Factors affecting mathematical anxiety and its affect on mathematical achievement in secondary school students

Abstract

Mathematical anxiety influences the ingredients of teaching and learning mathematics. The goal of this study is to compare mathematical anxiety and its effect on performance concerning gender, habitat, board of school, and language of curriculum of secondary school students in West Bengal. Mathematical anxiety and academic achievement in mathematics were measured by self-made five-point Likert scales of 16 items and annual examination numbers, respectively. The t-test result shows that those students who receive the Bengali language as a medium of curriculum have a higher mean (65.39) than those who receive English as a medium of curriculum. The finding also divulged that mathematical anxiety and academic achievement are negatively correlated (r=-0.96) but significant (p<0.05), and the scatter plot indicates that mathematical anxiety highly negatively impacts academic achievement. Studies show that the academic achievement of mathematics is highly dependent on mathematical anxiety (R²=0.936).