Understanding Middle School Students’ Motivation in Math Class: The Expectancy-Value Model Perspective

Abstract

One of the most important variables affecting middle school students' mathematics performance is motivation. Motivation is closely related with expectancy belief regarding the task and value attached to the task. Identification of which one or ones of the factors constituting motivation is more closely related to mathematics performance may help more effective mathematics planning process. In this context, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among middle school students' task values concerning the math class, their expectancy perceptions and mathematics performance via a structural equation model. The study was conducted on 200 middle school students receiving their education in Konya provincial center. Fifty point five percent of the students (n=101) were female whereas 49.5 %. (n=99) were male. Twenty-nine percent of the students (n=58) were sixth graders, 35 % (n=70) were seventh graders and 36 % (n=72) were eighth graders. The Self and Task Perception Inventory in mathematics was used to identify the students' task values and expectancy perceptions concerning mathematics, while end-of-the-term math class scores were used to determine their mathematics performances. The data obtained were analyzed using the structural equation modeling. According to the results that were obtained, it was understood that expectancy beliefs, task difficulty and intrinsic interest value were the most effective variables on mathematics performance. Moreover, findings of this study show that students with high expectancy perceptions in mathematics who derived pleasure from dealing with mathematics and had less difficulty in mathematics had higher mathematics achievements. The findings that were obtained were discussed in light of theoretical explanations.

From Modern Teaching to Mathematics Achievement: The Mediating Role of Mathematics Attitude, Achievement Motivation, and Self-Efficacy

“…The researcher is hardly ever surprised at the answers obtained from this analysis for MODT has defined and measured in five key elements, especially classroom management and building relationships among effective class people, organizing cooperative teaching activities, using emotional support, using homework and assigning effective tasks, teaching students to deal with problems and obstacles to develop themselves, using modern technology and learning resources, assessing learning assessments in various ways and reflecting positive learning results for continuous defect correction. These will clearly lead to the development of learners in both academic and nonacademic factors like the past research results (Farmer, 2018;Key et al, 2012;Schenke et al, 2015;Yurt, 2015).…”

“…All of this has an influence on the homework performance of students and bring about the development of mathematics achievement through homework effort both at the individual and classroom levels. Tambunan (2018) and Yurt (2015) and Zee et al (2018) have indicated that teachers' expectation has an effect on mathematics achievement through motivation. Previous researchers (Almuntashiri et al, 2016;Faber et al, 2017;Rakoczy, Pinger, Hochweber, Klieme, Schutze, & Besser, 2019) have pointed out that the feedback of the teacher affects the mastery goal orientation and self-efficacy resulting in more achievement in mathematics.…”

“…Farmer (2018) found that motivation and self-efficacy are significant statistical related and also showed that the students who received the motivation supplement will have learned from teachers, both in terms of content, teaching ability including the relationship of the person in the class better than students without learning motivation. Dickhauser et al (2016) and Yurt (2015) revealed that intrinsic motivation was an important factor used to predict mathematics achievement in both direct effect and indirect effect from student-level factors while some researchers (Sartawi et al, 2012;Schenke et al, 2015;Skaalvik et al, 2015) have found that the teaching like emotional support teachers implement the task in the appropriate class, design and assign homework with appropriate quality and quantity (no more than 3 hours) as well as provide positive feedback to students leading to motivation and to develop student achievement. Moreover, Kebritchi, Hirumi, and Bai (2010) indicated that the modern teaching of mathematics applied computer games affects the development of both the class motivation and mathematics achievement of students.…”

Motivação e emoções na aprendizagem da matemática no ensino básico

“…Nesta medida, observou-se que a dimensão Prazer (AEQ-ES) se encontra fortemente correlacionada com as dimensões Interesse/Prazer (MMS), o que poderá ser explicado pelo facto de um aluno sentir mais prazer ao realizar uma tarefa que seja interessante; surge também moderadamente correlacionada com a Competência Percebida (MMS), o que é concordante com o encontrado por Yurt (2015), que refere que alunos com expectativas mais elevadas face à matemática são também aqueles que reportam maiores níveis de prazer. É ainda de referir que, de acordo com Pekrun et al (2011) (Pekrun, 2006(Pekrun, , 2009 e com os resultados encontrados no estudo de Pekrun et al (2011), no qual as emoções positivas se encontravam negativamente correlacionadas com as emoções positivas.…”

“…Apesar disso, a investigação ao nível das emoções associadas à matemática tem-se focado maioritariamente na ansiedade, assim como no impacto que esta possui no desempenho dos alunos, e não tanto nas restantes emoções (Peixoto, Sanches, Mata & Monteiro, 2017;Pekrun, 2006Pekrun, , 2009. Yurt (2015) constatou que os estudantes com expetativas mais elevadas face à matemática também reportavam maiores níveis de prazer face a atividades relacionadas com esta disciplina. Eram também estes alunos os que apresentam menos dificuldades e obtinham melhores resultados a matemática.…”