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(ABM); Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS); and Science,
Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM)
(http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/k-12/).
Most students have been branded Mathematics or any subjects
containing solving problems negatively. It was considered to be one of the
most difficult subjects where in students often neglect the importance of
it in our lives. Numerical Anxiety as defined by Ashcraft et.al (2007) and
stated by Morada (2015) in his study “Correlation of Numerical Anxiety
and Mathematics Performance”, interferes with Mathematics Performance
like manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems
in both everyday life and academic situations. In having such Numerical
Anxiety, students often avoid taking courses which includes math
subjects. Morada (2015), also stated that numerically-anxious students
complain of such things as nervousness, inability to concentrate, a blank
mind, and a feeling of sickness when they are confronted while taking a
mathematics test. Other symptoms include panic, paranoia, passive
behaviour, and lack of confidence. The effect of Numerical Anxiety quite
serious as it affects one’s decision on the career they might take in the
future.
That is why, the researchers of the community at present time, is
still on search of the correlation of Numerical Anxiety and Mathematics
Performance of students. In order to find solution to unravel the
problem, the researcher provided analysis of data regarding the
correlation of Numerical Anxiety and Mathematics Performance of grade
12 students of University of Luzon.
Determining the correlation of Numerical Anxiety and Mathematics
Performance of grade 12 students is the main objective and focus of this
study. Specifically, the research aimed to evaluate the level of Numerical
Anxiety and Mathematics Performance using survey questionnaire
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consisting of 19 item 14-item bi-dimensional numerical anxiety scale –
revised (MAS-R), and respondents’ grades in their General Mathematics
subject.
Conceptual Framework
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Input Process Output
Profile of - Dissemination Positive or
questionnaires.
Statement of the Problem
- Analysis of data.
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2. What is the correlated coefficient of Numerical Anxiety and
Mathematics Performance in General Mathematics, and
Statistics and Probability?
3. What are the possible solutions and recommendations in order
to unravel the phenomena?
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Teachers. Teachers’ awareness on the correlation of Numerical
Anxiety and Mathematics Performance of students will serve as a guide
of teachers to find a way or solution in order to make the lesson easier
for students. Expanding the capability of teachers to influence students
to appreciate mathematics even more is another significance of this
study.
Parents. Having known of everyday circumstances a child
experience, this study is significant to parents or guardians of students
in order to take an action towards the problem. This study might serve
as a signal to get their child a tutor in order to understand mathematics
even more.
Students. As the subject of this study, this study will provide
students an alternative solutions and recommendations in order to
unravel the phenomenon they are into because Mathematics and
numerical related subjects are part of their role as students.
Future researchers. The study also helps future researchers who
are going to study on the same field or topic. This study may serve as a
guidance, related study, and source of information in their study to
further understand this field by providing presentation, analysis, and
interpretation of this topic area.
Definition of Terms
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14-item bi-dimensional Numerical Anxiety Scale – Revised (MAS-R) –
used to identify the anxiety level of Sex. The modified math anxiety scale
contains 19 indicators of Numerical Anxiety.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
Related Literature
Anxiety
Related Studies
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According to Ashcraft (2002), it was common to perceive
mathematics as a difficult subject and some students avoided solving
mathematical problems. Many learners experienced mathematics anxiety
in their school lives. (Ramirez et al., 2013; Devine et al., 2012; Loong,
2012). Study showed that mathematics anxiety developed during the
primary school years affected a notable proportion of students at pre-
university levels (Devine et al., 2012). Sheffield and Hunt (2006) revealed
that pre-university students who obtained high mathematics anxiety
scores performed relatively low in their mathematics tests. Consequently,
mathematics anxiety could be a good predictor of students’ Mathematics
Performance and overall academic performance (Venkatesh&Karimi,
2010).
Furner and Berman (2003) believed that higher level of
mathematical problems involved manipulating of numbers and solving
daily mathematical problems. Hence, students became more anxious and
lack of confidence in solving these problems. Although negative
perceptions of mathematics anxiety towards students’ performance have
been discussed, but mathematics anxiety of pre-university students have
not been studied widely. Studies indicated that anxiety as a predictor of
academic performance in the subjects of science and mathematics
(Mallow, 2010; Karimi&Venkatesan, 2009). Similarly, X. Luo, Wang, and
Z. Luo (2009) indicated that mathematics anxiety negatively correlated
with Mathematics Performance.
Rameli et al. (2014) felt that anxiety towards mathematics could
lead to avoidance in doing mathematics. Students tried to avoid solving
mathematics related problems or choosing mathematics related courses.
As the result, they were unable to perform well in mathematics. Several
poor physical conditions such as drowsiness, headache and dizziness
appeared once teachers mentioned certain topics in mathematics.
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Therefore, this study was carried out to assist mathematics educators
and curriculum planners in reducing students’ mathematics anxiety. At
the same time, this study helps students in reducing their mathematics
anxiety levels as well as improving their Mathematics Performance.
Hence, appropriate guidance for the students can be implemented before
they enroll in universities. Retrieved at:
(http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1082120.pdf).
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suggested for further research
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281002172
5).
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Implications of findings for educators are discussed and
suggestions for future research are outlined. Retrieved at:
(http://dspace.unza.zm:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1666?show=fu
ll).
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mathematical problems. Their finding showed that there was no
difference between all the grades for mathematics anxiety.
Numerical Anxiety is defined as an anxiety present during
mathematics learning processes. Nolting (2002) explained that Numerical
Anxiety was an emotional response of a person when solving
mathematical problems. Numerical Anxiety was related to everyday
situation that require working with numbers and perform arithmetic
calculations. For instance, students face Numerical Anxiety in
calculating the amount of tips for a service. Their minds were thinking
about mathematics or seeking mathematical instructions. Numerical
Anxiety occurred when manipulating of numbers in an ordinary situation
and it has been recognized as one of the two major dimensions of
mathematics anxiety (Johnston-Wilder & Lee, 2010) retrieved at:
(http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1082120.pdf).
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Students from College of Business Education, Teacher Education and
Computer Studies had fair performance while those from Marine
Transportation, Criminal Justice Education and Engineering had passing
performance. The study also revealed that students across different
variables had moderate Numerical Anxiety level. Furthermore, it was
found out that Mathematics Performance is significantly related to
Numerical Anxiety. However, the relationship was inverse and small.
Mathematics is often viewed by students as one of the most
abstract and conceptually difficult subjects. In spite of the important role
of mathematics, students have been shown to have motivational
difficulties when studying the subject.
Numerical Anxiety is a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear
that interferes with Mathematics Performance like manipulation of
numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in both everyday life
and academic situations. Anybody can have this and perhaps, most
students have this. The causes of Numerical Anxiety fall within three
major factors: dispositional, situational, and environmental. The
dispositional factors deal with psychological and emotional features such
as attitudes towards mathematics, self-concept, and learning styles. The
self-concept refers to students’ perception of their own ability to perform
well in mathematics and to learn new topics. The situational factors are
direct features that result from their particular mathematics courses: the
nature of the course and how it is designed and carried out; the
availability of or conversely lack of feedback; the pace of instruction, etc.
The environmental factors are characteristics that affected the students
prior to their mathematics course: for example, age, Sex, academic
major, and previous mathematics experience.
Numerically-anxious students complain of such things as
nervousness, inability to concentrate, a blank mind, and a feeling of
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sickness when they are confronted with taking a mathematics test. Other
symptoms include panic, paranoia, passive behavior, and lack of
confidence(http://www.fi.uu.nl/publicaties/literatuur/2007_ashcraft_ps
ychonomic_bulletin.pdf). When confronted with a mathematics problem,
numerically anxious student has sweaty palms, is nauseous, has heart
palpitations, and experiences paralysis of thought.
The effects of Numerical Anxiety are quite real. Recent studies have
shown that Numerical Anxiety has an actual effect on the brain's
functions that negatively impacts the ability to complete mathematics
tasks. This is not surprising as most of people intuitively know that when
one is feeling afraid or intensely nervous or frustrated he tends to have a
hard time concentrating.
Numerical Anxiety can lead to negative outcomes such as
avoidance of college mathematics courses and majors or avoidance of
careers that involve frequent mathematics use
(http://www.fi.uu.nl/publicaties/literatuur/2007_ashcraft_psychonomic
_bulletin.pdf).. For these reasons, additional research on the implications
of Numerical Anxiety and the cognitive mechanisms associated with
Numerical Anxiety is essential.
Numerical Anxiety has been a prevalent concern among educators
and others in our society for decades. Some students tend to be more
anxious about the testing process and can often freeze up, others just
cringe when they are confronted with any form of computational exercise,
or others dread taking math classes which can occur in the elementary,
high school, and even at the college levels.
Research has shown relationships between Numerical Anxiety and
achievement, between Numerical Anxiety and Sex, and between
Numerical Anxiety and age. A negative relationship between Numerical
Anxiety and mathematics achievement has been found across all grade
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levels (http://psycnet.apa.org/buy/1979-24735-001). While there is
little doubt that there is a connection between Numerical Anxiety and
poor mathematical performance, the direction and nature of this
connection is less clear.
Given that Numerical Anxiety can hinder performance even for
individuals with high aptitude, it is important to investigate the extent to
which Numerical Anxiety affects the performance of the students. As a
mathematics teacher, it has been observed that most students had
negative view towards mathematics. Oftentimes one can see students
uninterested about the subject and in turn they keep on complaining
that mathematics is such a very difficult subject. Such attitude is often
reflected during mathematics test wherein most students had either
passing or below passing scores.
Students could still improve their Mathematics Performance.
However, it is a must for every mathematics teacher to understand the
reasons why most students are uninterested about mathematics. It is for
this reason that the study was conducted. Retrieved at:
(http://www.apjmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/APJMR-2015-
3.5.3.06.pdf).
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CHAPTER III
DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
In this part of the study included the research design, locale of the
study, and the respondents of the study, the data gathering procedure,
and statistical treatment of data which are vital to further understand
the study.
Research Design
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We can be seen in figure 2 the map of University of Luzon. Since,
the research area of the study is an open area, numerous factors such as
the schedule of respondents, noise coming from the crowd, and other
activities in their other subjects were seen.
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were from Science and Technology, Engineering, Mathematics(STEM),
Accountancy and Business Management(ABM), Humanities and Social
Sciences(HUMSS), and General Academics (GAS) strands. It was
mentioned the less number of TVL students, the researchers chose 28
out of 32 TVL students taking up different stands including Bread and
Pastry, Food and Beverages, Tourism, and ICT.
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advancement of science and technology
(https://explorable.com/surveys-and-questionnaires).
The given limits have been set by the researchers in order to give a
distinction among questions indicated in the survey questionnaire. Thus,
the usage of Likert scale as a set of limitations using Arabic numbers 5,
4 , 3, 2, and 1 which indicates 5 as strongly agree on the statement, 4 as
agree, 3 as undecided, 2 as disagree, and 1 as strongly disagree.
Likert scale as defined by McLeod (2008), on a website
SimplyPsychology, is a five (or seven) point scale which is used to allow
the individual to express how much they agree or disagree with a
particular statement (https://www.simplypsychology.org/likert-
scale.html). Likert-type or frequency scales use fixed choice response
formats and are designed to measure attitudes or opinions (Bowling,
1997; Burns, & Grove, 1997). These ordinal scales measure levels of
agreement/disagreement. Sex may be offered a choice of five to seven or
even nine pre-coded responses with the neutral point being neither agree
nor disagree (https://www.simplypsychology.org/likert-scale.html).
The researchers first asked permission to the principal to conduct
the said study on the Senior High School department, and also to get the
grades of following respondents on their General Mathematics subject
which the subject both already taken by the 2 tracks on their previous
year level. Afterwards, the researchers conducted the dissemination of
survey questionnaires to randomly selected respondents which happened
during their free time, or if there is a subject teacher the researcher
asked permission to conduct data gathering.
After gathering the data needed, the researchers carefully
organized the data, and tallied the gathered raw data using Microsoft
Excel. After tallying, the researchers statistically analysed data using the
frequency count and percentage distribution on the profile of
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respondents, mean, and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient
in order to identify the correlation of Numerical Anxiety and Mathematics
Performance of Grade 12 Students.
In order to obtain the data, the following statistical tools were used to
statistically analyse data gathered.
1. Frequency Count and Percentage Distribution – used to
determine the percentage usually for data on profile of the
respondents (Gador, 2017).
The formula for Percentage Distribution is:
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𝑥𝑛
%= (100)
∑𝑥
Where:
% - Percentage
xn –score
∑ 𝑥 − 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒
Where:
n = number of pairs of scores (n=56)
∑ 𝑥𝑦– summation of the products of paired scores
∑ 𝑥– summation of General Mathematics grade
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∑ 𝑦– summation of Level of Numerical Anxiety
∑ 𝑥 2 – summation of squared x scores
∑ 𝑦 2– summation of squared y scores
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CHAPTER IV
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
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Table 4 shows the classification of respondents according to one of
their profile which is the strand they taken. Accountancy and Business
Management (ABM), General Academic Strand (GAS), Humanities and
Social Sciences (HUMSS), and Science and Technology, Engineering,
Mathematics (STEM) have the same number of respondents of 7, and a
percentage of 12.5%. These strands are under Academics track which
has numerous students taking it. Food and Beverage strand has the
highest number of respondents which is 12, and at the same time the
highest percentage of 21.43%. Food and Beverage strand together with
Bread and Pastry strand which has 9 respondents and 16.07% as
percentage, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strand
which has 3 respondents and 5.36% as percentage, and Tourism strand
which has 4 respondents and 7.14% as percentage are under Technical-
Vocational and Livelihood (TVL) track. Due to the limited number of
students taking up TVL track, the number of respondents is not equal.
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strands. TVL track has only 32 students and 4 were not included
anymore due to some factors that might affect the findings of this study.
Using Microsoft Excel, correlation between Numerical Anxiety and
Mathematics Performance is identified. We can be seen on the table 6 the
tabulated data of the correlation of two variables.
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CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary
Findings
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Based on the tabulated data present by researchers, the following
findings are drawn:
Conclusion
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Recommendations
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
and math anxiety. Las Vegas: Psychonomic Society, Inc. Retrieved at:
http://www.fi.uu.nl/publicaties/literatuur/2007_ashcraft_psychonomic
_bulletin.pdf
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Seng, (2015). The Influence of Pre-University Students’ Mathematics
Test Anxiety and Numerical Anxiety on Mathematics Achievement.
Malaysia: Canadian Center of Science and Education. Retrieved at:
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1082120.pdf
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