Abstract
The urge to excel or perform maximally in mathematics varies from individual to individual because achievement motivation is often developed or learnt during socialization and learning experiences. The study examined the relationship between College of Education students’ achievement motivation and mathematics achievement, correlation coefficient between mathematics anxiety and college students’ achievement motivation as well as mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement. The sample, 268 College of Education students offering mathematics as one of their subject combination, was selected using purposive sampling techniques. Three research instruments namely: Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS), Achievement Motivation Scale (AMS) and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) were used to collect data for the study. Data collected for the study were analyzed using correlational analysis and ANOVA. The results showed that a significantly low negative correlation coefficient existed between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement. There is a negative and significant correlation coefficient between mathematics anxiety and achievement motivation. Similarly, a positive and significant correlation coefficient also exists between achievement motivation and mathematics achievement. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that mathematics teachers should adopt activity based strategies and conducive learning environment in order to reduce college students’ anxieties in mathematics learning.
Highlights
Nigeria, in her quest for technological breakthrough, has made Mathematics a compulsory subject in the curriculum of the primary and secondary schools in her educational system (FGN, 2004), it is a pre-requisite to the study of science courses in her Colleges and Universities and a gateway to scientific and technological breakthroughs
A cursory look at Table 1 shows that the percentage distribution of college students on mathematics anxiety levels. 32.84% of the sampled college students has Low Mathematics Anxiety (14.93% Male and 17.91% Female), the Moderate Mathematics Anxiety group has 43.66% made up 17.91% Male and 25.75% Female while the High Mathematics Anxiety group has 23.5% of the college students made up of 10.45% Male and 13.06% Female
The results of this study show that mathematics anxiety is an important variable that cannot be ignored in the teaching and learning of mathematics
Summary
In her quest for technological breakthrough, has made Mathematics a compulsory subject in the curriculum of the primary and secondary schools in her educational system (FGN, 2004), it is a pre-requisite to the study of science courses in her Colleges and Universities and a gateway to scientific and technological breakthroughs. According to Parham (1988) anxiety is a psychological state consisting fear, worry, dread and tenseness and Özer (1997) opined that an individual faced with this situation experiences fear and anxiety. Byrd (1982) and Lazarus (1974) opined that mathematics anxiety is a fear state while D’Ailly & Bergering (1992), Fennema and Sherman (1976), Hadfield and Trujillo (1999), Levine (1995), Ma (2003) as well as Richardson and Suinn (1972) argued that mathematics anxiety is a feeling of stress and fear or apprehension which hinders mathematical problemsolving and calculation in both regular and academic life. According to Miller and Mitchell (1994), mathematics anxiety revolves round a set of circumstances in which students experienced fears as a result of many years of painful experiences with mathematics while Ashcraft and Faust (1994) contended that mathematics anxiety is the feeling of tension, helplessness, mental dis-organization and dread that students experienced when manipulation of numbers, shapes and solutions to mathematical problems are required
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