatic event experienced earlier in life. Probably a

person experiencing the situation has mathematics anxiety.

Mathematics anxiety is commonly define as “a feeling of tension and anxiety that

interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide

variety of ordinary life and academic situation, “ (Richard &Suinn, 1972, p. 551) or “ feeling of

tension and apprehension or even dread, that interferes with the ordinary manipulation of

numbers and the solving of mathematical problems,” (Ashcraft & Faust, 1994, p. 98), among

other variations upon the theme. Mathematically anxious students complain of such thing as

nervousness, inability to concentrate, a blank mind, and a feeling of sickness when they are

confronted with taking mathematics test. Other symptoms include panic, paranoia, passive

behavior and lack of confidence. When confronted with a mathematics problem, mathematically

anxious student has sweaty palms is nauseous, and has heart palpitations and experience
2
paralysis of thought.

The cycle begins with anxious mathematics students, convinced of their inability to do

math might avoid the subject or put for the little effort, learning significant gaps in their

mathematics development. Difficulty mounts as the students confronts more advanced skills,

causing further anxiety and avoidance, unless math anxiety is confronted, it can turn into a

permanent block. Oftentimes one can see students uninterested about the subject and in turned

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
 3

scores. However, it is a must for every mathematics teachers to understand the reasons why most

students are uninterested about mathematics.

Good academic performance is very important not only to students and their parents, but

also to institutions of learning, educationalist and any progressive. The quality of students’

academic performance is influenced by wide range of environmental factors rather simply

teacher factors and psychological factors within the learners such as motivation and self, rather

than simply by ability. Mathematics anxiety is increasingly being seen as factors underpinning l

evels of motivation for academic performance. It affects any processes such as initiating or

responding to mathematics tasks attitudinally and cognitively, negative predisposition for

mathematics in general and particular mathematics, making sense of the problem linguistically,

conceptually or procedurally connecting multiple presentations of the problem, retrieval of

information, understanding the problem, making connections between incoming information and

prior information and knowledge, translating the words and expressions into mathematical

expressions and equations, and engaging with the problem and showing interest in the outcome

of the problem.

The purpose of this research is to simply recognize if there is an existing relationship

between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance on grade 10 students .What can a

teacher do to help a student overcome numerical anxiety.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study was conducted particularly to understand better the factors affecting the

mathematics anxiety on mathematics performance of grade 10 students of Laboratory High

school. Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What are the levels of mathematics anxiety of Grade 10 Students?

 2. What is the level of Grade 10 student’s performance in mathematics?

3. Is there a significant relationship of mathematics anxiety and the Grade 10 student’s

performance in mathematics?

HYPOTHESIS

Based on the following problem, the researchers came up with the following hypothesis:

There is a significance difference between the anxiety and math performance of Grade 10

students.

There are a significant relationship between mathematics anxiety and the Grade 10 student

performance.

THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

 5

People with math anxiety are less likely to enroll in math classes, and have a tendency to answer

questions quickly but inaccurately, perhaps due to trying to escape the anxiety including math

situation. This suggests a tendency towards math anxiety, which has a negative impact on both

learning opportunities and recall in tests. Secondly, while individuals are engaged in math tasks,

math anxiety might act to distract them from what they are trying to learn or remember. The idea

that anxiety could interfere with learning and recall is known as cognitive interference, anxiety

generates distracting thoughts and sensations which affects memory capacity. This idea is

supported by evidence suggesting that those with higher math anxiety have poorer working

memory, used to store, process and manipulate information, and those with higher math anxiety

have poorer working memory (memory used to store, process and manipulate information), and

that those with math anxiety do especially poorly in questions which require a high level of

working memory to solve. The idea is that math anxiety reduces math performance, then, both by

reducing working memory capacity. There is some evidence that the relationship between math

anxiety and math performance does operate in this direction.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATIONS

In general, the focus of this study is to find out the probable effect of mathematics anxiety in

Grade 10 students. The effect of Mathematics Anxiety will be observed in the said school. It will

be limited only to Grade 10 Students of Laboratory High School.

SIGNIFICANT OF STUDY

The result of the study will be the following:

School Institution

This study will help the institution to be aware for the possible problems might encounter of

Grade 10 students in Laboratory High School about Mathematics Anxiety. This is to address

Mathematics Anxiety since it is quite real problem.

Teachers

It will enhance teacher skill in terms of teaching strategies, methods, standard competencies and

apply their knowledge. It is part of the progress of the teachers teaching techniques.

Students
It will help the students to perform their abilities and excel their performance in mathematics and

to gradually overcome this mathematics anxiety. This is to show their great performance in

solving mathematics problem.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Fear - is the emotional response to or real perceived imminent threat.

Mathematics Anxiety - is a common type of anxiety disorder that defined as feelings of tension

that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and solving mathematics problem.

Mathematics Performance- refers to the student’s grades in terms of their quizzes and

examination.

MAS- Mathematics Anxiety Scale.

7
MA- Mathematics Anxiety.

Mathematics Phobia - are anxiety disorder involving fear or anxiety that is excessive or out of

proportion to the object or situation.

Students - the respondents participated in the study which is studying as Grade 10 in Laboratory

High School.
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter includes the short description of anxiety, the nature of mathematics anxiety,

the types, the possible causes, levels of anxiety and the brief overview of the effects of

mathematics anxiety.

Anxiety is an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked

by physical signs such as tension, sweating and increased pulse rate by doubt concerning the

reality and nature of the threat and by self doubt that ones capacity to cope with it. (Merriam

Webster Dictionary).

It is also said that it is ours body natural response to stress. But if our feelings of anxiety

become extreme, last longer and interfere with our life, we might have an anxiety disorder. It is

the most common form of emotional disorder and can affect anyone at any age. It is when the

feeling of fear maybe with you all the time. It is intense and sometimes debilitating.

There are different types of anxiety. These include: Panic disorder, Phobia, Social

Anxiety disorder, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, separation anxiety disorder, illness anxiety

disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Researchers are not sure of the exact cause of

anxiety. But it could be combination of factors that as well as brain chemistry. Furthermore , they

also believe that the areas parts of the brain responsible for controlling fear maybe impacted that

is why current research of anxiety is taking a deeper look at the part of the brain that are

involved with anxiety (www.healthline.com>anxiety).

 9

Anxiety and depression lead to academic tasks. Higher levels of anxiety, depression, and

worry can lead to lower academic performance and power working memory function. School

task that involve more working memory are greatly affected by anxiety and depression (Owens

et al., 2012).

Nature of Mathematics Anxiety

Many studies over the years have indicated that many people have extremely negative

attitudes to mathematics, sometimes can result to serve anxiety (Hembree, 1990; Ascraft, 2002;

Maloney and Beilock, 2012). Mathematics anxiety was defined as to the feeling of tension and

anxiety that interferes with the calculation of numbers and solving of mathematical problems in

ordinary life and academic situations. It was found out that mathematics anxiety has two separate

dimensions in sixth graders and secondary school students. The two different dimensions are

cognitive and affective, similar to those that had been identified previously in the test anxiety.

The cognitive dimension, labeled as worry, were referred to concern about one performance and

the consequences of failure, and the affective dimension, labeled as “emotionality” were also

referred to nervousness and tension in testing situations and task that needed an immediate

response.

Over the years, studied have indicated that many people formed an extremely negative attitudes

towards mathematics that sometimes lead to anxiety. (Hembree, 1990; Ascraft, 2002; Maloney

and Beilock, 2012). The unusual nervousness when during or just mere thinking about

mathematics and panic during test or when called on to answer questions some of symptoms
that you could observe on the people that have mathematics anxiety,
10
(www.oxfordlearning,com>what are the symptoms of anxiety).

Mathematics Anxiety is commonly defined as the feelings of tension and anxiety that has

something to do with the manipulation of numbers and solving of mathematical problems in

ordinary life and academic situations( Richardson and Suinn,1972 p.551). At some point, it is not

easy to memorization of different formulas just to get the answer of different equations and to

calculate every single digit of number for you to arrive at correct answer.

“Math anxiety has been shown to affect students in various countries and across all educational

levels (Downer et al, 2016, Foley et al., 2017). Hence, MA hold back the students academic

performance inside the classroom. It is a problem that commonly observing during math class in

a particular grade level or school. The symptoms may differ from one to another individual

students but the thing is, it should be properly addressed.

Levels of Mathematics Anxiety

The numerical anxiety were said to be recognized as to mild and high level. It was observed

when demands in terms of working processes increased so as anxiety. Once this mathematical

anxiety increases beyond this point, performance disintegrates rapidly. Concentration

deteriorates, the ability to perform both physical and mental activities is lost and the students do

not have any control over the task in hand (William Matthew Siebers, 2015). High levels of

mathematical anxiety were more observed by working difficult memory task when doing mental

addition for an instance than those of low anxiety subjects. The learners who happen to have the

high level of anxiety were more disoriented and pressured in the classroom during class activity.

The findings suggested that it was the ability to hold information in working memory in facing or
 11

completing some cognitive task that was making it hard for the mathematically anxious patients.

It is when (Ashcraft and Kirk, 2001) then sought to extend the findings reported to a situation

where their participants were not involved in any explicitly numerical processing. The

participants undertook the number of letter transformation task that was demanding of working

memory and required counting. The highly anxious participants performed poorly on the task

that both letter and numbers conditions suggesting that the process of solving was impaired

under circumstances and conditions of high working memory and solving load

(ejop.psychopen.eu).

Causes of Math Anxiety

Many students claim not to like math. But for some, the issue with math is more than simply

disliking algebra or fractions. It can cause negative emotions like fear of failure. This harms their

ability to perform mathematics task.

Research confirms that the pressure of timed test and the risk of public embarrassment have long

been recognized as the source of unproductive tension among many students. There are practices

that happen regularly in a traditional classroom that causes great anxiety like imposed authority,

public exposure and time deadlines. (www.mathnasium.com/M.C.Philips).

On the other hand, Oxfordlearning.com had similar findings on the causes of mathematics

anxiety. They also recognize gave three major source of math anxiety like the pressure caused by

time limits on test, the fear of public embarrassment and lastly, the influence of teacher.

Furthermore, Boaler (2002) and Beilock (2008) suggested that another reason why math anxiety

exist is due to the method behind instruction and how students are tested.
 12

Effects of Mathematics Anxiety

Jain and Dowson (2009) define fear in mathematics as the effect of person’s failure to

manage frustration, poor self-efficacy school absenteeism, negative attitude towards

mathematics, and giving importance of learning using drill and practice without understanding.

The development of fear in mathematics is affected by intellectual capacity, personality, and

environmental factors. Personality variables include self-esteem, self-concept, attitude,

confidence and learning behavior. Meanwhile, intellective variables comprise of concepts related

to students’ academic performance. The psycho-logical hardiness construct is emerged as a

buffer in the relationship between stressors and illness and has been shown as an element

enhancing performance (Maddi and Kobasa 1979). Psychological hardiness comprised of three

obliquely related attitudes (Kobasa et al. 1982). The three interrelated hardiness attitudes of

commitment, control, and challenge are thought to influence two underlying mechanisms that

enhance the performance of every individual person (Maddi and Kobasa 1979).The classroom is

ultimately the learning space where students are taught mathematics. The structure of a

classroom and the instruction inside is most important. Picture a classroom in which children are

highly engaged in solving math problems through debating their solutions (Alsup, 2005; Ascraft

and Kirk, 2001; Tobias, 2003). Rivera (1997) had studied “The effect of home environment and
parent-child interactions on mathematics anxiety”. The finding indicated that home environment

was a predictor of academic achievement.

13

Mathematics Performance and Academic Achievement

Learning mathematics affects the learner’s possess confidence, mathematical abilities,

attitudes, beliefs and feelings they have towards mathematics (Coben, 2003). Mathematics

anxiety has been found to have connections to mathematics performance of learners (Zacaria &

Nordin, 2008: Karimi & Venkatesan, 2009). Since math anxiety has been decreasing the

efficiency of an individuals working memory. The intrusive thoughts and worry is taking away

the focus of a learners from mathematics tasks at hand. Hence, math anxiety constrains math

performance by decreasing competence and reduce completion rates resulting to lower academic

performance in the said subject (Ho, Senturk, Lam, Zimmer, Hong, Kamoto and Chui, 2000).

The learners with higher levels of anxiety in mathematics tend to have lower math performance.

(Ho et. al., 2000)

 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This research shows factors which have effects in the students' mathematics anxiety of

Grade -10 students of Laboratory High School. In pursuing to achieve our aim we will be using

quantitative research. Accordingly, quantitative research is the systematic empirical investigation

of observable phenomena via statistical mathematical or computational techniques. It is to

develop and employ mathematical models, theories and hypotheses pertaining to phenomena.

The process and measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides fundamental

connection between empirical observations.

Research Design

This present study is a descriptive-correlational research design. A descriptive- correlational

design describes an existing relationship between variables and seeks to clarify an understanding

of an important phenomena by identifying relationships among variables. (Fraenkel and Wallen)

1996.

Locale of the Study

This research study will be conducted at Cotabato City State Polytechnic College
(CCSPC)-Laboratory High School which is located along Sinsuat Avenue, Cotabato City.

Laboratory High School is inside CCSPC campus. The respondents in this research will be

gathered randomly from the three sections of Grade 10 of the said school with the total number

of 133 population of the students enrolled in the School Year 2017-2018.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of this study are from the three section of Grade 10 students of Laboratory

High School with the total number of 133 students. The study will conducted in Cotabato City

State Polythecnic College.

Research Instrument

In this study, the researcher will be using two instruments: a survey questionnaire and

observation. The questionnaire is from the 10-Items Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS) from

Betz, N.E. (1978) where Wilder, et.al, (2014) used to assess the level of students mathematics

anxiety. The Grade 10 students of Laboratory High School will only choose their answer from

Strongly Agree , Agree, Strongly disagree, Disagree and Undecided in each questions and the 10-

items researcher made questionnaire to measure the level of mathematics performance. The

mathematics performance of the said respondents will be based on their grade from second

grading.

Data Collection

The data are gathered by the researcher through first sending of letter that asking for

permission from the Dean and the Principal to administer the survey questionnaires. The
distribution and retrieval of the survey questionnaire are personally conducted by the researchers.

The researcher also asked the teacher of Grade 10 for their grades on mathematics.

Data Analysis

The researcher use descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean and standard deviation

to describe the mathematics anxiety and the mathematics performance.

Chapter IV

Presentation of Analysis and Interpretation of Data

This chapter present the Analysis and Interpretation of Data obtained from the one

hundred thirty three (133) respondents.

Table 1

Socio-Demographic Profile of the Respondents

FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
AGE
15 – 16 112 84 %
17 – 18 21 16 %
Total 133 100 %
YEAR & SECTION
Emerald 46
Sapphire 46
Amethyst 41
Total 133
 Table 1 shows the Socio- Demographic Profile of the respondents at the age of 15-16 has

the frequency of 112 and percentage of 84 % at the age of 17-18 has a frequency of 21 and with

the percentage of 16 %. The respondents are from the three (3) sections of Grade 10 namely:

Emerald which has a population of 46, Sapphire with the population of 46 and Amethyst with

41.

Table 2

Mathematics Anxiety Levels of Students

1.0 -1.49 - Strongly Agree (the mathematics anxiety of the student is very strong)
1.5 -2.49- Agree
2.5 -3.49- Disagree
3.5 -4.49- Strongly Disagree
5.5 -6.00- Undecided

Statement MEAN DESCRIPTION

1. It wouldn’t bother me at all to 2.59 Disagree

take more classes.
2. I have usually been at ease 2.91 Disagree
during math test.
3. I have usually been at ease in 3.09 Disagree
math course.
4. I usually don’t worry about my 2.64 Disagree
ability to solve math problem.
5. I almost never get uptight 2.78 Disagree
while taking math test.
GRAND MEAN 2.80 Disagree

Statement MEAN DESCRIPTION

6. I get really uptight during math

 test. 2.13 Agree
7. I get a sinking feeling when I
think of trying hard math 2.43 Agree
problems.
8. My mind goes blank and I am
unable to think clearly when 2.39 Agree
working on mathematics.
9. Mathematics makes me feel
uncomfortable and nervous. 2.02 Agree
10. Mathematics makes me feel
uneasy and confused. 2.06 Agree
GRAND MEAN 2.20 Agree

Mathematics Performance

FIRST GRADING GRADE

Rating Scale Frequency Percentage Mean SD Interpretation
95 – 100 1 1 % Very High Performance
90 – 94 61 46 % High Performance
85 – 89 71 53 % Moderate Performance
80 – 84 0 0 Low Performance
65 – 79 0 0 Very Low Performance
133 100 %

SECOND GRADING GRADE

Rating Scale Frequency Percentage Mean SD Interpretation
95 – 100 9 7 % Very High Performance
90 – 94 78 58 % High Performance
85 – 89 42 32 % Moderate Performance
80 – 84 4 3% Low Performance
65 – 79 0 0 Very Low Performance
Total 133 100 %

The Table II shows

Descriptive Statistics
Mathematics Performance Mathematics Anxiety
Section n M SD n M SD
Emerald
Sapphire
Amethyst
Total

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS AND RECOMENDATION

20
 Mathematics Anxiety Scale (Nancy E. Betz)

Name: _________________________________ Age: _______

Year and Section: _________________

First Grading Grade: __________ Second Grading Grade: _________

Directions: A number of statements which people have used to describe themselves are given

below. For each statement check the indicates whether you Strongly Agree, Agree, Strongly

Disagree, Undecided, Disagree. There are No wrong or right answers.

5. Undecided 3.Disagree 1. Strongly Agree

4. Strongly Disagree 2.Agree

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Question
1. It wouldn’t bother me all

at to take more math

 classes.
2. I have usually been at

ease during math tests.

3. I have usually been at

ease in math course.

4. I usually don’t worry

about my ability to solve

math problem.
5. I almost never get uptight

while taking math test.

6. I get really uptight

during math test.

7. I get a sinking feeling

when I think of trying

hard math problems.

8. My mind goes blank and

I am unable to think

clearly when working on

mathematics.
9. Mathematics makes me

feel uncomfortable and

nervous.
10. Mathematics makes me

feel uneasy and confused.

 19

References:

Ashcraft, M.H. (2002). Math Anxiety: Personal, Educational, Cognitive consequences.

Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Betz, Nancy E. (1987). Prevalence, distribution, and correlates of math anxiety in college

Students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol 25(5), 441-448. Doi:10.1037/0022

0167.25.5.441

Carey, E., Hill, F., Devine, A., & Szucs, D. (2016) The chicken or the egg? The direction of the

relationship between mathematics performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(1987). Doi:

10.3389/fpsyyg.2015.01987

Hembree (1990). The Nature, Effects, and Relief of Mathematics Anxiety. Journal for

Research in Mathematics Education, 21(1), 33-46.

Kamla- Raj 2009 Int J Edu Sci, 1(1): 33-37 (2009)

Morada M.H Correlation of Numerical Anxiety and Mathematics Performance Asia

Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Vol. 3 No.5 45-53 December 2015 Part III

(www.apjmr.com)

Suinn,R.M., and Winston, E.H (2003)’ The mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale

Psychometric data; Psychometric Reports, 92’ 167-173

Wilder, et.al, (2014). A survey of Mathematics Anxiety and Mathematical Resilience

Among existing apprentices. The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, p.44

https
https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide

https://www.nmu.edu>files>Userfiles by C Dobson 2012