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Students’ learning of and performance in mathematics is affected by a number of factors,
including students’ attitude towards the subject, teachers instructional practices, and school
environment. This study was conducted to investigate students’ attitudes towards learning
mathematics in Tanzania. It also sought to ascertain reasons for the liking or disliking mathematics
and the relationship between attitude and performance. We employed the ABC Model and the
Walberg’s Theory of Productivity to investigate students’ attitudes towards mathematics and
associated factors. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 419 primary school
students, 318 secondary school students, and 132 College students from 17 schools and 6 colleges
in mainland Tanzania using a survey. The collected data were analysed using percentages, means,
standard deviations, ANOVA, correlation, regression and thematic analysis. The results show that
initially students exhibit a positive attitude towards mathematics, but their attitude becomes less
positive as the students move forward to higher levels of education. A significant positive weak
correlation between students’ attitude and performance was established. Mathematics’
enjoyment and attitude significantly predicted students’ performance in our data. The factors
influencing the students’ liking or disliking of mathematics constituted student’s aptitude
attribute, instructional and social psychological environmental factors. Furthermore, the results
show that failure in examinations is attributed to teacher didactic strategies, institutional
resources, poor learning and examination strategies, and failure to understand instructions. The
results provide insights for future research and inciting changes in teaching- learning practices
that would promote mathematics enjoyment and subsequent better performance in the subject. |
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