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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2.3: Developmental differences in pupils’ attitudes towards learning

The previous section indicated that Japanese students show lower intrinsic motivation,
perception of competence and confidence, and stronger anxiety, as their grades
proceed. Some of the literature has reported that junior high school students in other
countries show similar development in learning mathematics. For example, Wigfield, et
al. (1994) showed that pupils’ self-esteem, competence beliefs, interest and sense of the
utility and importance of learning mathematics decreased dramatically at transition from
elementary schools to junior high schools. Harter (1981, 1992) showed that this
transition negatively affected students’ intrinsic motivation, and that their anxiety
increased. Such negative effects of transition were found irrespective of students’ prior
attainment (Harter, 1992), although Eccles (1993) showed that lower achievers were
reported as more vulnerable in transition.

The deterioration in older children’s perception of their own competence is often
explained in terms of developmental changes in self-perception. Older children’s greater
competence in making comparisons with others, and their entity-like perceptions of
intelligence, are assumed to weaken their views of their own competence (Wigfield, et
al., 1994). However, research on children’s self-concept has found that developmental
change in children’s self-perceptions may occur earlier than Wigfield, et al. (1994)
suggested. Marsh (Marsh et al., 1984; Marsh, 1985, 1986 and Marsh, 1989a) reported
empirical research using his Self-Description Questionnaire which showed that self-
concept declined during the middle and late stages of elementary school. Marsh et al.
(1985) found that recovery of self-esteem occurred after the junior high school age.
Other researchers have found that self-concepts were stable (Trowbridge, 1972), or
became more positive (McCarthy et al, 1982; Connell et al., 1975), during the junior high
school years.

Harter (1981, 1982) found that the decrease in children’s perception of their own
competence at 7^th grade was due to their feelings of uncertainty concerning whether
they ∞uld control their learning by themselves, and their uncertainty about their
competence. Harter (1982) found that the consistency between children’s perception of
their own cognitive competence and their actual achievement was likely to improve as
they proceeded through their grades during elementary school, but dropped dramatically

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