Relationship of Mathematics Anxiety with High School Students’ Achievement

Saeedullah Sandhu Jatt

Abstract


Mathematics anxiety is therefore considered as a hurdle to students’ achievement in mathematics.The current research aimed at exploring the relationship of mathematics anxiety (MA) with mathematics learning of high school students in Lahore, Pakistan. Target population for this study was all male science students of grade 10th of government sector high schools of Lahore district. Quantitative approach was applied in this descriptive research. A sample of three hundred and twenty (320) students was selected using multistage sampling technique. At first stage, thirty two government high schools from district Lahore were selected; and in the next stage, ten secondary class students of science group were selected randomly from each school. For the collection of data regarding student’s anxiety for learning mathematics, a standardized tool developed by May (2009) was used. One part of this questionnaire was selected because of its relevancy to the study. Students’ responses were collected on a Likert five points rating scale. The data was analyzed applying Pearson “r”. Data analysis reported negative correlation between mathematics anxiety and students’ learning in mathematics. It shows that although students have anxiety regarding learning mathematics, however, it is not the cause of their low performance in mathematics. It is recommended to further probe the reasons for the low performance of students in the subject of mathematics.

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References


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