An investigation on burnout, test anxiety, test motivation, and test attitude of prospective mathematics teachers in Turkey

Abstract

Student burnout can lead to lower motivation to do required coursework and higher absenteeism. The purpose of the study was to examine whether a significant correlation exists between burnout, test anxiety, test attitude, and test motivation of prospective mathematics teachers studying at mathematics teacher program in an education faculty of a state university in Turkey. This study also sought to examine whether there is a significant difference between burnout, test anxiety, test attitude, and test motivation of prospective mathematics teachers, according to gender and grade level. Data were collected from 340 students. We found a significant positive correlation between test attitude and test motivation, between burnout and test anxiety; also the results of ANOVA showed that there was a statistically significant difference in prospective mathematics teachers’ burnout and test anxiety, according to grade level. These findings support prospective mathematics teachers’ test attitude had a significant positive correlation with test motivation, their burnout had a significant positive correlation with test anxiety and there was a significant difference between burnout and test anxiety, according to grade levels.