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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maladaptive when coping with failure, while children whose motivation is in the stage of
identification tend to enjoy school and find positive ways of coping with failure (Ryan et
al., 1989).

Bandura (1997) supports the notion of internalised motivation. He argues that, in social
cognitive theory, the growth of intrinsic interest is fostered through affective, self-reactive
and self-efficacy mechanisms. Behaviour, which is originally not its own reward, provides
its own rewards once it becomes invested with personal significance. Once self-
involvement in activities is tied to personal standards, variation in performance
attainment activates self-reactions such as self-satisfaction or self-dissatisfaction.
Individuals’ affective reactions to their own performance provide a sense of fulfilment
and create personal incentives for accomplishment, and constitute the principal source
of reward.

Intrinsic and internalised motivation can co-exist and affect pupils’ perception of their
competence, self-esteem and affective attitudes towards mathematics learning
positively. When pupils believe that learning mathematics is important, and when their
attempts to learn mathematics are based on self-determination, learning mathematics for
entrance examinations may produce better performance and affective attitudes than
when pupils do not perceive the importance of learning mathematics and when
autonomy in learning is not assured. Teachers need to avoid pupils feeling forced to
learn mathematics. Providing optimal challenge, informational feedback, interpersonal
involvement, and autonomy is important to promote pupils’ intrinsic and internalised
motivation.

The relationship between pupils’ motivation and their perceptions of their own
competence

The Ministry of Education in Japan (1999) has indicated that pupils come to enjoy
learning mathematics more, and try harder to learn mathematics, as their perception of
their own competence is enhanced. The literature supports this assumption. Children’s
task specific-concepts, in the model of Eccles et al.’ (1983) are determinants of task
value and expectancy for success, which in turn, contribute to pupils’ motivational
behaviour. Individuals’ perception of their competence in Harter’s (1981) model is one of
the determinants of effectance motivation. Children who perceive that they are highly

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