STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION ON THE CAUSES OF POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
ASSESSING STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS
According to Edg (2015), the term assessment in education refers to a wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to measure and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition or educational needs of a student. In determining the quality of any educational system, emphasis is mostly placed on its modes of assessment.According to Bello (2011), assessment plays a significant role in the educational process since it is the main method of appraising students’ achievement. The most common assessment medium today is examination. Examination according to Bello (2011) is the process of determining how much an objective of a particular learning task has been achieved by the learner. Fabgamiye (1998) also considered examination as the tool for judging the standards of education in any country.
STUDENT ATTITUDE TOWARDS MATHEMATICS
The notions, attitudes, and expectations of students in association with mathematics and mathematics teaching have been considered to be very significant factors responsible for their school experience and achievement (Borasi, 1999). In general, the thoughts students hold about mathematics determine how they approach the subject. In many cases, students have been found to approach mathematics as procedural and rule oriented. This prevents them from experiencing the richness of mathematics and the many approaches that could be used to develop competence in the subject. Attitude can also be gender related. There are many who hold the view that boys do better in mathematics than girls. This belief tends to affect the attitude of girls towards mathematics. Farooq and Shah (2008) in a study of secondary school students in Pakistan found that there was no significant difference in confidence of male and female students towards mathematics at secondary school level. They gathered that students’ success in mathematics depended on attitude towards the subject. However, some studies have found gender difference in students’ confidence in mathematics. Compared to boys, girls lacked confidence, perceived mathematics as a male domain and were anxious about mathematics (Casey, 2001). In the study, girls were noticed to have lower self-confidence in mathematics as compared to boys. Instructively, research on the relationship between student attitude and performance has also been inconclusive. Researches that have been conducted to determine the relationship between students’ attitude towards mathematics and achievement in mathematics have yielded contradictory results. Some of the findings also lacked consistency on the subject.
Other studies have demonstrated a strong and significant relationship between mathematics attitude and mathematics achievement (Minato & Yanase, 1984), In the
Schenkel’s (2009) study of elementary school pupils, positive correlation between student attitude and student performance was found. Student beliefs and attitudes were found to have the potential to either promote or inhibit learning. In a comparative study of factors influencing mathematics achievement, Burstein (1992) realized that there is a direct link between students’ attitudes towards mathematics and
student outcomes. Cheung (1998), also studied 11-13 year olds, and discovered positive correlation between attitude and mathematics achievement. The correlation showed that the more positive the attitude, the higher the level of achievement in the student. Some researchers have, however, established that the correlation between attitude towards mathematics and achievement in mathematics was rather weak and could not be considered to be of practical significance (Vachon, 1984).In an analysis of 113 primary studies consisting of elementary and secondary school children,
Kishor (1997) found that attitude towards Mathematics and achievement in Mathematics was positively and reliably correlated but not strong. The correlation was not statistically significant. Flowing from the previous findings, studies in different cultural settings are eminent torealise the influence of student attitude towards mathematics on student learning outcomes.
According to a survey conducted by Mensah & Kuranchie 2006, Students’ personal factors contributing to poor performance in mathematics are gender, economic factors and attitude towards mathematics. Students’ attitude towards mathematics was measured using likert scale and the results obtained indicated that they have a positive attitude towards mathematics. Mwamwenda (1995) argued that the achievement of students in a subject is determined by their attitudes rather than inability to study. Haimowitz (1989) indicated the cause of most failures in schools might not be due to insufficient or inadequate instruction but by active resistance by the learners. This argument suggests that favourable attitudes towards mathematics should be developed for achievement in the subject for the betterment of the subject.
FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE
From the above literature review, the following factors stood out to have strong influence on the students’ performance and they are:
- The attitudes of students towards the subject mathematics and how those attitudes are formed.
- The school environment including the learning environment, response of management to learning situations as well as classroom size and the needed
logistics.
- Teaching methods and attitude of teachers towards the subject mathematics.
- Teachers’ qualification and experience
- Socio – economic status and educational levels of parents
In other to improve performance of students in elementary mathematics, some researchers like Das (2015) suggest that the efforts to improve the quality of teaching should not only focus on the teacher’s qualification but equally the methodology of the teacher which he believes will yield greater returns. Likewise, the Hewlett foundation (2008) suggested the following factors have the tendency of improving performance in elementary mathematics. They include:
- Appropriate class size and well equipped library, computer and science
laboratories.
- Appropriate methods of teaching and reliable methods of teaching
- Favorable school environment with community participation.
- Appropriate curriculum and adequate provision of teaching and learning material
- Motivate qualified teachers with enough instructional periods