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’ perceptions of the effects of teaching methods on their affective attitudes were
diverse. Pupils had different preferences for teaching methods according to their
attributional style for performance. Their self-concept, motivational orientation,
classroom ethos and perceptions of teacher praise affected the perceived frequency of
deployment of different teaching methods and their affective attitudes towards
mathematics learning. Using a computer was the teaching method least affected by
these factors at 5^th grade. Traditional teaching methods were more likely to be affected
by these factors than the recently developed teaching methods at 8^th grade. The
adoption of various teaching methods can help to meet these individual differences. 5^th
grade teachers believed that their attempts to improve their pupils’ self-concept and
classroom ethos were related to a wide range of teaching methods, while 8^th grade
teachers’ attempts to improve classroom ethos related to a limited number of teaching
methods, mainly individual teaching methods.

8.2: Limitations

General Issues

The results of the questionnaire survey showed that individual differences existed in
pupils’ perceptions of the frequency of adopting each teaching method. Pupils may
perceive the frequency of adoption of teaching methods differently even in the same
class. In other words, pupils’ perceived frequency of the adoption of each teaching
method does not necessarily reflect the amount of time the teachers spent using a
particular method.

Open questions were not adopted in the questionnaire survey with 5^th graders, because
of the difficulties for them in expressing their ideas in written language coherently. Age
differences existed in pupils’ perceived frequency of the use of different teaching
methods and their preference for different teaching methods. For instance, 8^th graders
liked individual learning methods, while 5^th graders disliked them. Age differences may
also exist in perceptions of the factors contributing to affective attitudes towards
mathematics learning. This was not explored in the study because of the lack of
qualitative data for 5^th graders.

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