Math Anxiety and Mathematical Representations of Grade 7 Students

Abstract

Naturally, students are afraid to learn Mathematics that progresses as a fear of getting things wrong. This study utilizes the descriptive-correlational research design to test how the math anxiety and mathematics are connected to each other. Forty-two (42) Grade 7 students participated in the study during the school year 2020-2021. It used a researcher-made survey questionnaire on math anxiety and an examination on mathematical representations through modular learning. The math anxiety is indicated by mathematics test anxiety and numerical anxiety both with ten statements. Meanwhile, the examination was focused on the different components of mathematical representation such as pictures, manipulative models, written symbols, real-world situations and oral language. The result showed that students have high level of anxiety towards mathematics. Although students experience high level of test and numerical anxiety, their mathematical representations examination showed ‘developing’ level of performance. These two inverse results were supported by a no significant relationship between the math anxiety and students’ performance in mathematics. Although the inverse relationship proved the effect of the anxiety on the test scores, the null hypothesis on the relationship of the variables was rejected. The study recommends further testing involving different modalities of learning such as online and hybrid.