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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7.6: Summary of Chapter 7

There were developmental differences in pupils’ perceptions of self, motivational
orientation and classroom ethos. There were also wide individual differences. Pupils’
perceived mathematics performance and some aspects of classroom ethos deteriorated
in some sense, as they proceeded through the grades.

Pupils’ perceived mathematics performance deteriorated as they proceeded through the
grades, although mathematics self-concept and general self-concept measured through
SDQ-I and SDQ-II did not change. Pupils’ perceived satisfaction in class decreased,
although 5^th graders also perceived relatively low levels of satisfaction. 8^th graders
perceived more difficulties in mathematics classes than 5^th graders, although the level
overall was not very high.

8^th graders perceived that their teachers hardly ever praised them, although they
reported being neutral to happy when they were praised. This phenomenon was also
found in 5^th graders. The evidence suggested that pupils’ perceptions of teacher praise
moved from that based on effort at elementary school to individual improvement at 8^th
grade. In addition, 8^th graders more than 5^th graders perceived that their teachers
adopted results-based praise. They appreciated results-based praise more than 5^th
graders. They also perceived that teachers praised them for improvement in results
more than getting better results than others and they preferred this. 5^th graders
perceived more than 8^th graders that their teachers adopted effort-based praise, but
pupils’ preference for effort-based praise was not significantly different between the age
groups.

The evidence revealed that 8^th graders had incremental theories of intelligence, and
valued effort in learning. Most 8^th graders expressed absolute agreement or agreement
that they could do almost anything that they wanted to do if they really tried hard. Both
8^th graders perceiving their mathematics learning as successful and those perceiving
their mathematics learning as failing gave effort-based attributions. Many 5^th graders
who perceived their mathematics learning as failing attributed their failure to lack of
ability, so it is remarkable that 60% of 8^th graders perceiving that their mathematics
learning was failing attributed their failure to lack of effort.

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