Connecting Students’ Achievements with Attitudes, the Teachings and Study Habits

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate and to determine the linkages of the students’ attitudes, teachers’ roles in mathematics teaching and students’ study habits that may contribute to students’ achievement in mathematics. Questionnaires were given to 37 students from two levels (Year 9 and Year 10) ages 14 to 16 from one of the secondary schools in Brunei Darussalam. The questionnaires were designed specifically for the students to find the correlations between the students’ Mathematics Achievement (MA) and three main variables. The three variables used in the questionnaire are attitudes towards mathematics, Mathematics Teachings (MT) and Student’s Study Habits (SH). The variable on attitudes towards mathematics was bi-dimensional with both positive and negative statements. The positive and negative items for attitudes were designated as two sub-variables called Positive Attitudes (PA) and Negative Attitudes (NA). The findings revealed that students’ positive attitudes have a significant and positive correlation with their mathematics achievement and the students’ positive attitudes come from the teachers’ lessons delivery and interaction with the students. The study was based in the school settings that involved students and teachers. Future study should explore on other external factors such as parents’ involvement and study habits at home.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s1p113