Underachieving Students’ Mathematical Learning Experience in the Classrooms in Nepal

Abstract

There is limited evidence of underachieving students' mathematical experiences and the challenges they face in mathematics classes in the context of Nepal. This study explores the lived experiences of underachiever students in learning mathematics in a public school in Kathmandu, Nepal. The study participants were three ninth-grade students (two females and one male) who failed mathematics and repeated the grade. A sequence of in-depth interviews was administered with each participant to explore their lived experience of mathematics. The participants' narratives were constructed based on the temporal sequence of event analysis concerning their mathematics learning experience. Their narratives revealed three critical concerns in their experience of learning mathematics: mathematics is complicated, mathematics is abstract, and mathematics learning is rote memorization. Change of schools was one of the main reasons they had difficulty adjusting to the new environment, affecting their mathematics learning. Another concern they revealed was the obligation to support their parents during the out of school time or even during school time and being frequently absent in the class.