Analysis of mathematical beliefs of Malaysian secondary school students

AbstractThis study focus on the affective issues related to mathematics learning and instruction and specifically on mathematical beliefs, attitudes or values. Schuck and Grootenboer (2004), Leder and Forgasz (2006) and Grootenboer and Hemmings (2007) indicated that there has been an increased interest in the role of affective factors in the teaching and learning of mathematics. These affective factors included mathematics-related beliefs such as students’ mathematical beliefs towards mathematics, beliefs on mathematical competency, motivational beliefs, beliefs about learning context, beliefs about social context which impacted mathematical performance, to name a few. The purpose of this study was to examine mathematics-related beliefs of secondary school students namely, students’ beliefs in their mathematical competency and students beliefs on their mathematics teachers attribute in mathematics teaching. A total of 430 secondary students participated in the survey. Findings indicated an overall significant effect on students’ beliefs in mathematical competency, F (4,416) = 48.41, p = 0.001, adjusted R2 = 0.31 with three significant predictors namely, students’ beliefs on teachers attributes to mathematics teaching, grades in mathematics and gender