Practical Research II

MATH ANXIETY, MATH EFFICACY, AND

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN MATH OF
SELECTED GRADE 11 STUDENTS IN CATARMAN
NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Chapter I
Introduction
Background of the Study
 Guita & Tan (2018) found out that in school year 2012-2013, the
National Achievement Test (NAT) of DepEd yielded a mean of
percentage score (MPS) of 48.90 percent in all the secondary schools
nationwide. The yielded result didn’t meet the national standard passing
rate of 75 percent.
 The SMEA reports that during the last semester of the school year
2018-2019, in Grade 11 students of Catarman National Senior High
School, the MPS was 62.85 in third grading period and 78.10 of
percent in the fourth. The average of the two is 70.48, still fail.
 The result of the study of Ouano (2011) shows that adolescent have
lower self-efficacy when they are in higher academic level and more
dramatically lower among those who strongly endorsed performance
oriented goal which is used by the curriculum.
Objectives of the Study
1. Determine the profile of the respondents in terms of:
1.1 age
1.2 sex
1.3 hobbies
1.4 mathematics average grade during the previous quarter
2. Determine the level of math anxiety in the respondents.
3. Determine the level of self-efficacy in math of the respondents.
4. Find out if there is a significant relationship between the profile of the
respondents and their level of self-efficacy in mathematics.
5. Find out if there is a significant relationship between the profile of the
respondents and their level of math anxiety.
6. Find out if there is a significant relationship between the profile of the
respondents and their academic performance in math.
7. Find out if there is a significant relationship between the level of self-
efficacy of the respondents in math and their academic performance
on it.
8. Find out if there is a significant relationship between the level of
math anxiety of the respondents and their academic performance on
it.
Significance of the Study
Students. This study will provide them awareness of their math
performance and self-efficacy yielded by anxiety towards math.
Therefore, they will do some strategies to cope in every lessons in
math and uplift their academic performance.
Teachers. This study is beneficial to them since they will be able to
enhance their teaching method to their students. They will then give
students-friendly math activities that will prevent math anxiety to occur
on their students.
Community. This study will help the community to make programs,
whether out- or in-school, that teach concepts of mathematics towards
students who has math anxiety.
Future Researchers. This study will help the future researchers in making
researches about the level of math anxiety, self-efficacy, and academic
performance in math of the Catarman National Senior High School
students
 Scope and Limitations of the Study
This study will be conducted only within the premises of Catarman
National Senior High School. The respondents will be grade 11 students
from different academic strands this school-year 2019-2020.
However, this study is limited when it comes to the answers of the
grade 11 respondents. Hectic schedules of both the researchers and the
respondents will yield hard right timing in when to distribute the test
questionnaires. The answers of the respondents is beyond the control of
the researchers. In addition, this study is also hindered by the time allotted
to the researchers as well as the research experiences to conduct the study.
Another hindrance is the poor access to materials which we can utilize in
doing our study.
 Theoretical Framework
• Deficit theory by Eller (1989) suggests that people who start out with
poorer math performance are more likely to develop anxiety about math.
• Reciprocal theory, which was proposed by Dewey Bernard Larson (1898-
1990) suggests that math anxiety might cause decrease math performance
and poorer performance might elicit math anxiety.
• The third one is the Debilitating theory and was proposed by Hembuee
(1990). It suggests that the link between math anxiety and math
performance is driven by anxiety’s devastating consequences in learning and
recalling math skills.
• Self-efficacy theory proposed by Bandura (1977) says that the behavior
and performance is affected by self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is then made
by the experiences which can be vicarious, social persuasion, and
physiological feedbacks.
 Conceptual Framework
• The researchers identified the two variables which are the dependent and
independent variables. The independent variables are the self-efficacy in math,
level of math anxiety, and the profile of the respondents which compromise
the age, sex, hobbies, and the mathematics average during the previous
grading period. The dependent variable, however, is the academic
performance of the respondents in mathematics. Further self-efficacy and
level of math anxiety of the respondents are affected by their profile,
though both independent variables. More importantly, These three
independent variables are responsible for the increase or decrease of the
academic performance of the respondents in the long run.
Paradigm of the Study
Independent Variables Dedependent Variables

Profile of the Respondents:

1.1 Age
1.2 Sex
1.3 Hobbies
1.4 Math average during the previous
grading school year 2019-2020

Academic performance in
Math

Level of math anxiety and self-

efficacy of selected grade 11 Senior
High students in Catarman National
High School.
Hypothesis of the Study
1. There is no significant relationship between the profile of the
respondents and their level of self-efficacy in mathematics.
2. There is no significant relationship between the profile of the
respondents and their level of math anxiety.
3. There is no significant between the profile of the respondents and
their academic performance in math.
4. There is no significant between the level of self-efficacy of the
respondents in math and their academic performance on it.
5. There is no significant between the level of math anxiety of the
respondents and their academic performance on it.
 Chapter II
Review of Literature
Math Anxiety
• According to Paechter et al. (2018), anxiety disorders are some of the most
widespread mental health issues worldwide and in educational settings,
individuals may suffer from specific forms of test and performance anxiety
that are connected to knowledge domain. Peachter et al. said that math
anxiety is the most prominent and widespread for all ages across the globe.
• In a study of Paechter et al. (2018), they stated that in United States of
America, 93 percent of adult US-Americans indicate that they experience
some level of math anxiety. Paechter estimated that approximately 17
percent of the US Samaritan suffers from high level of math anxiety.
• In 2012, the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) reported
that across the 34 participating Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) countries, 59 percent of the 15 to 16 year-old students
reported that they often worry in math classes and difficult for them, 33
percent reported that they get very tense when they have to complete math
homework, and another 31 percent stated that they get very nervous doing
math problems.
• In a study of Patena and Dinglazan (2013) in selected department in Lyceum
University of Batangas, they found out that there is a poor performance in
college algebra. Patena and Dinglazan found out that only the College of
Allied Medical Professions (CAMP) passed the departmental examination of 84
to 89 percent which are progressing towards the standard and the other
departments which are the Lyceum International Maritime Academy (LIMA),
College of Computer Science (CCS), and the Centre for East Asian Studies
(CEAS) are below.
Self-efficacy
• In Townsend and Wilton’s (2003) research on evaluating change in attitudes towards
mathematics, they emphasize that elements of self-efficacy are present in recent
calls by educators to address the problems posed by negative attitude toward
mathematics.
• Jackson and Leffingwell (2000) found that there distinct age groups in which
the anxiety producing problems became evident: Grade 3 and 4, Grades 9-
11, and college level, predominantly in freshmen year. Jackson and
Leffingwell found out in there study that students became traumatized as
early as kindergarten and 16 percent of students experienced their first
traumatic ecounter in grade 3-4.
• Alpacion et al. (2014) stated in their study that students who have
shown positive attitude towards mathematics tend to perform well. They
added that performance in mathematics can be improved by developing
a positive attitude towards the subject. However, students who are not
confident perceive themselves incapable and may avoid tasks that are
seen as challenging or difficult and as a result, students lack of
confidence in their ability to perform mathematics follow creating math
anxiety (Seilfert 2004).
 Academic Performance in Mathematics
• According to Gourgey (1992), the reasons that lead to poor achievement by
many learners are feeling of being powerless when mistakes are made and not
knowing how to correct them; distrust of own intuition; math is emotionally
charged, evoking strong feelings of aversion and fear of failure; and math is
seen as a subject to be performed by applying algorithms dictated by higher
authority, rather than understanding underlying logical principle.
• In the Philippines, Guita and Tan (2018) found out that in school year 2012-
2013, the National Achievement Test (NAT) of DepEd yielded a mean of
percentage score (MPS) of 48.90 percent in all the secondary schools nationwide.
The yielded result didn’t meet the national standard passing rate of 75 percent.
Chapter III
Mathodology
 Locale of the Study
• Located at Barangay Dalakit, Catarman Northern Samar, the Catarman National
Highschool offers quality education up to this day. The school was established
under Batas Pambansa Bilang 478 which was signed on June 10 1985.
• The whole Catarman National Senior High School holds 1506 students, in
exact number and exactly 40 Senior High School teachers are employed.. The
Catarman National High School offers academic track and TVL track. The
academic strands are the Science Technology and Engineering (STEM),
Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Accountancy and Business
Management (ABM), and General Academic Strand (GAS). For the non-
academic track is Technical Vocational Strand (TVL).
Research Design
• Our study has a descriptive- correlational research design. Descriptive
in the manner of answering WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and HOW
questions regarding to the development of math anxiety among the
Catarman National Highschool students. While correlational in the
manner of how we find relationship between our independent and
dependent variables which are the Self- Efficacy and Math Anxiety and
how they affect Catarman National Senior High Students’ Academic
Performance in Math.
The Variables
• The independent variables are the math anxiety and self-efficacy of the
students. Math anxiety which is one of the independent variables is defined
by Ashcraft and Fraust (2000), as the feeling of tension, apprehension, and
fright that disturb the usual manipulation of number and the solving of
mathematical problems. The other independent variable which is the self-
efficacy is defined by PISA (2003) as the students’ self-belief in their ability
to overcome difficulties.
• The dependent variable is the academic performance of the Grade 11 Senior
High students which is operationally defined in our study as the average of
the respondents in mathematics during the first grading of the school-year
2019-2020.
Population and Sampling

• For exactly 798 Grade 11 students, we will choose samples from

different strands using the stratified random sampling method.
• During the distribution of our research instrument, 10 samples
will be selected in each section regardless of academic strand using
the simple random sampling. To avoid class interruption, the
researchers will give the questionnaires to the respondents only
during recess. They will be given one night to answer the
distributed questionnaires and will be retrieved the other day.
The Respondents
• The Grade-11 population of students is composed by 798 and are in
15 sections. Five sections in Humanities And Social Sciences (HUMSS),
two sections in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM),
four in General Academic Strand (GAS), two in Technical Vocational
and Livelihood (TVL), and two in Accountancy Business and
Management (ABM). The total member of the sample is 150 and 10
samples for every section regardless of strand.
• The adopted questionnaire for math anxiety is from the study of Jennilyn F.
Balbalosa entitled as “Factors affecting Mathematics Performance of
Laboratory High School at Laguna State Polytechnic University”.
• The questionnaire is in table and has four tests. The first test is for the
profile of the respondent. The name, age, sex, hobbies, and math grade
during the first quarter of the school year 2019-2020 are asked. Secondly, the
second test is all about the students’ interest and habits in math. Inside the
table are questions regarding the students’ habits and interest in math
answered by how frequent the respondents do math. The options are labeled
 as “always”, “often”, “sometimes”, “rarely”, and “never” and the
respondents will pick one from the choices. The third test, in the other
hand, focuses on the teacher factor and is divided into two parts which
are the teachers’ personality traits, skills, and instructional materials that
they use and answered by the same answers provided in the first test.
• For measuring self-efficacy, we adopted the Morgan-Jinks Self-Efficacy
Scale and modified the series of questions for them to be connected in
mathematics which is the fourth test. The questions are answerable by
really agree, kind of agree, kind of disagree, and really disagree.
Scoring and Interpretation of Data
• For measuring Math Anxiety:
Scale Range Qualitative Description Interpretation

5 4.20-5.00 Strongly Agree Highly Positive

4 3.40-4.19 Agree Positive

3 2.60-3.39 Undecided Moderate

2 1.80-2.59 Disagree Negative

1 1.00-1.79 Strongly Disagree Highly Negative

For measuring self-efficacy

Scale Range Qualitative Description Interpretation

4 3.25-4.00 Really Agree Highly Positive

3 2.50-3.25 Kind of Agree Positive

2 1.75-2.50 Kind of Disagree Negative

1 1.00-1.75 Really Disagree Very Negative

To determine the relationship between variables:
For math anxiety:
Level of Math Anxiety Anxiety Range No. of Students Percentage

Highly Positive 4.20-5.00

Positive 3.40-4.19

Moderate 2.60-3.39

Negative 1.80-2.59

Very Negative 1.00-1.79

TOTAL 150 100%

For Self-efficacy variable:

Level of Self-Efficacy Self-Efficacy Range No. of Students Percentage

Highly Positive 3.25-4.00

Positive 2.50-3.25

Negative 1.75-2.50

Highly Negative 1.00-1.75

TOTAL 150 100%

For academic in mathematics variable:
Performance Level Average No. of students Percentage

Very High 95-100

High 90-94

Average 85-89

Low 80-84

Very Low 65-79

TOTAL 150 100%

Validation of Research Instrument
• Our research instrument no longer need to be validated since the
study where this questionnaires were used had been successful. Only
the profile were added and should be as they are part of the
independent variables.
Data Gathering Procedure
• The data will be taken from ten students in every section regardless of
strand. The questionnaire will be distributed to the respondents during
recess so that the class will not be interrupted and will be retrieved the
other day.
• After the data are collected, they will eventually be analyzed. The two
data, level of math anxiety and level of self-efficacy, are measured
separately but in the same process. The answers will be gotten its
average and will be classified to where in the range they fall. Afterward,
they will be classified as to where in interpretation row they belong.
Statistical Treatment of Data
• The researcher will use descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean, and
standard deviation to describe the mathematics anxiety, self-efficacy and how
they relate to academic performance of the students. Descriptive statistics is
more appropriate as it will determine the range of math anxiety and self-
efficacy of the respondents on where they fall in average, in how frequent
the respondents in being such as belong to one of the interpretations, and
so forth.
• Thus, if used, the aforementioned hypothesis will be answered pertaining to
the level of anxiety and self-efficacy, and relationship between the variables.
• In determining the level of math anxiety of the respondent, as said in
the part of scoring and interpretation of data, we will use the
Mathematics Anxiety Rating Skills (MARS) and we made our own way of
determining the level of self-efficacy but to be accurate, we made it at
the same pattern and concept of the MARS.
• However since the remaining hypothesis discuss about the relationship of
the variables, only critical analysis will be used to answer them using the
data gathered.