5th and 8th grade pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of the relationships between teaching methods, classroom ethos, and positive affective attitudes towards learning mathematics in Japan

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learning mathematics in relation to these methods. The second concerned the teachers’
attempts to enhance their pupils’ self-concepts and mathematics efficacy. The third
concerned their attributions of their pupils’ mathematics outcomes. The fourth concerned
how they perceived their pupils in mathematics classes. The fifth concerned their
perceptions of classroom ethos and their attempts to improve this ethos. These were
compatible with the issues raised in the pupils’ questionnaire.

Two pilot studies were conducted in developing the questionnaire for teachers, before
the main survey. Attempts were made to ensure ∞mpatibility between the questionnaire
for pupils and that for teachers as far as possible. The first pilot study was conducted
with 15 teachers, using a self-administered questionnaire. Afterwards, interviews were
conducted with individual teacher participants, to further explore their views on the
questions and establish any difficulties and limitations in the questionnaire design.
Teachers working at junior high schools who specialised in mathematics were more
likely to have developed specific views on mathematics education, while teachers
working in elementary schools teaching all the curriculum subjects were more likely to
see mathematics education as linked with other subjects. Questions were designed to
ensure the accessibility of questions for both teacher groups. The second pilot study was
conducted with those teachers assisting with the pupils’ third and fourth pilot study, to
ensure that the altered questions were accessible for teachers of both teaching age
groups.

The first pilot study with teachers examined the appropriateness of the teaching methods
described in the questionnaire. The questionnaire contained those teaching methods
which were selected following the recommendations of the Ministry of Education in
Japan (1999), with ‘Others, specify’ questions. Afterwards, the researcher interviewed
individual participants in the pilot study. Originally, two other teaching methods in
mathematics classes were included. One was teaching mathematics through pupils’
writing. Although this method is becoming popular in other countries (e.g. Pugalee,
1996, 1998), and some teachers in Japanese schools are also attempting to introduce it
in their mathematics classes, it was completely unfamiliar to the majority of the teachers
taking part in the pilot study. Therefore, it was excluded. Watching TVZvideo was
encouraged as a method Ofteaching in the 1970s and 1980s. TV was available in 98.1%

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