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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Marsh’s (1986b, 1990) self-perceptions of competence has a multidimensional structure
that becomes increasingly multifaceted with age. In this model, the mathematics concept
is located within the academic components of self. Marsh (1986b, 1990) has shown that
verbal and mathematics self-concepts are nearly uncorrelated with each other, and have
quite distinct relationships to verbal and mathematics achievement scores. Marsh (1989)
suggested that 5^th graders have already formed perceptions of their own competence in
different school subjects, which become further differentiated during preadolescence.

Harter (1982) proposes that general self-worth is an independent factor, separate from
any skill domain. Perception of competence is conceived as one type of lower-order
evaluative dimension under a superordinate construct such as self-esteem or self-worth.
In contrast to Marsh’s formation, pupils’ perception of their competence in Harter’s
(1982) Perception of their Competence Scale for Children consists of three domains:
cognitive, social, and physical competence. Harter’s (1982) empirical Studywith 3^rd - 9^th
graders showed that such a factor structure remained stable across the grade levels.
Harter (1985) proposed that self-esteem is an affective or emotional reaction to the self,
while self-perception of competence is a cognitive appraisal or belief about the self in a
specific domain. Both Harter (1985a, 1986) and Marsh (Marsh, et al., 1984; Marsh, et
al., 1985) have shown that global self-esteem and self-perceptions of ∞mpetence are
correlated but empirically separate dimensions.

Hazel et al. (1991) proposed that the Japanese perception of self is an interdependent
view of self. The interdependent view of self is a fluid concept, which varies according to
social ∞ntexts and relationships with others. It is different from the independent view of
self where individuals’ wholeness and uniqueness are valued. The individual as
interdependent self attempts to complete self-representations through sharing goals in
relationship with specific others in particular contexts, rather than seeing others in terms
of social comparison and self-validation (Hazel et al., 1991; Kiefer, 1970). Japanese
children are encouraged to find commonality with rather than difference from peers
(Wray, 1999; Crystal et al., 1998).

Befu (1986) postulates that Japanese culture thinks of the self in terms Ofcommitment to
the individual role (role perfectionism) based on individual effort, and exhortation (self-
discipline) in the context of connections with others (interpersonalism). Singleton (1991)

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