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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explanation and discussion style teaching methods and between Individual help, Whole-
class discussion, and Practical work. This contrasts with the perceptions of 8^th grade
teachers, which are reported next.

8^th grade teachers had a less integrated conception of teaching methods, in terms of
promoting motivation. There was a significant moderate positive correlation between
discussion style teaching methods. Individual work was perceived to relate with
Individual help and Teacher explanation. Teacher explanation was perceived to relate
with Group discussion. The two kinds of discussion style teaching methods were
positively related. This is a considerably looser structure than that found in the
responses of 5^th grade teachers (see Figure 4.4.6 in appendix).

The relationships in the responses of 5^th graders in terms of motivation are not dissimilar
to those of their teachers, although they tended to fall into two main groupings. One
group consisted of Practical work, Group discussion and Whole-class discussion. The
other group consisted of Teacher explanation, Reading a textbook, Individual work and
Individual help. They were linked by a correlation between Teacher explanation and
Whole-class discussion. Overall, 5^th graders appeared to have much less integrated
conceptions of teaching methods, compared to the perceptions of their teachers (see
Figure 4.4.7 in appendix). For 8^th graders, teaching methods, which promoted their
motivation, fell into two groups. One group consisted of Practical work, Group
discussion, Whole-class discussion and Using a computer. The other group consisted of
Teacher explanation, Reading a textbook, Individual work and Individual help. No
significant correlations between the teaching methods belonging to each group in terms
of promoting pupils’ motivation was found (see Figure 4.4.8 in appendix).

A sense Ofsecurity

For 5^th grade teachers, teaching methods, which promoted pupils’ sense of security, fell
into two groups. One group consisted of the two kinds of discussion style teaching
methods. The other group consisted of Reading a textbook, Teacher explanation and
Individual help, (see Figure 4.4.9 in appendix). For 8^th grade teachers, teaching
methods, which promoted pupils’ sense of security, fell into three groups. There were
significant positive correlations between Whole-class discussion, Practical work and

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