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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Table 3.2.3: General-Self Scale and Mathematics Scale of SDQ-II for 8th graders

General-Self Scale

Mathematics Scale

Overall, I have a lot to be proud of.______________

Mathematics is one of my best subjects.________

Overall, I am no good.__________________________

I often need help in mathematics._______________

Most things I do, I do well._______________________

I look forward to mathematics classes.__________

Nothing I do ever seems to turn out right.

I have trouble understanding anything with
mathematics in it._______________________________

Overall, most things I do turn out well.___________

I enjoy studying for mathematics._______________

I don’t have much to be proud of.______________

I do badly in tests of mathematics.______________

I can do things as well as most people._________

I get good marks in mathematics.______________

I feel that my life is not very useful.

I never want to take another mathematics
course._________________________________________

If I really try I can do almost anything I want to
do.________________________________________________

I have always done well in mathematics.

Overall, Γm a failure._____________________________

I hate mathematics.___________________________

This study attempted to assess pupils’ perceived mathematics performance by asking
them to what extent they perceived themselves as good or bad at mathematics, on a five
point rating system: very good, good, OK, poor, and very poor. The question did not aim
to assess the pupils’ mathematics competence objectively. Rather, it aimed to obtain the
pupils’ subjective perceptions of their mathematics performance. Pupils’ perceptions of
their own competencies in mathematics are not necessarily reflected in their visible
achievement such as marks obtained in the mathematics tests and it is the pupils’
subjective perceptions of their mathematics performance that relate to their attitudes and
affect, as has been discussed in previous chapters. This question seemed to overlap
with the item ‘I get good marks in mathematics’ in the mathematics concept construct in
SDQ-I and SDQ-II mentioned above. However, the employment of this question actually
had two important roles in the construction of the questionnaire. One was to confirm
whether pupils confused the direction of 5 and 1 indicated in the questions based on
SDQ I and SDQ II. Some pupils taking part in the pilot study, although they replied that
they perceived themselves as good at mathematics, chose a very low point on the
Mathematics Concept Scale, due to their confusion about the direction which the level of
the scores indicated. Including a question asking for a similar response was beneficial to
confirm that individuals understood the direction of 5 and 1 indicated in the mathematics
concept construct. The other role of this question was to act as a filter for the question
asking about pupils’ attribution of their success or failure in learning mathematics, as
described in the next section.

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