Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Region I
PANGASINAN DIVISION II
SAN QUINTIN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
San Quintin, Pangasinan

THE FACTORS AFFECTING MATH ANXIETY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF

GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT SAN QUINTIN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

RESEARCHERS

Justine Carl O. Madiam Kenji G. Wong

Jack S. Castro John Raven J. Acosta

Jhanrie P. Aquino Gilbert Louse C. Paluyo

Cate Sandra B. Neveras Mialyn V. Tubera

Ralf Launrenz M. Dela Cruz John Airon M. Ocampo

Mark Steven H. Castaneda Alfonzo B. Abuan

Daphne M. Magno

(Research teacher)
 CHAPTER 1

Problem And Its Background

Introduction

The definition of math anxiety is provided to highlight the study's primary variable.

Math anxiety is defined as feeling of anxiety that one cannot perform efficiently in situations

that involve the use of math. Unusual nervousness and panicking is the feeling when doing or

thinking about math. Apart from phobia, some people call math anxiety a tension, panic,

helplessness and mental disorganization. This thought rests in the head of students and they

result in poor performing and development of math anxiety. Although it is mostly associated

with academics, it can apply to other aspects of life.

According to Ashcraft, math anxiety is an intense emotional feeling of anxiety that a

student has about their ability to do or understand mathematics. A decline in performance

when math is performed under timed, high-stakes condition. This means that math

achievement and proficiency scores for math-anxious individuals are underestimates their

own potential. Students who struggle with math anxiety may feel unqualified of engaging in

math-related activities and classes. The factor affecting math anxiety is on working memory

in mathematical performance, The connections between math-related anxiety and It

significantly impacts measures of both educational and personal success

According to Schar, math anxiety can cause math avoidance an empirical dilemma

arises. For instance, when a highly math-anxious student performs disappointingly on a math

question, it could be due to math anxiety, or the lack of competency in math because of math

avoidance. There was a stronger negative relationship between accuracy and math anxiety.

Also, Mary Fides Gough introduced the term “mathemaphobia” to describe the phobia-like

feelings of many towards mathematics. According to Hembree, math anxiety is directly

tests. Math anxiety is related to negative attitudes concerning math (1990).

According to the research found at the University of Chicago by Sian Beilock and her

group, the anticipation or the thought of solving math actually causes math anxiety. Math

anxiety is not simply about being bad at math. It is an anxiety about one’s own ability to do

mathematics. It is a phenomenon that is often considered when examining the students’

problems in mathematics.

Teens, including high school students, are said to be highly vulnerable to these kinds

of stress, depression and anxiety. They are prone to these things and that we can see that most

of our youth really experience these kinds of situation. According to Odriozola and Gee,

adolescence is the life stage when mental illnesses are most likely to emerge, with anxiety

disorders being the most common. They said that recent estimates suggest that over 30

percent of teens have an anxiety disorder. That means about one of every three teenagers is

struggling with anxiety that significantly interferes with their life and is unlikely to fade

without treatment (2018).

During adolescence, our teens will go through more changes than at any other time of

their lives. Nothing will stay the same – their friendships, their bodies, their brains, their

place in the world and the way they make sense of it. For many of them, there will be times

when it will feel confusing and exhausting. (Young, 2019).

One of these mental stress is math anxiety that greatly affect the lives of our teens,

specifically students while studying and going to school.

In line with academic performance, which can be highly affected by the certain type

of anxiety, was described to be a basis on your action and on how well you perform in school

courses. Academic are courses that are graded and retained for school records. Academic
achievement refers to the level of schooling you have successfully completed and the ability

to attain success in your studies. The example of an academic achievement or attend college

getting good grades. One way to get good grades is to make presence known or participate

also many professors have attendance polices so you can have direct impact in your grade

simply by attended.

According to Nonis and Hudson, Study habits and study time can affect the

academic performance. Study habits had a positive direct relationship on students’

performance but others had negative direct relationship. Study habits moderated the

relationship between study time and students’ performance positively.

On how it is said to be connected, math anxiety and academic performance,

organizations gave an idea on how it is said to be linked. On the study “The relationship

between maths anxiety and maths performance”, University of Cambridge stated that in their

research wherein they have seen a relationship between math anxiety and performance in

math tests. This relationship is similar to that seen between other forms of anxiety (e.g. test

anxiety) and test performance, and consists of a small negative correlation. That is, as maths

anxiety levels increase, math test performance somewhat decreases (2017).

With that, the researchers want to study the factors affecting math anxiety and

academic performance deeply and on how the said kind of anxiety affect the performance of

youth in adolescence stage, specifically grade 11 students which are said to be highly

vulnerable because of the adjustment stage that they facing and changes from junior high

school to the different world of senior high school.

Statement of the problem

performance of Grade 11 students of San Quintin National High School specifically, it seeks

to answer the following questions:

1.) What is the profile of the srudent’s in terms of:

1.1 Age

1.2 Gender

1.3 General average of grade (Optional)

2.) What are the negative effects of math anxiety to grade 11 students of San Quintin

National High School?

3.) What are the positive effects of math anxiety to grade 11 students of San Quintin

National High School?

4.) What are the Co-relation of math anxiety and academic performance?

Significance of the study

Researchers’ subjects are the students of grade 11 in San Quintin National High

School. The school’s mission and vision do not just focus on teachers and students but also

with its relationship with the parents. They are one of the biggest factor in overcoming mental

problems, specifically math anxiety. That is why the researchers believe that this study will

not just benefit the students, specifically in San Quintin National High School, but also the

people around them for their better understanding and being profound about the effects of

math anxiety to the grade 11 students. Furthermore, the study will give them a cognizant

mind to have an open mind about the issue. With that it will give them a hint information on

how to deal with a student with math anxiety.

The knowledge and being cognizant about the issue can be transfer not only with the students

but also with the people around them. With this, the knowledge should not be contained into
themselves but should be passed on to other people for their own awareness.

1.) Students will learn about the effects of math anxiety and be mindful of them.

They might evaluate how they feel about this problem, take action, and look for

mental health treatment. After that, being able to deal with this kind of

anxiousness will help them in the future.

2.) Teachers, The study may provide them with information to evaluate their students

and provide motivational support. Additionally, educators might consider

additional strategies for addressing math anxiety in their pupils and creating new

coping mechanisms for them to use during class. Teachers can also learn

something from this study in addition to students.

3.) School administrators stand to gain by assisting them with future educational

adjustments and lesson planning, particularly with math-related lessons. To create

a more efficient learning environment, they could improve and progress their

curricular strategies and academic policies. Our study will provide them with

guidance on how to deal with pupils who are feeling anxiety related to

mathematics.

4.) Future and other researchers can obtain reliable sources that will support their

own research on math anxiety. Additionally, they can simply obtain the

information they need, which could aid them in precisely and swiftly explaining

and defending their research. These could offer potential remedies for the problem

of math anxiety.
 5.) Parents, It will assist parents in comprehending math anxiety and its

consequences. In order to assist their child in overcoming math anxiety, they may

also tell if their child is experiencing it with ease. In the event that their child

experiences math anxiety, it will assist them in understanding what is going on

and taking appropriate action.

Scope and delimitation

This study focused on the relationship between math anxiety and academic

performance of grade11 students of San Quintin National High School.The respondents of

this study were the grade 11 students of San Quintin National High School.

The questionnaire that the researcher used was Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS)

that was developed by Nancy Betz year 1978, a test that measures math anxiety and

Mathematical Resilience Scale (MRS) developed by Kooken, Welsh, McCoach, Johnston-

Wilder, and Lee in the year 2013.

MAS measures how students see math as a subject and how they classify it as one of

either the worst or best subjects. It can identify if a student is going through math anxiety. In

addition, it’s a way of seeing and observing a student on how they interact and participate

during math classes and what they think while they are in the class.

The MAR purpose is to know how students’ carry knowledge while they are studying

mathematics. It analyzes how students react to the subject and its scope believing that it really

affects an individual’s learning. Its shows the students’ participation and their continuousness

in learning mathematics.

The Mathematical Resilience Scale measures students’ attitudes toward studying

mathematics, using three correlated factors: Value, Struggle, and Growth. The Mathematical

Resilience Scale was developed and validated using exploratory and confirmatory factor
analyses across three samples. Results provide a new approach to gauge the likelihood of

student participation and persistence in mathematics (Kooken, Welsh, McCoach, Wilder, and

Lee, 2015)

The researcher also used 5 essay questions from the study of Paranaque National High

School-Main about the Effects of Math Anxiety to Grade 11 Students in their school.

This standardized test for this study is composed of two parts. The first part is divided

into two; the first one contains 10 questions while the second one contains 17 questions. The

second part contains 10 questions. Thus, the total sum of test items is 37. The test has

directions and guidelines on how to answer the questionnaire.

The record of grades of all the respondents was gathered through the questionnaire.