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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et al. (1983) emphasised the effect of achievement values on people’s motivation. They
proposed four major components of achievement values: attainment value or
importance, intrinsic value, utility value and cost. Attainment value is defined as the
importance of doing well or being involved in the activity. Intrinsic value is the enjoyment
gained from doing the task. As Wigfield et al. (1992) point out, this intrinsic value is
similar to intrinsic motivation as defined by Deci et al. (1975) and Harter (1981). Utility
value refers to how a task fits into an individual’s short and long-term future plans. Cost
has to do with the negative aspects of doing a task, such as time-constraints. The
evidence has shown that the value students put on learning mathematics predicts
children’s intentions and actual decisions to take mathematics ∞urses more strongly
than their expectations for success (Eccles, 1984; Meece et al., 1990).

5^th graders are reported to have differentiated components within task value (Eccles et
al., 1991). Eccles et al. (1989) showed that the basic structure of task value was not
different between early adolescents and middle adolescents. However, Wigfield et al.
(1989) showed that intrinsic value affected the intention to take mathematics in junior
high school students, but utility value had less influence on their choice of task until
senior high school level. Wigfield et al. (1992) argues that children’s attempts at a task
based on their interest in the activity do not link with their performance, which is
assumed to link with their expectancy. The results of TIMSS in 1994 showed that the
majority of 8^th graders responded that they learned mathematics to pass entrance
examinations in both Japan and the USA. Utility value in mathematics learning was
important for them. Pupils appear to become ready to learn mathematics for extrinsic
goals at an earlier age than Wigfield et al. (1989) proposed, although the TIMSS results
did not examine whether pupils’ utility value was reflected in their choice of mathematics
classes.

Taken together, this research suggests that providing pupils with tasks at an optimal
level of difficulty and informing pupils of the meaning and purpose of learning
mathematics will promote pupils’ motivation to learn mathematics. Pupils’ valuing of
learning is assumed to consist of several factors such as attainment value, intrinsic
value, utility value and cost. The relationship between these may change over time.
Pupils’ valuing of learning may be affected by external factors such as features of the
assessment system.

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