Relations among Engagement, Self-Efficacy, and Anxiety in Mathematics among Omani Students

Abstract

Introduction. Mathematics is one of the most important academic subjects in school. However, it is one of the most difficult subjects, and both students and teachers face difficulties in this subject. Teachers have difficulty engaging students in learning the subject. Rarely has the concept of engagement been researched in the Middle East region, in general, and in Oman in particular. Similarly, the concept of self-efficacy has been minimally investigated. The purpose of this study is to test the construct validity of: self-efficacy, engagement, and anxiety in mathematics. Once constructs are validated, models of relations among constructs were developed and tested.Method A multi stage cluster sample (n=900: 420 females; 480 males) was selected from two Omani school directorates. The sample was selected from grades 6, 8 and 10 in Muscat and Aldhahira. Three measures were administered to intact classes. Results. The results revealed reasonable construct validity for each construct. Structural equation models indicated that self-efficacy significantly predicted engagement. Neither self-efficacy nor engagement was able to predict anxiety. Discussion and Conclusion. The implication of our results is that for programs and initiatives to promote engagement in mathematics, students should develop confidence in learning mathematics. Also, any program should assess students math anxiety and focus more on students with low to medium math anxiety since students in this category of math anxiety produce negative correlations between math anxiety and self-efficacy and between math anxiety and engagement in mathematics.