Elementary teachers' mathematics anxiety and their students' attitudes toward mathematics

Purpose of the study. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there would be a significant relationship between the mathematics anxiety of elementary school teachers and the attitude toward mathematics of their students. Other concerns were whether there would be significant differences in the students' attitudes toward mathematics between genders or among grade levels. The combined predictive effect of teachers' mathematics anxiety and teachers' attitude toward mathematics on the students' attitude toward mathematics was also investigated.;Procedure. Third- through sixth-grade teachers and students from six small, rural school districts in northeast Texas were questioned regarding their mathematics anxiety and attitude toward mathematics, during October and November, 1990. Seventeen research hypotheses were formulated and tested. Correlation coefficients and t-values were determined to statistically analyze the hypotheses.;Findings. A significant negative relationship was found between grade level and the students' attitudes toward mathematics. Female students' attitudes toward mathematics were significantly more positive than were males'. No significant relationship was found between teachers' mathematics anxiety and students' attitude toward mathematics. Furthermore, no significant predictive effect was found for the teachers' mathematics anxiety and attitude toward mathematics on the students' attitude toward mathematics.;Conclusions. Based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) Students in higher grades have a significantly more negative attitude toward mathematics. (2) Female students have a more positive attitude toward mathematics than do males. (3) There is a tendency, though not significant, for teachers with a higher level of mathematics anxiety to produce students with a more negative attitude toward mathematics. (4) Teachers' mathematics anxiety and attitude toward mathematics are not significant predictors of students' attitude toward mathematics.