Math anxiety in students with and without math learning difficulties

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the dimensions of the relationship between math anxiety and mathematics achievement of the third grade students with and without mathematics learning difficulties. Data were collected from 288 elementary school students using math anxiety scale and math achievement test tools. The mathematics achievement test scores reveal that the students were classified into four groups: math learning difficulties (0-10%), low achievers (11-25%), normal achievers (26-95%), and high achievers (96-100%). The findings reveal that there was a strong correlation (r=-.597) between the math anxiety and math achievement of the participants, while there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the mathematics anxiety of the lower two groups as it was between the two upper groups. This indicates that the math anxiety level of the students with math learning difficulties does not differ from the low achievers. However, the results depict a significant difference between the mean scores of the math anxiety of the low achievers and the normal achievers. © IEJEE.