Anxiety and mathematics performance in female secondary school students in Singapore

Abstract

This is an exploratory study conducted on mathematics anxiety, test anxiety and some interpersonal correlates with mathematics achievement of a sample of 206 Secondary Four female students from a Singapore school. Spielbergers' (1977) Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) and the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales (Fennema- Sherman, 1976) were the instruments used. Some significant findings are: high mathematics anxiety is associated with low mathematics achievement and so is high test anxiety with low mathematics achievement. However, for the most capable students, test anxiety seems to act as a facilitator in their mathematics performance. Of the three interpersonal variables explored, students' scores on the perception of their mathematics teachers have the strongest correlation with their mathematics anxiety scores.