Perspectives of teachers on the signs and causes of mathematics anxiety

Abstract

Math anxiety is a common challenge that affects students in different age groups, hinders their achievements in math, and leads to avoidance of math related activities. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the signs of math anxiety in students and the factors which contribute to math anxiety. The research instrument was an online questionnaire specially designed for this study. The questions related to the main aspects presented in this paper were closed questions, most of them measured on a 4-level Likert scale. The participants were 160 mathematics teachers, most of them active teachers with special qualifications and more than 5 years of experience in teaching mathematics. The participants were teaching on different grade levels, covering grades from 1 to 12. Participants self-reported a high familiarity with math anxiety, teachers with special qualification for teaching mathematics, those with more than 5 years of experience, and teachers teaching in grades 7-12 perceived a higher level of familiarity, but the differences were not statistically significant. Teachers reported that there are students with math anxiety in their classes, teachers with qualification reported more students with anxiety, teachers with more experience observed less students with anxiety, these differences being not significant. Teachers teaching grades 7-12 observed a significantly higher number of students with math anxiety than those teaching in grades 1-6. Also, teachers observed physical symptoms of math anxiety, those teaching grades 7-12 in a significantly higher number of students than those teaching in grades 1-6. As regarding other symptoms, increased stress or frustration while doing math and negative self-talk about math ability are the most frequently observed. Teachers consider that the main causes of students’ math anxiety are related to the parents, their math anxiety and their attitude to their child’smath ability could increase anxiety.