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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Overall, children’s intrinsic motivation and perceptions of their own competence
decreases and their anxiety increases as they proceed through the grade. This is a
phenomenon not only found in Japan. Although pupils’ developmental changes, such as
their greater competence in making social comparisons and their entity-like perceptions
of intelligence, might impact on pupils’ affective attitudes negatively, environmental
factors have also been reported as the cause of the deterioration of pupils’ affective
attitudes. Rigorous evaluations and salient social comparisons decrease pupils’
perception of their own competence and internal perceptions of control, and in turn,
encourage pupils’ extrinsic motivation and increase anxiety. Children with low perception
of their competence are particularly vulnerable to the effects of their environment.

2.4: The factors believed to affect pupils’ attitudes towards learning

Pupils’ perceptions ofthe self

Research on self-perceptions of competence have examined individuals’ self-concept in
the academic domain in relation to other aspects of self-concept, general self-concept
and self-esteem. James (1890) proposed that self-esteem, the global affective reaction
or evaluation of oneself, is the ratio between individuals’ ‘successes’ (self-image) and
‘pretensions’ (ideal self). Harter (1986) found that 5^th through 7^th graders with high self-
esteem showed much less discrepancy between their individual value for the task and
their perceptions of their own competence to manage it, than students with low self-
esteem. Individuals tend to give importance to areas where they consider themselves to
be good, to protect their self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965, 1979, and 1985). Thus, pupils
who perceive their competence in mathematics learning as low are unlikely to put value
on mathematics learning, in order to maintain their high self-esteem.

Shavelson et al. (1976) defined self-concept as a person’s self-perceptions, formed
through experience with and interpretation of one’s environment. It is particularly
influenced by the evaluations of significant others, reinforcement, and attributions for
one’s own behaviour and accomplishment. The model has a hierarchical structure,
where general self-concept appears at the apex of the hierarchical model, and is divided
into academic and non-academic components of self. Marsh’s (1990) ‘self-perceptions of
competence’ research is based on Shavelson et al.’s (1976) model of self-concept.

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