Analysis of Students’ Attitude towards Mathematics and their Learning Difficulties at Elementary Level

Abstract

Despite a bulk of research in international context investigating the relationship between students’ attitude and their self-perceived difficulties in learning mathematics, little work has yet been done in this area in Pakistan specifically at elementary level. This correlational design study was, therefore, conducted to fill this research gap in educational context of Pakistan and to ascertain how the direction and/or strength of this relationship may be mediated by students’ gender and their school sector. Data were collected using two adopted and/or adapted scales from 2818 students enrolled in public and private elementary schools. Both the descriptive and inferential statistical techniques (i.e., Mean, SD, Independent samples t-test) along with Pearson’s R correlation were performed to analyze the data. Pearson’s R correlation indicated positive but weak degree of relationship between students’ attitude and their learning difficulties toward mathematics. This study also found significant differences in students’ attitude and their learning difficulties based on their gender. This study finally recommends for stakeholders involved in designing plans for improvement of students’ attitude that they should carefully think about varied types and manifestations of negative attitude of elementary school students.