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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early years can avoid competition for the teachers’ attention and approval and develop
children’s independence (Tobin, 1987, 1991). The Curriculum Council (1998)
commented on the necessity of gradually promoting children’s independence in both
elementary and junior high schools. ‘Being able to do things by oneself is an aim for 3^rd
and 4^th graders (Ministry of Education, 1998). ‘To develop independent and self-reliant
attitudes, to carry out faithfully what one has chosen to do and assume responsibility for
one’s own conduct’ are targets showing the aims of junior high school students’
independent spirit (Ministryof Education, 1983, 1998).

Independence has also been shown to be the most popular educational expectation of
Japanese parents for their children (Sengoku, et al., 1985). Japanese mothers of pre-
schoolers encourage children’s independence through encouraging their social
relationships with peers and doing things by themselves while maintaining emotional
dependence (Osterweil, et al., 1991: Joshi et al., 1997). Japanese adults rely on
children’s capacities for self-control and self-regulation as leading them to internalise
adult norms and standards; parents foster close emotional ties rather than imposing their
authority (Hess et al., 1986; Lewis 1993). Cultural assumptions, which see children as
intentionally good, support adults’ non-authoritarian attitudes (Lewis, 1993; Yamamura,
1986). The benefits of these attitudes have been reported. Children are more likely to
internalise rules in conditions where external pressure to obey these rules is weak
(Lepper, 1981), while teaching attitudes using emotional authority have been reported to
affect 5^th graders’ academic development negatively (Holloway, 1990).

The results of FlMS (First International Mathematics Study) in 1964 (Husen, 1967)
reported that Japanese 13-year-olds scored higher on statements suggesting that they
enjoyed schoolwork than children from other countries. Their attitudes were positively
correlated with mathematics test performance (r= .55). The Minneapolis-Sendai Study
(Stevenson, 1983) reported that Japanese children also had positive attitudes towards
homework. However, pupils’ motivation seems to have moved from an internal to an
external orientation in the last three decades. The results of TlMSS (Third International
Mathematics and Science Study) in 1994 showed that junior high school students’
motivation was becoming highly extrinsic, and they learned mathematics for the sake of
success in the senior high school entrance examination. Japanese children’s perception
of their efficacy in controlling the environment, as reported in previous research, is

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