Can I teach mathematics? A study of preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and mathematics anxiety (original) (raw)
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Feeling Good about Teaching Mathematics: Addressing Anxiety amongst Pre-Service Teachers
Research regarding pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards teaching mathematics has revealed that many pre-service teachers experience high levels of mathematics anxiety about both the learning of mathematics and the teaching of the mathematics curriculum. Little is known about the particular characteristics of pre-service teachers that make them more likely to experience anxiety about mathematics in the early years. Addressing anxiety towards mathematics and the teaching of mathematics could effectively eliminate later problems in teaching. Teaching mathematics confidently is associated with teachers’ beliefs about their mathematical ability, which is their mathematical self-efficacy. This paper reports on an investigation into the anxiety of first- year pre-service teachers towards their future teaching of mathematics. 223 students enrolled in a first-year mathematics unit for birth to eight years, in the Bachelor of Education of Early Childhood and Primary Education Courses attributed their beliefs about mathematics to external—their past teachers—or internal factors: that one is either good at mathematics or not. The findings highlight the need for pre-service teacher’s anxiety about mathematics to be addressed within the university education classroom context so that pre-service teachers become capable and competent teachers of mathematics.
2016
The purpose of this multiple methods study was to investigate whether elementary mathematics teachers' mathematics anxiety and/or mathematical efficacy predict their mathematical teaching efficacy. The study included 51 practicing elementary mathematics teachers in first through sixth grade. The teachers completed the Revised Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale, the Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument. From the survey results, four teachers, two that scored low anxiety and two that scored high efficacy, were selected to participate in classroom observations and semi structured interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using hierarchical regression. The results were paradoxical. The R 2 change indicated that mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-efficacy were both good predictors of mathematical teaching self-efficacy. However, the standardized coefficients were not statistically significant. The findings of the qualitative data suggest that elementary mathematics teachers with low anxiety and high mathematics self-efficacy do not consistently use best practices in mathematics instruction and prefer to use more traditional strategies during mathematics instruction.
School Science and Mathematics
This paper presents qualitative and quantitative approaches to exploring teachers' experiences of mathematics anxiety (for learning and doing mathematics) and mathematics teaching anxiety (for instructing others in mathematics), the relationship between these types of anxiety and test/evaluation anxiety, and the impacts of anxiety on experiences in teacher education. Findings indicate that mathematics anxiety and mathematics teaching anxiety may be similar (i.e., that preservice teachers perceive a logical continuity and cumulative effect of their experiences of mathematics anxiety as learners in K-12 classrooms that impacts their work as teachers in future K-12classrooms). Further, anxiety is not limited to occurring in evaluative settings, but when anxiety is triggered by thoughts of evaluation, preservice teachers may be affected by worrying about their own as well as their students' performances. The implications for preservice experiences within a teacher education program and for impacting future students are discussed. Literature Review Mathematics anxiety (anxiety when asked to learn or perform mathematics) and mathematics teaching anxiety (anxiety when asked to teach mathematics) are an ongoing concern for preservice teacher (PST) education. However, little is known about how the two types of anxiety relate and whether they differentially or collaboratively impact PSTs. In fact, the distinction between MA and MTA is relatively recent. Accordingly, this paper brings together qualitative and quantitative work to begin exploring PSTs' experiences of both types of anxiety and the effects of those experiences on teacher education.
Mathematics teaching anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs toward mathematics teaching: A path analysis
Educational Research Review, 2016
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between pre-service primary school teachers' mathematics teaching anxiety and their self-efficacy beliefs toward mathematics teaching through path analysis. There were a total of 250 pre-service primary school teachers involved in this study. Of the total, 202 were female and 48 were male pre-service primary school teachers. To collect the data, the researcher employed two types of instruments: the mathematics teaching anxiety scale and self-efficacy beliefs toward mathematics teaching scale. For data analysis, Linear Structural Relationship (LISREL) program was used. In the analysis of the data, the researcher used path analyze technique in order to explain the relations. The study revealed that the content knowledge dimension of mathematics teaching anxiety had a negative effect on the efficacy in teaching, motivation and taking on responsibility and effective teaching dimensions of self-efficacy beliefs toward math...
International Journal of Instruction
This study aims to investigate the presence and the level of the effect of preservice mathematics teachers' beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning on mathematics teaching anxiety. The predictive correlational survey model was utilized in this study. We used mathematics-related beliefs scale and mathematics teaching anxiety scale in the study to collect the data. The data were analysed using structural equation model. The results of the study demonstrated that traditional beliefs did not affect the sub-factors of the mathematics teaching-related anxiety scale. On the other hand, the results showed that constructivist beliefs directly negatively affect anxiety about self-confidence regarding mathematics teaching and anxiety about mathematics teaching attitude. Another finding was that constructivist beliefs directly affect anxiety about content knowledge regarding mathematics teaching and also negatively affect this anxiety through anxiety about self-confidence. Similarly, constructivist beliefs directly affect the anxiety about pedagogical content knowledge regarding mathematics teaching, while also affecting this anxiety negatively through anxiety about mathematics teaching attitude. When the variance rates of the final model were evaluated, constructivist beliefs, anxiety about self-confidence regarding mathematics teaching, anxiety about mathematics teaching attitude and anxiety about content knowledge can account for 63% of the variance in anxiety about pedagogical content knowledge.
School Science and Mathematics , 2006
The study investigated the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy among elementary preservice teachers. Participants included 28 elementary preservice teachers at a mid-size university in the southeastern United States who had just completed a mathematics methods course. Data sources included rhe Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale, Mathemafics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument, and clinical interviews. Findings revealed a signif;cant, moderate negative relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy (r = -. 440, p .05). In general, the preservice teachers with the lowest degrees of mathematics anxiety had the highest levels of mathematics teacher eflcacy, The interviews indicated that efficaciousness toward mathematics teaching practices, descriptions of mathematics, and basis for mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs were associated with mathematics anxiety.
Situational effects of mathematics anxiety in pre-service teacher education
2011
The new National Program Standards for Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education states that “applicantsʼ levels of personal literacy and numeracy should be broadly equivalent to those of the top 30 per cent of the population” (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2011, p. 13) or, if pre-service teachers enrolled in the degree have not met this equivalence, institutions “must establish satisfactory additional arrangements to ensure that all students are supported to achieve the required standard before graduation” (AITSL, 2011, p. 13). This places an emphasis on the numeracy and mathematical skills of the pre-service teachers completing the Early Childhood and Primary bachelor degrees. However, little consideration is given in their teaching qualification preparation to the anxiety these pre-service teachers may have towards mathematics. Pre-service teachers with mathematics anxiety may avoid mathematics (Isiksal, Curran, Koc, & Askum, 2009), may have lo...
A Study Of Mathematics Anxiety in Pre-Service Teachers
Early Childhood Education Journal, 2007
The study investigated the changes in levels of mathematics anxiety among pre-service teachers in six different sections of a mathematics method courses for early childhood/elementary education pre-service teachers. The changes were a function of using BrunerÕs framework of developing conceptual knowledge before procedural knowledge and using manipulatives and other activities to make mathematics concepts more concrete and meaningful. Data were collected using quantitative and qualitative measures. Two hundred forty-six pre-service teachers completed a 98-item Likert-type survey. Informal discussions, informal interviews, and questionnaire-guided narrative interviews were conducted with pre-service teachers. Data revealed a statistically significant reduction in mathematics anxiety in pre-service teachers (p < .001) who completed a mathematics methods course that emphasized BrunerÕs model of concept development. Results of the study have implications for teacher education programs concerning how future teachers are trained, the measurement of mathematics anxiety levels among pre-service teachers, and the determination of specific contexts in which mathematics anxiety can be interpreted and reduced.
International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 2021
This study sought to explore the influence of mathematics achievement and field experience on pre-service teachers' anxiety towards the teaching of mathematics. Data was conveniently gathered from 119 pre-service mathematics teachers in a college of education in Ghana. The pre-service teachers were in two groups of mathematics major and mathematics minor. Using the English version of the Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale, we observed that the preservice teachers' anxiety towards mathematics teaching was generally moderate. Additionally, we observed that the pre-service teachers' mathematics teaching anxiety was related to their content knowledge, self-efficacy, teaching processes, and assessment practices. Our analysis further revealed that the major and minor pre-service mathematics teachers were different in their mathematics teaching anxiety regarding their self-efficacy but indifferent in the other three models. More so, we observed that the effect of mathematics achievement and field experience was statistically significant in the pre-service teachers' mathematics teaching anxiety regarding content knowledge. Nevertheless, mathematics achievement was the major predictor. Despite of the prevalence of mathematics teaching anxiety among the pre-service teachers, we are of the view that additional field experiences and subsequent mathematics pedagogic courses may help reduce the anxiety levels.