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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contributing to pupils’ affective attitudes, although they believed that interaction might be
important to ensure pupils had a sense of security.

Findings regarding Question 3

The third question considered the relationships between pupils’ attitudes to learning
mathematics and whether they were affected by pupils’ perceptions of self, classroom
ethos and motivational orientations. This question also examined whether there were
any differences in perceptions between 5^th and 8^th grade pupils and their teachers. The
data in the questionnaires was used to explore these issues, while teachers’ attribution
of pupils’ success and failure in mathematics learning was explored through open
questions.

Teachers of both grades believed that pupil effort was the main factor leading to success
in mathematics learning, while pupils failing in mathematics learning did not make
sufficient effort. Although the earlier literature has suggested that Japanese teachers
might attribute their pupils’ poor performance to teachers’ lack of instruction skills (Lee at
al. 1998), this attribution style was not found in this study. Teachers of both grades
praised their pupils for individual enhancement of effort. This suggested that teachers
have an incremental theory of intelligence.

5^th graders perceived that their teachers praised them for effort, although they did not
greatly appreciate being given praise for more effort than others based on their teachers’
judgement. They attributed their success in mathematics learning to their effort in
learning, support from the teacher and at home, while they attributed their failure to lack
of effort or lack of ability. This suggests that not all Japanese 5^th graders have an
incremental theory of intelligence.

Japanese 8^th graders demonstrated stronger incremental theories of intelligence. This
supports the findings from the earlier literature showing that Japanese culture values an
incremental idea of intelligence (e.g. Kojima, 1986). In 8^th graders, their incremental
theory seemed to produce effort-based attribution in both success and failure in learning
mathematics and their belief in the link between effort and results. 8^th graders perceived
that their teachers praised them for individual improvement in terms of both effort and

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