Abay Research Error Handling
Abay Research Error Handling
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Abstract
Proper handling of students’ errors in mathematics provides teaching and learning opportunities.
Anchored in the Professional Error Competence Model developed by Wuttke and Siefried, this
study investigated junior high school teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices in handling students’
errors in their Mathematics class. The study employed a descriptive-correlational design and
surveyed one hundred three Mathematics teachers from public secondary schools in Camarines
Sur. A researcher-made survey questionnaire was used to gather the necessary data. All statistical
analyses on the data collected, such as weighted mean, Pearson’s r, and Canonical Correlation
Analysis were done using SPSS (version 21). The findings show that respondents frequently
employed error detection, correction, and prevention strategies. It also demonstrates that both
beliefs and attitudes correlated significantly with respondents’ error-handling practices. The study
further reveals that the respondents’ attributes (age, sex, educational attainment, field of
specialization, number of years in teaching mathematics, and seminars attended) contribute to
their practices, beliefs, and attitudes in error handling. However, it is noted that as respondents
grow older and gain more teaching experiences in Mathematics, certain error-handling practices,
beliefs, and attitudes appear to diminish. It is therefore recommended that the frequency of error
handling activities that facilitate learning should be increased further in a Mathematics class. School
administrators should organize training programs that highlight the critical role of error handling
in the learning process. They should also embark on benchmarking activities, mentoring, and
coaching to expose teachers to error-handling strategies that promote an error-tolerant
mathematics classroom where students have numerous opportunities to learn. Moreover, schools
should provide students with opportunities to evaluate their teachers’ practices in handling errors.
Finally, future researchers should perform actual observations on error handling practices to learn
more about them in the classroom setting. They may also look into how teachers deal with errors in
online education.
Keywords: Attitudes, Attributes, Beliefs, Error-handling practices, Error-tolerant mathematics
classrooms
How to Cite: Abay, J. R., & Clores, M. A. (2022). Beliefs, attitudes, and practices of high school
teachers in handling students’ errors: implications for error-tolerant mathematics classrooms.
International Journal on Emerging Mathematics Education, 6(2), 101-118.
http://dx.doi.org/10.12928/ijeme.v6i2.23995
INTRODUCTION
Mathematics plays a vital role in people’s lives in all areas of life. It has a crucial and
distinctive role in human societies, and it is a critical component of humanity’s overall
development (Yadav, 2019). For instance, Mathematics teaches students to think critically
and develop problem-solving skills, which they can apply in school and in today’s
challenging world. It is also regarded as the gateway to national progress because it is
responsible for technological innovations and advancements that improve our lives
(Science Education Institute-Department of Science and Technology & Philippine Council
of Mathematics Teacher Education, 2011).
Received May 25, 2022; Revised November 7, 2022; Accepted November 8, 2022
102 n P-ISSN: 2549-4996 | E-ISSN: 2548-5806
However, studies reveal that Mathematics remains a complex subject for many
students, as evidenced by students’ low mathematics performance in class (e.g., Jameel &
Ali, 2016; Suleiman & Hammed, 2019; Capuno et al., 2019). Additionally, the difficulty can
be seen in students’ poor performance on national and international achievement tests.
For instance, the National Achievement Test (NAT) revealed a significant decline in
students’ mathematics performance between 2016 and 2017 (Ager, 2019). This poor
performance is further attested by the result of the assessment for Mathematics and
Science for Grade 4 pupils conducted by The International Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS) in 2019, which showed that Filipino children ranked last out of 58 participating
countries around the globe (Baclig, 2020). Only 19% of Filipino pupils achieved the low
intermediate benchmark in Mathematics, indicating that only a small percentage have
some basic mathematical knowledge. This subpar performance in the early years impacts
the students’ later academic achievement. Studies show that the acquisition of early
mathematics competencies is predictive of students’ high school mathematics
performance (Watts et al., 2014; Watts et al., 2018; Goldhaber et al., 2021).
Several studies at the middle school and early high school levels have shown that
many students have trouble learning mathematical concepts and procedures (Yetkin,
2003; Maguire, 2012; Sakinah Nuraini et al., 2018). The high rate of mathematical errors in
schools reveals this struggle with mathematics among students (Elbrink, 2008; Lai, 2012;
Riccomini, 2016). According to Barlow et al. (2018), students may even develop
misconceptions- faulty views or opinions established due to prior misunderstandings or
incorrect thinking-that would impede their future mathematics learning. Maguire (2012)
added that many scholars agree that misconceptions can be very tough to undo and are
resilient to external and internal remediations. For example, in his study, plenty of
students in elementary school develop a simplistic interpretation of equivalence, and
some carry over this misconception to middle school, high school, and college. Hence,
many students exit elementary school underprepared to tackle the more rigorous
mathematics curriculum of secondary education, which often results in poor performance.
There are factors involved as to why some students perform poorly in Mathematics.
Suleiman and Hammed (2019) point to the lack of qualified Mathematics teachers,
ineffective teaching methodology, and students’ poor socioeconomic background causing
failure in secondary schools. Similarly, Jameel and Ali (2016) claim that an inadequate
number of exercises and drills, which affect students’ acquisition of concrete and abstract
mathematical concepts, and the strictness in Mathematics instruction are the primary
causes of students’ low achievement.
Another factor that may influence students’ performance in mathematics is how
teachers respond to students’ errors (Heinze, 2005). Heinze and Reiss (2007) state that
handling errors can help students learn, but teachers frequently overlook this learning
opportunity. Studies (Wiens, 2007; Chamundeswari, 2014; Makhubele et al., 2015; Damla
Gedik et al., 2017) have indicated that one way to address the problem of students’ poor
achievement in Mathematics is to investigate the errors that they frequently commit in
Mathematics. According to Noche (2009), the information that teachers gain from
exploring errors can aid them in enhancing their instruction and assessment. It further
helps the teacher develop ideas for teaching priority, thereby preventing classroom errors
(Riccomini, 2016). Without correcting the errors, students will build their mathematical
knowledge on misunderstood concepts (Elbrink, 2008).
Unfortunately, only a few studies were done on error-handling (Heinze, 2005; Bray,
2011); hence, a study that will focus on this phenomenon is crucial. How teachers handle
student errors that occur during lessons to create an “error-friendly” environment (the
emotional component of professional competence) and to support the learning process
through feedback (the cognitive component of professional competence) continue to draw
attention among mathematics education researchers (Wuttke & Siefried, 2010). The study
thereby proposed to explore junior high school teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices in
handling learner errors. Specifically, this study aimed to realize the following objectives:
(1) determine the common types of errors committed by students and dealt with by
teachers; (2) determine the common practices of teachers in handling student errors (3)
determine the beliefs of the teachers in handling students’ errors: (4) determine the
attitudes of the teachers in handling students’ errors; (5) test the relationships of the
teachers’ practices, beliefs, and attitudes in handling students’ errors; (6) examine what
teachers’ attributes are associated with their beliefs, attitudes, and common practices in
handling students’ errors. The study results have many curricular and instructional
implications for Mathematics teaching and inputs for professional development training
and mathematics educators’ programs.
RESEARCH METHOD
This study is a quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive-correlational research focusing
on the errors committed by students and dealt with by Mathematics teachers. The study
was conducted in various public secondary schools of Camarines Sur’s fourth
congressional district. The respondents were the 103 junior school teachers from the five
randomly chosen municipalities: San Jose, Caramoan, Sagnay, Tigaon, and Presentacion.
A survey questionnaire was developed to gather the needed data. The questionnaire
was face validated by junior high school Mathematics teachers. Pilot testing was
conducted, and reliability was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha, which yielded acceptable
alpha coefficients. Reliability coefficients were .92 for types of errors, .79 for practices in
handling errors, and .71 for beliefs and attitudes.
Data gathered from the survey were encoded and analyzed using SPSS (version 21)
and were analyzed using the following statistical tools: (a) Weighted mean was used to
determine the common types of errors dealt with by teachers and their common practices,
attitudes, and beliefs in handling the errors; (b) Pearson’s r was used to examine the
relationships between the teachers’ practices, beliefs, and attitudes in handling students’
errors; and (c) Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) was used to determine whether the
teachers’ attributes (age, sex, the field of specialization, educational attainment, number of
years in teaching mathematics, and seminars attended) are associated with their beliefs,
attitudes, and practices in handling errors.
Beliefs, attitudes, and practices of high school teachers in handling students’ errors
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The top three common types of conceptual errors are miscalculation due to improper
use of signs, a miscalculation in algebraic operations as a result of errors in combining like
terms, and incorrect mathematical sentences when translating word problems. The three
common procedural errors include incorrect procedure in solving operations on fractions,
incorrect use of the rule, and incorrect cancellation of rational expressions. The three
common careless or slip errors are incomplete answers in the problem (e. g., missing units,
signs, or variables in the answer), an incomplete solution process is required in the problem,
and the wrong answer because directions were not followed correctly and incorrect answer
since problems was not read carefully.
In general, the students demonstrated incorrect execution of mathematical steps in
a mathematical process. Students failed to select and apply appropriate procedures when
solving problems, and somewhere along the way, they performed basic mathematical
operations incorrectly. Because mathematics involves multi-step problem solving, this is
alarming because if a student makes a single procedural error, the rest of their work and
the final solution will be incorrect. This finding is consistent with Makhubele et al. (2015),
who report that procedural errors often occur in mathematics class. Brown and Skow
(2016) explain that such errors occur when students do not correctly apply mathematical
rules or properties (i.e., the formula or step-by-step procedure for solving a problem). The
student has developed all the basic mathematics concepts but has not mastered the
underlying mathematical processes to perform the math correctly (Makhubele et al., 2015;
Barlow et al., 2018).
One of the most frequently encountered procedural errors is a failure to perform
fraction operations. Performing fractions operations is a fundamental skill in mathematics
that students must master during their early years of schooling. However, many students
struggle with fractions as they fail to grasp the procedures and algorithms that go along
with them (Gagani & Diano, 2019). If students do not understand how fractions work,
their ability to learn higher-level mathematics courses such as Algebra, Geometry, and
Calculus will be impacted. According to Rushton (2018), Brown and Skow (2016), and
Bentley and Bossé, (2018), students make fractional errors because they struggle in
finding the common denominator for addition and subtraction and have difficulties with
multiplication and division. Lestiana et al. (2017) demonstrate that students could not
perform accurate fraction operations because they generalized a previously learned
procedure and misapplied it to compare two fractions. For instance, it is shown that most
of the students in the study already knew about the cross-multiplication strategy to
compare two fractions, as the teacher told them about the strategy. As a result, some
erroneously generalized that this strategy can be applied besides fractions.
As to conceptual errors, the respondents report that the common error among their
students is miscalculation due to improper use of signs. The same result was found in the
study of Rushton (2018), who reports that algebraic operations are often carried out
incorrectly due to improper signs. For example, the respondents typically made sign
mistakes when shifting terms across the equation by addition or subtraction(e.g., making a
positive term negative or vice versa). This is in line with the findings of Lim et al. (2019),
who found that students made conceptual errors when applying real-number properties
due to a lack of understanding of the lesson. Also, the most frequent error made by
respondents was to interchange the inequality symbols. Khalid and Embong’s (2019)
examination further reveals how students make integer operations mistakes. They
concluded that the most significant challenge for teachers is explaining the idea of
operational symbols and negative signs. Students always make errors because they treat
the negative sign and the subtraction symbol as the same. The researchers claim that
students’ most common errors and misconceptions arise from a lack of knowledge of the
subject.
As to careless or slip errors, most students make the common error of providing
an incomplete answer to the problem. For instance, students usually omit units, signs, and
variables from their final answer. The odds of making such careless errors in mathematics
are high, as it requires precise answers. Wiens (2007) substantiates this result by
demonstrating how students are susceptible to careless errors. Their study revealed that
the student found the solution, but they did not include the label that goes along with it in
the problem context. They specifically omitted a percentage symbol from their answer.
However, Goldman (2021) argues that labeling students’ work as careless is not
constructive feedback because it obscures the source of the problem and precludes the
teachers from aiding students in resolving it. He believes that there are various reasons for
students’ math errors, and labeling them as “careless” may mean missing an opportunity
to help them learn.
The top three error detection practices are I review the answers of my students to see
if there are errors committed in the solution, I analyze the written responses of my students
to determine the types of errors committed, and I collect a sample of written works of my
students such as quizzes, seat works, and assignments to look for error patterns. The top
three error correction techniques used by respondents are: I recognize the errors of my
students, I provide corrective feedback in students’ written works such as quizzes, periodical
exams, seatwork, and homework, and I involve the whole class in correcting their errors. The
respondents’ error prevention practices are I tell my students to read the directions
carefully in tests or any performance tasks, I show how the problem is solved and pinpoint
their incorrectness, and I discuss difficult topics from simple to complex.
Based on the study’s findings, it can be inferred that the respondents can identify
errors that occurred in their mathematics class each time. They use various error
detection strategies, including checking students’ answers, identifying errors in students’
written responses, and getting a sample of students’ written work. It is essential in
teaching and learning to recognize errors in a mathematics class. Riccomini (2016) states
that identifying errors helps teachers determine where their students’ errors lie to give
better instruction to address the errors. Inspecting errors also allows students to identify
and correct them and make sound reasoning behind their correct answers (Barlow et al.,
2018).
As to error correction, the findings revealed that respondents correct students’
errors most of the time. Some of the error correction strategies they use frequently are to
alert students when they make an error, provide feedback on assignments, and involve the
entire class in finding and correcting mistakes. Multiple studies support the idea that
students can benefit from the learning opportunity of the error correction process
(Rushton, 2018; Gardee & Brodie, 2015; Bray, 2011; Rach et al., 2013). So, teachers should
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refrain from creating the impression that specific errors are prohibited, which would
foster error-handling activities in the class to be productive (Heinze, 2005).
This study’s results are consistent with findings from Bray (2011), indicating that
the teacher integrates students into the correction process. This was also found in Gardee
and Bordie’s (2015) study, in which the teacher called on students to correct their
classmates’ mistakes. The students will benefit from the feedback they receive if it comes
to them right away. According to Barry (2008), giving feedback improved learning for the
students, who immediately understood and rectified their mistakes. However, Shi (2017)
argues that some teachers dislike explicit correction because they believe it will erode
students’ confidence in class. Thus, teachers must correct their students’ errors
appropriately.
The findings further reveal that teachers use error prevention strategies frequently.
Some of these are carefully reading the directions during tests and performance tasks,
illustrating how the problem is solved, explaining why they got it wrong, and discussing
difficult topics from simple to complex. Students must follow test and performance task
instructions to succeed in the learning process. As Dunham et al. (2020)mentioned,
following instructions or failing to do so impairs general learning and proficiency
acquisition. It was found in the study by Wiens (2007) that if students do not read test
instructions, they are more likely to make careless errors. The teacher can take the
students from simple to complex step-by-step to help them better comprehend the
mathematics concepts and procedures.
According to Rezapour and Taghipour (2013), learners would better comprehend
the lessons when teaching was done in a simple to complex manner. Another way to
handle difficulty in learning mathematics is to demonstrate how the problem is solved and
identify their learners’ errors. Yet, according to Brown and Skow (2016), the teacher
should only show the area where the student makes a mistake during the demonstration
of problem-solving. For instance, the authors explained that if the student’s error pattern
is that she consistently misses the common denominator when adding and subtracting
fractions, the teacher would provide the instruction and go over the underlying conceptual
knowledge about finding the common denominator. Additionally, when explaining errors
in a problem, the teacher may give multiple explanations to ensure that different children
access the error in the most appropriate way (Hansen et al., 2020).
The findings corroborate Wuttke and Siefried’s (2017) Professional Error
Competence Model, which proposes that Mathematics teachers can develop error
competence when they recognize that students can benefit from errors and that errors are
essential components fostering an error-tolerant mathematics classroom conducive to
successful learning. Further, these findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge
on mathematics teachers’ practices in handling student errors.
Ročāne (2015) supports these findings by stating that teachers should foster an
environment where students feel comfortable making errors. However, it appears as
though some teachers believe that students would be embarrassed to have their mistakes
broadcast in the class that if students’ errors receive increased attention, they will be
confused (Bray, 2011). It is a risk a teacher takes when correcting students in oral
communication that the student will be reluctant to try again in the future. According to
Turling et al. (2012, cited in Wuttke & Siefried, 2017), teachers who hold such beliefs may
see errors as hurdles to learning.
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The three attitude indicators that received the highest weighted mean were:
constructive feedbacking of errors motivates the students to perform better (4.53);
appropriate strategies should be employed to address the types of errors (4.53), and
appropriate remediation is necessary to respond to a particular kind of error (4.51).
However, the respondents were uncertain that correcting students’ errors in class would
help students feel more confident (2.80).
The findings above suggest that respondents are disposed to respond favorably to a
particular error situation in a Mathematics class. They believe that constructive feedback
is necessary to motivate the students and maximize learning outcomes. If feedback on
errors is not performed appropriately, students may feel ashamed in class. This is why
some teachers remain unsure whether correcting students’ errors in class can increase
students’ confidence. Teachers may be concerned if their approach to addressing errors
would negatively affect students. For instance, they may be afraid of embarrassing
students by correcting errors before class.
Generally, the findings support the theory that the teacher saw the errors as an
opportunity for learning (Turling et al., 2012, cited in Wuttke & Siefried, 2017). Like the
teachers, the students had a similar outlook, believing that error-handling exercises
should be incorporated into the class, as explained in some research (Kavaliauskienė &
Anusienė, 2012; Zhu, 2010). The students were most interested in correcting every
mistake they felt was conducive to helping them learn in their classes. However, according
to Bargiel-Matusiewicz and Bargiel-Firlit (2009), some students associate making errors
with guilt, and as a result, they use an avoidance technique to avoid ridicule when they
make errors. This highlights the critical role of teachers in ensuring that students realize
that errors are not to be seen negatively and that they should find ways to correct their
students’ errors without undermining their confidence.
learning. When teachers recognize the opportunity offered by handling errors in class and
view errors as educational moments, they are more likely to foster an error climate in
which students are not afraid to make errors and learn from others’ errors and their own.
The OECD (2009) concurs with the previous findings, stating that teachers who
believe in the constructivist approach are more likely to use practices that strive to create
an enriched and challenging learning environment geared toward the students’ construct
of knowledge. This conclusion is further supported by Voss et al. (2013), who also claims
that teachers’ mathematics beliefs impact their instructional practices, affecting students’
learning outcomes. However, some teachers believe that their students would be
embarrassed if their mistakes were broadcast in class (Bray, 2011). This could be why
some teachers try to avoid discussing errors in the classroom. This contradicts the idea
that errors aid in student learning, and those errors are often an important stage in the
conceptual development of learners (Anthony & Walshow, 2009). O’dell (2015) adds to
this notion by stating that when students make errors, they get an opportunity to learn.
The findings of the study in Table 6 show that the overall attitudes is significantly
correlated to the three error-handling practices, such as error detection (r = .246, 2-tailed
p < .05), error correction (r = .195, 2-tailed p < .05), and error prevention (r = .195, 2-
tailed p < .05).
The table further displays a significant association between a specific belief and
error-handling, such as constructive feed backing of errors motivates the students to
perform better and error detection (r = .311, 2-tailed p < .01), error correction (r = .300, 2-
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tailed p < .01), and error prevention (r = .270, 2-tailed p < .05) and error detection (r =
.311, 2-tailed p < .01), error correction (r = .304, 2-tailed p < .01), and error prevention (r =
.326, 2-tailed p < .05).
Practices
Attitudes Error Error Error Overall
Detection Correction Prevention Practices
1. Constructive feedbacking of errors .311** .300** .270** .300**
motivates the students to perform better
2. Appropriate strategies should be .311** .304** .326** .280**
employed to address the types of errors
3. Appropriate remediation is necessary to .241* .229* .173 .184
respond to a particular type of error
4. Error analysis is the first step in learning .161 .372** .343** .325**
about the common errors in the class.
5. Use of students’ errors in the educative .257** .198* .123 .190
process would improve the learning
outcome
6. Acceptance of students’ errors in the .267** .185 .156 .184
learning environment may reduce their
anxiety in mathematics.
7. Proper handling of errors could address .173 -.023 -.017 .072
students’ misconceptions about
procedures and concepts.
8. Discussion of errors in class would .018 -.109 .025 -.109
clarify the topics being tackled.
9. Students discussing their incorrect .102 .119 .138 .059
solutions in class demonstrate that
mistakes should not be embarrassed
about.
10. Correction of students’ errors in class -.208* -.165 -.200 -.226*
promotes students’ self-confidence
Overall Attitudes .246* .195* .195* .154
Strength of Correlation: r < 0.3 (None or Very Weak); 0.3 < r < 0.5 (Weak); 0.5 < r < 0.7 (Moderate); r > 0.7 (Strong). *p ≤ 0.05,
**p ≤ 0.01.
Another significant association is found in this study, such as: relationships between
appropriate remediation is necessary to respond to a particular type of error and error
detection (r = .241, 2-tailed p < .05), and error correction (r = .229, 2-tailed p < .05); error
analysis is the first step in learning about the errors that are common in the class and error
correction (r = .372, 2-tailed p < .01), and error prevention (r = .325, 2-tailed p <.01); use of
students’ errors in the educative process would improve the learning outcome and error
detection (r = .257, 2-tailed p < .01), and error correction (r = .198, 2-tailed p < .05);
acceptance of students’ errors in the learning environment may reduce their anxiety in
mathematics and error detection (r = .267, 2-tailed p< .01); correction of students’ errors in
class promotes students’ self-confidence and error detection (r = -.208, 2-tailed p <.05).
The above findings show that respondents’ attitudes positively correlate with three
practices: error detection, error correction, and error prevention. The findings indicate
that teachers’ favorable attitudes toward error handling will undoubtedly result in more
error-tolerant mathematics classrooms. The teachers’ view of the importance of error
management in the educative process can shape their students’ learning experience. They
exhibit favorable tendencies toward applying necessary strategies to address the various
types of errors encountered in class. Also, they view error correction as an essential
component of motivating students to improve their performance rather than an
impediment to success.
This value of teachers’ attitudes in their teaching practices is consistent with
Richardson’s (1996) assertion that teacher attitudes are essential factors affecting the
teaching and learning process. Similarly, Wilmot and Otchey (2012) believe that fostering
a positive attitude toward error handling must be emphasized because it affects students’
academic progress.
Numerous studies demonstrate that students have positive attitudes toward their
teachers’ handling of classroom errors (e.g., Kavaliauskiene & Anusiene, 2012; Zhu, 2010).
According to Zhu (2010), the students believe they can learn a lot from their mistakes and
prefer that their teachers address every inaccuracy since it helps them learn in class. It
contradicts the findings of Bargiel-Matusiewicz and Bargiel-Firlit (2009), who claim that
some students equate making errors with guilt and hence employ a prevention technique
to avoid ridicule when they make one. This is one of the reasons why some teachers are
reluctant to error correction, fearing that explicit correction will erode their students’ self-
confidence (Shi, 2017).
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Only fourteen variables with significant loading values explained 99.8% of the
variance shared by the variable sets (CV – 1 = .998). The results of Table 12 show the
correlated variables for each set of dependent and independent variables. Being older
(.701) and having more years of teaching mathematics (.338) were both related to a rise in
the beliefs that students’ mistakes are considered important components in the learning
process (.495),that error-tolerant classroom is a learning environment that accepts students’
errors (.410), and that investigation of error patterns in students’ works is crucial in the
teaching-learning process (.425); decrease beliefs that individual correction of students’
errors in their written tasks is significant (-.650) and that students’ errors are teachable
moments (-.535); escalate the attitudes that appropriate remediation is necessary to
respond to a particular type of error (.411); reduce positive attitudes that constructive feed
backing of errors motivates the students to perform better (-.356); accelerate error-tolerant
practices in class such as record the incorrect responses of the students to analyze error
patterns (.431) and make use of constructive conversations in class when the students
display procedural and conceptual(.442); reduce the frequency of error-handling practices
execution, such as encourage the students to discover their errors (-.543), connect the topic
to real-world situations to make sure that the students have a complete grasp of the lesson (-
.305), and incorporate an error checklist into the regular classroom routines and procedures
to let the students identify frequent errors in their (-.600).
Based on the findings, most respondents are young and are just getting started in
the service. The majority of them have a bachelor’s degree, and most are women. Almost
all of the respondents are math majors, and the others have completed their courses
specifically related to mathematics. The findings also showed that all seminars
concentrated on general topics, and no seminar focused on error handling. The CCA model
further revealed that respondents’ attributes are significant factors contributing to their
practices, beliefs, and attitudes in error handling. This indicates that teachers’ attributes
play a vital role in the educational process (Rice, 2003; Rahman et al., 2011).
However, the findings show that the variables sex, level of education, the field of
specialization, and seminars attended have the least effect on canonical correlation
coefficients. Master’s degrees have no discernible impact on secondary school teachers’
ability to be effective (Anthony et al., 2019), and even if the quality of teachers was high in
terms of academic and professional qualifications, it did not reflect much on the students’
performance (Bonney et al., 2015). Specialization is not a significant factor since non-math
major respondents have taken math-related courses. Additionally, the seminar and
training are not major contributory factors in the association, as much of the training
offered is general, and there is no seminar conducted that focuses mainly on error-
handling. According to OECD (2009), although the time spent in training is essential, the
type of training matters more. It is considered that particular forms of professional
development, such as mentorship and networking for professional development, enable
teachers to learn modern and multifaceted teaching practices (OECD, 2009; Morallo &
Abay, 2019).
In addition, it is noted that some practices, beliefs, and attitudes have been found to
reduce error handling as respondents get older and gain teaching experience in
Mathematics. This remarkable result demonstrates how teachers appear to depart from
the significant contribution of error-tolerant mathematics classrooms as they get older
and gain more teaching experience.
CONCLUSION
With the study’s findings, it can be concluded that the respondents’ error handling
practices usually come in three stages: error detection, error correction, and error
prevention, which proves that they are competent in handling students’ errors based on
the Professional Error Competence Model. The findings suggest that these practices are
influenced by their beliefs and attitudes toward error handling. Additionally, respondents
express favorable attitudes and beliefs about the inherent benefits of classroom errors.
However, the findings show that respondents are still ambivalent about correcting
students’ errors out of fear of embarrassment, which they believe would decrease self-
confidence. This is an indication that some view errors as impediments to learning.
Therefore, it is necessary to foster positive attitudes among teachers and demonstrate that
errors can serve as opportunities for learning rather than as impediments to the learning
process.
In light of its findings, the study recommends that teacher training programs and
benchmarking activities may be done to emphasize the importance of appropriately
handling students’ errors and help teachers create error-tolerant mathematics classrooms
that provide significant learning opportunities. Content detailing high school students’
most common math errors may be incorporated into teacher preparation courses and
graduate programs. By exposing future teachers to common classroom errors, they can
develop effective preventive strategies. The manner teachers deal with errors in an online
learning environment may be investigated and explored. Additionally, future researchers
may determine whether students and teachers share similar perspectives about handling
math errors. They may also examine the mediation effects between students’ performance
and teachers’ practices, beliefs, and attitudes regarding handling errors.
Beliefs, attitudes, and practices of high school teachers in handling students’ errors
Abay, & Clores
114 n P-ISSN: 2549-4996 | E-ISSN: 2548-5806
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank our respondents for their participation in our research. We would also like to
thank the Graduate School of Ateneo de Naga University, particularly our panelists, Dr.
Ronald SP. Elicay, Dr. Arnulfo Aaron R. Reganit, and Dr. Joel R. Noche, for their guidance
and invaluable insights.
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