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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graders perceived that their teachers never or hardly ever praised them because they
made more effort than before (see Table 7.4.5).

Overall, 5^th graders receiving more frequent praise in mathematics classes perceived
more frequent deployment of Practical work, Individual help, and Group discussion. They
also perceived more frequent deployment of Whole-class discussion except when praise
was for better results than others. They also perceived more frequent deployment of
Using a computer when praise was for better results than others and enhancement of
effort.

Overall, 8^th graders receiving frequent praise perceived more frequent deployment of all
of the teaching methods except for Reading a textbook and Individual work. No
significant difference was found in 8^th graders’ perceptions of the frequency of
deployment of Using a computer according to their perceptions of the extent to which
their teacher praised them based on improvement in results.

Pupils of both grades receiving more frequent praise perceived that positive affective
attitudes were promoted by all teaching methods, although there were some exceptions.
Of these, Using a computer, individual work and Individual help were the teaching
methods least affected by pupils’ perceived frequency of teacher praise. However, 5^th
graders perceiving a higher frequency of adoption of teacher praise perceived more that
receiving individual help could promote pupils’ positive affective attitudes towards
mathematics learning. No significant difference was found in 5^th graders’ sense of
progress promoted by Whole-class discussion according to the perceived frequency of
the teacher’s praise for better results than others.

Pupils’ perceived frequency of teacher praise seemed to affect pupils’ perceptions of the
effects of teaching methods on attitudes more at 8^th grade than 5^th grade. 8^th graders’
enjoyment promoted by Practical work and Using a computer was not statistically
significantly different according to their perceived frequency of teacher’s praise,
irrespective of its kind. No significant difference was found in 8^th graders’ enjoyment
promoted by Reading a textbook when the teacher’s praise was directed to improvement
of results. 8^th graders did perceive more positive affective attitudes promoted by

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