Abstract
Positive teacher-student interaction can exert a positive influence on student engagement and math performance. As an important part of teacher-student interaction, emotional support of a teacher plays an indispensable role in the math performance of junior middle school and elementary school students. This study aimed to explore the effects of teacher's emotional support on math performance, and examine the mediating role of academic self-efficacy and math behavioral engagement. A total of 1,294 students in grades 3–5 and 7–8 from 14 junior middle and primary schools in China took part in the web-based survey. Results showed the following: (1) academic self-efficacy mediated the relationship between teacher's emotional support and math performance of Chinese primary and middle school boys and girls; math behavioral engagement mediated the relationship between teacher's emotional support and math performance of Chinese primary and middle school boys and girls; (2) The relationship between teacher's emotional support and math performance of Chinese junior middle school boys and girls was mediated by the chain of academic self-efficacy and math behavioral engagement.
Highlights
Studies have found that a variety of factors, such as gender stereotypes, emotions, and attitudes, affect the mathematics performance of students (Hattie, 2009; Peixoto et al, 2017; Moè, 2018)
We examined whether academic self-efficacy and math behavioral engagement of students played a mediating role between teacher’s emotional support and math performance
This study investigated the ways by which teacher’s emotional support, academic self-efficacy, and math behavioral engagement affected the math performance of Chinese primary and middle school students
Summary
Studies have found that a variety of factors, such as gender stereotypes, emotions, and attitudes, affect the mathematics performance of students (Hattie, 2009; Peixoto et al, 2017; Moè, 2018). Teachers (Li, 1999) and parents (Tomasetto et al, 2011) believe boys to be more skilled than girls in mathematics. These negative stereotypes about mathematics might prompt girls to engage less in mathematics (Eddy and Brownell, 2016). The elementary school girls experience higher levels of math anxiety and boredom, and less self-efficacy compared with the boys (Lichtenfeld et al, 2012; Lohbeck et al, 2016).
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