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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pupils’ attainments, while difficulties in the classes were negatively related with their
attainments (Fraser, et al., 1982a, 1982b). Although Fraser’s (1986) synthesis reported
that the relationship between cohesiveness and the pupils’ attainments were unclear, the
Ministry of Education in Japan (1999) encouraged teachers to build good peer
relationships in mathematics classes. Therefore, teachers were asked how often they
attempted to enhance their pupils’ satisfaction in learning mathematics, promoted co-
operative attitudes between pupils and reduced their pupils’ difficulties in learning
mathematics.

The statements measuring the teachers’ perceptions of competitiveness and friction
were developed during the pilot study. Fraser’s (1986) synthesis indicated that
competitiveness among pupils in the classroom would lead to less favourable outcomes
(Talmage, et al., 1978) or no-significant effect (Fraser, et al., 1985). Therefore, originally,
the questions regarding competition enquired about the frequency of teachers’ attempts
to reduce competition among pupils. However, some of the teachers taking part in the
pilot-study mentioned that competition among pupils could, in some cases, work as a
measure for promoting pupils’ motivation to learn mathematics. If many Japanese
teachers adopt such perspectives, asking teachers to what extent they are attempting to
reduce competition in classes, which is based on the assumption that competition should
be reduced is biased by the researcher’s subjectivity. In the second pilot study, some
respondents expressed their agreement that competition should be used as a means to
promote pupils’ motivation to mathematics. Therefore, a question, which asked the
teachers whether they thought that competition between pupils could be used to
enhance pupils’ motivation to learn mathematics, was adopted in the main study.

The question regarding friction between pupils was, originally, about the extent to which
teachers were attempting to reduce such friction. This was because Fraseris (1985)
study showed a negative correlation between friction in the classroom and pupils’
attainment. Such a question might be viewed as parallel to the questions concerning to
what extent teachers were attempting to improve their pupils’ satisfaction in learning
mathematics, promote co-operative attitudes among pupils and reduce their pupils’
difficulties in learning mathematics. However, the teachers taking part in the pilot study
mentioned that they had rarely seen friction among pupils in their mathematics classes.
Thus, the ‘hardly ever’ or ‘neveri responses to the question, ‘Do you attempt to reduce

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