The Pre-Service Teachers’ Mathematics Teaching Anxiety and Gender

Author(s):

Murat PekerErdogan Halat

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 06A, Research on Believes and Understanding of Teaching and Learning in Teacher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-11

10:30-12:00

Room:

A1 338

Chair:

Martin Kunz

Contribution

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the pre-service teachers’ mathematics teaching anxiety by gender. It can be set forth that mathematics anxiety is an issue on which researches have been made for 50 years on condition that these researches are thought to have started with the numerical anxiety (Beasley, Long & Natali, 2001; Baloglu, 2001; 2005) developed by Dreger & Aiken (1957). However, after 1970 the researches seem to be more intensive than before. These studies will apparently go on unless the students get rid of this anxiety. If it is admitted that anxiety will naturally exist as the human beings exist (Engelhard, 2001), then it is evident that there are disadvantages of living without anxiety. Richardson and Suinn (1972) defined mathematics anxiety as “feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations” (in Godbey, 1997, p.3; Newstead, 1998, p.54; Engelhard, 2001, p.290). What is teaching anxiety in mathematics? Gardner and Leak (1994) conceptualized teaching anxiety as anxiety experienced in relation to teaching activities that involve the preparation and execution of classroom activities. Anxiety for teaching mathematics is a frequent fear of pre-service teachers. It is associated with teaching mathematics. It may reflect real or perceived knowledge deficits in mathematics content as well as in mathematics teaching skills, and memories of past occurrences of mathematics failure or mathematics anxiety (Levine, 1993). Teaching anxiety in mathematics can be defined as teachers’ feelings of tension and anxiety which occurs during teaching mathematical concepts, theories and formulas or during problem solving. There may be several reasons of teaching anxiety in mathematics for a pre-service teacher or even a teacher. a) Anxiety may arise due to the fact that the teaching point is difficult. b) Pre-service teacher or teacher’s teaching competence for the teaching concept may be inadequate. c) Pre-service teacher or teacher’s level of interest towards the teaching profession may be inadequate. d) It may be due to the fact that pre-service teacher or teacher’s incompetence to teach in a way which is appropriate to the level of the developmental stage of the learners. The researches demonstrated that there were many studies done on the pre-and in-service teachers’ mathematics anxiety (Austin, Wadlington & Bitner, 1992; Vinson et al., 1997; Sloan et al., 1997; Tooke & Lindstrom, 1998; Vinson, 2001; Uusimaki & Nason, 2004; Brady & Bowd, 2005; Idris, 2006). However, there were a few studies done on the teaching anxieties in mathematics (Levine, 1993; 1996). Moreover, Ameen, Guffey and Jackson (2002) reported that accounting educators’ intensity of teaching anxiety was affected by teaching experience, age and rank. They determined that some factors not affecting intensity were gender and ethnicity. In another study, Fish and Fraser (2001) determined that among the university professors surveyed about teaching anxiety, gender was a factor, with female faculty reporting more teaching anxiety than males. Shortly, the following question guided the study: Is there a gender difference among the pre-service teachers’ teaching anxiety in mathematics?

Method

The study involved 205 pre-service elementary school teachers who have been enrolled in Elementary Teacher Education at the College of Education program in three different Universities in Turkey. The pre-service teachers who are chosen as sample group for this research are last semester students. 58.5 % of the students were female, 41.5 % of the students were male. The mean age of participants was 21.92 years (SD=1.55). In this study, Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale (MATAS), which was developed earlier by the Peker (2006), was used. The aim of using this scale is to determine the pre-service teachers’ teaching anxiety levels and scores. The Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale is a five-point Likert-type scale with 23 items. Some of the items in the scale are as follows: “I got anxious when it comes to the point of teaching some mathematical topics”, “It is very easy for me to teach mathematics”, “I like answering questions about the topic I am teaching”, “Throughout my career as a teacher, I think I can make use of the different views and theories about teaching mathematics”. The MATAS has high reliability with an internal consistency reliability coefficient of .90 and a retest reliability coefficient of .93. There was no time limitation for testing session; however most pre-service teachers finished the MATAS within 15 minutes. Independent samples t-test is carried out for the analysis of the difference of pre-service teachers’ teaching anxieties in mathematics according gender.

Expected Outcomes

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in teaching anxiety in mathematics by genders for pre-service teachers. When the pre-service teachers’ mathematics teaching anxiety scores were analyzed, there were no gender-related mean differences found [t(203)=.179, p=.858>.05]. Previous studies are available suggesting that there are gender-related differences (Fish & Fraser, 2001) or in contrast, there are not any gender-related differences (Ameen, Guffey & Jackson, 2002; Marso & Pigge, 1998) for mathematics teaching anxiety. In this study, gender was found out to be an ineffective factor for mathematics teaching anxiety. This finding is admitted to be important for pre-service teachers. In this respect, it can be claimed that equal learning opportunities are provided without gender discrimination for every pre-service teacher by the teacher educators at faculties.

References

Ameen, E. C., Guffey, D. M. & Jackson, C. (2002). Evidence of teaching anxiety among accounting educators. Journal of Education for Business, 78(1), 16-22. Austin, S., Wadlington, E. & Bitner, J. (1992). Effect of beliefs about mathematics on math anxiety and math self-concept in elementary teachers. Education, 112(3), 390-396. Baloglu, M. (2001). Matematik korkusunu yenmek. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 1(1), 59-76 (in Turkish). Baloglu, M. (2005). Adaptation of the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale to Turkish, language validity and preliminary psychometric properties. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 5(1), 23-30 (in Turkish). Beasley, T.M., Long, J.D. & Natali, M. (2001). A confirmatory factor analysis of the mathematics anxiety scale for children. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 34, 14-26. Brady, P. & Bowd, A. (2005). Mathematics anxiety, prior experience and confidence to teach mathematics among pre-service education students. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 11(1), 37-46. Dreger, R., & Aiken, L. (1957). The identification of number anxiety. Journal of Educational Psychology, 48, 344-351. Engelhard, G. (2001). Math anxiety, mother’s education, and the mathematics performance of adolescent boys and girls: evidence from the United States and Thailand. The Journal of Psychology, 124(3), 289-298. Fish, T. A. & Fraser, I. H. (2001). Exposing the iceberg of teaching anxiety: a survey of faculty at three New Brunswick Universities. Electronic Journal of the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 4. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from the World Wide Web at: http://www.aabss.org/journal2001/Fish2001.jmm.html Gardner, L. & Leak, G. (1994). Characteristics and correlates of teaching anxiety among college psychology teachers. Teaching of Psychology, 21(1), 28-32. Godbey, C. (1997). Mathematics anxiety and the underprepared student. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 426734. Idris, N. (2006). Exploring the effects of TI-84 plus on achievement and anxiety in mathematics. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2(3), 66-78. Levine, G. (1993). Prior mathematics history, anticipated mathematics teaching style, and anxiety for teaching mathematics among pre-service elementary school teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Group for Psychology of Mathematics Education, North American Chapter. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED373972). Levine, G. (1996). Variability in anxiety for teaching mathematics among pre-service elementary school teachers enrolled in a mathematics course. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Assocation in New York. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED398067). Newstead, K. (1998). Aspect of children’s mathematics anxiety. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 36, 53-71. Peker, M. (2006). The Development of Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale. Educational Sciences & Practice, 5(1),. Richardson, F. C., & Suinn, R. M. (1972). The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale: Psychometric data. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 19, 551-554. Sloan, T.R., Vinson, B., Haynes, J. & Gresham, R. (1997). A comparison of pre- and post- levels of mathematics anxiety among preservice teacher candidates enrolled in a mathematics methods course. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of Midsouth Educational Research Assocation in Nashville. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED417137). Tooke, D. J. & Lindstrom, L. C. (1998). Effectiveness of a mathematics methods course in reducing math anxiety of preservice elementary teachers. School Science and Mathematics, 98(3), Uusimaki, L.. & Nason, R. (2004). Causes underlying pre-service teachers’ negative beliefs and anxities about mathematics. Proceedings of the 28 th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, vol. 4, 369-376. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED489664). Vinson, B. M. (2001). A comparison of preservice teachers' mathematics anxiety before and after a methods class emphasizing manipulatives. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 89-94. Vinson, B. M., Haynes, J. Brasher, J. Sloan, T. & Gresham, T. (1997). A comparison of preservice teachers' mathematics anxiety before and after a methods class emphasizing manipulatives. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 417 136).

Author Information

Murat Peker

Afyon Kocatepe University

College of Education

Afyon

212

Erdogan Halat

Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey

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