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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junior high school textbooks (Mayer et al. 1995) ∞ntain ample worked-out examples and
explanation, but few exercises for consolidation and practice by pupils. Secondly, both
concepts and skills are presented earlier than in the USA (Fuson et al., 1988) and
Hawaii (Whitman et al., 1997). Whitman et al. (1997) considers that Japanese students
consolidate these concepts and skills through verbal communication. Stevenson et al.
(1992b) undertook an analysis and concluded that the descriptions in mathematics
textbooks adopted at Japanese schools were not very explicit because they aimed to
develop children’s mathematical thinking through children’s exploration, elaboration and
rationales rather than transmitting knowledge.

The results of the TIMSS survey showed that the majority of teachers of both 4^th and 8^th
graders used textbooks to guide the content and instruction methods of mathematics
lessons (National Institute for Educational Research, 1997, 1998). Japanese teachers
are reported as feeling that it is easy to prepare for classes because of the common
national curriculum, the high availability of precise teachers’ manuals, ample
opportunities to share teaching skills between teachers within individual schools and
across schools and the small number of teaching hours allocated to individual teachers
because of large class sizes (Lynn, 1988; Stevenson et al., 1992a; Whitburn, 2000).
Foxman (1999) reported that more than 6 out of 10 Japanese elementary school
teachers reported that their lessons were based on textbooks, although they combined
their use Oftextbooks with considerable locally developed pedagogy (Whitburn, 1995).

Foxman (1999) reported that the percentage of Japanese students who perceived that
teachers allowed them to use textbooks was also quite low for 8^th graders, in
international comparisons. However, 9 out of 10 Japanese students thought that
memorising material from the textbook or notebook was important for better performance
in mathematics (National Institute for Educational Research, 1997). Rholen (1995) takes
the view that at the later stages of compulsory schooling, especially after grade 7,
textbooks come to play a major role in teaching, in order to prepare pupils for entrance
examinations. This may indicate that teachers use an exploratory style for lessons
without textbooks, but students use textbooks to confirm what they have learned in
classes by themselves when preparing for term examinations.

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