Exploring the Relationship between Students’ Attitude towards Mathematics and their Achievement in Mathematics

Abstract

Mathematics is underscored as a compulsory subject in schools of Bhutan but it has little impact on students by constantly showing poor achievement in mathematics. This study seeks to explore the relationship between grade six students’ attitude towards mathematics and their achievement in mathematics. All the grade six students of Khoma Lower Secondary and Dungkhar Primary School were taken as samples for the study. A total of 50 students (26 female and 24 male) students were selected as samples following the convenience sampling technique.  The study adopted a descriptive correlational survey design with pure quantitative techniques. The data were gathered using Attitude toward Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) developed by Tapia and Marsh (2004) [1]. These data were organized and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (22.0 version). The results revealed that there was no significant difference between female students’ attitude towards mathematics and male students’ attitude towards mathematics (t (138) =-1.154, p> 0.05)). However, it was also found that there was a very strong positive and significant relationship between the students who scored high in mathematics and their attitude towards mathematics (r = 0.634, p< 0.001) indicating that students with a higher level of attitude towards mathematics tend to have better achievement in mathematics. As a result, educators must analyse students' attitudes toward mathematics and provide necessary support in order to encourage the development of a positive attitude toward mathematics.