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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enjoyment, motivation, sense of security and sense of progress are affected in a similar
way by these different teaching methods?

The data from the research will be used to compare the perceptions of teachers of both
age groups, pupils of both age groups and teachers and pupils within each age group.
Such comparisons will reveal whether teachers’ understanding of their pupils’ attitudinal
responses in terms Ofteaching methods is compatible with their pupils’ perceptions.

Question 2: What contributes to pupils’ enjoyment, motivation, sense of security and
sense of progress in mathematics classes?

The Ministry of Education in Japan (1999) has suggested that valuing pupils’ autonomy
and self-determination in learning, securing pupils’ sense of progress, and informing
pupils of the meaning and purpose of learning mathematics can promote pupils’ positive
affective attitudes towards mathematics learning. What do teachers and pupils perceive
as the factors contributing to pupils’ affective attitudes towards mathematics?

Question 3: Do teachers and pupils perceive that pupils’ attitudes to learning
mathematics are affected by pupils’ perceptions of self and classroom ethos and their
motivational orientations? Are there any differences in perceptions between pupils of
different ages and their teachers?

The Ministry of Education in Japan (1999) has suggested that promoting positive
classroom ethos, for example by emphasising process and effort-focused evaluation,
can promote pupils’ enjoyment and motivation. Social acceptance between teacher and
pupils and between pupils in classes, as well as enhancing pupils’ competence beliefs,
is seen as reducing pupils’ anxiety. Kenneth (1989) argues that school and classroom
conditioning as curricular contexts, and student background characteristics as curricular
antecedents, may also affect student classroom behaviours. A further issue is therefore
whether such environmental factors or student characteristics mediate pupils’ attitudes
towards learning, and whether such mediating effects are apparent in the pupils’
perceptions of the effects of different teaching methods.

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