Pupils' Attitude, Self-Expectation and Academic Performance in MAthematics of Intermediate Pupils of Tambo Balagbag Elementary School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Mathematics is important in everyday life. Since then, Mathematics has facilitated in the development of businesses, science, technology, industries, engineering, and government. However, children today seem to be unaware of this significance. In school, Mathematics is one of those subjects which records low grades of students. This is also an existing scenario in Tambo Balagbag Elementary School. According to studies, student perception on mathematics has a great impact on their ability and self-expectation in answering numerical activities. Thus, this research aims to determine the attitude of intermediate pupils towards Mathematics and to what extent is this related to their self-expectation and academic performance.

METHODS

The study utilized the descriptive-correlational research design to explore the attitude and self-expectation of the respondents toward Mathematics andits relation to their performance in Mathematics. In order to gather data, the respondents' academic performance in Mathematics during the Second Grading Period was obtained. Also, the researchers administered modified survey questionnaire written in a Likert scale response format to determine the pupils' attitude and self-expectation in Mathematics.

RESULTS

Results showed that there is significant relationship among the variables in the study. Pupils who perform better in Mathematics have high self-expectation and have positive attitude towards the learning area. On the other hand, those who have low self-expectation in performing numerical activities view Mathematics as a difficult subject, consequently contributing to their low academic performance in Mathematics.

DISCUSSIONS

Self-expectation of intermediate pupils was revealed to have been influenced by their numeracy skills. Relative to that, their perspective towards Mathematics greatly affects their performance. Therefore, strengthening numeracy skills must be done first in order for the pupils to have enough competence in performing mathematical activities. With high competence in Mathematics, self-expectation improves and better academic performance follows.