The investigation of the differences of 8th grades? mathematics achievement, attitude, and anxiety according to their learning styles

In this study, it was aimed to investigate whether 8th grade primary school students? math achievement, attitudes, and level of anxiety differ on their learning styles. It was also aimed to examine whether students? math achievement, Student Placement Test (SPT) scores, attitudes toward math, and math anxiety differ on their gender, whether they go to cram schools, whether they attend private math lessons, and whether they are satisfied with their math teachers.The sample of this study consisted of 484 8th grade primary school students selected by convenience from 6 primary schools in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. Data were collected through Attitudes Toward Math Scale (ATM), Math Anxiety Scale for Primary School Students (MASPSS), and Learning Styles Inventory (LSI). In order to measure students? attitudes toward math, a 20-item 5-point Likert type scale (ATM) developed by Aşkar (1986); to determine students? level of anxiety, a 22-item 5-point Likert type scale (MASPSS) developed by Şentürk (2010); and to determine students? learning styles, LSI developed by Kolb (1985) and adapted into Turkish by Akkoyunlu and Aşkar (1993) were used. As students? math achievement, math Grade Point Averages (GPAs) earned in the previous semester were considered. Their 6-7th grade SPT scores were regarded as their SPT scores. The results of this study were as follows:First, students? attitudes toward math did not differ on gender whereas their math GPAs, 6-7th grade SPT scores, and math anxiety did. Second, students? attitudes toward math, math GPAs, 6-7th grade SPT scores, and math anxiety differed on whether they go to cram schools. Third, students? attitudes toward math, math GPAs, 6-7th grade SPT scores, and test anxiety except other subcategories of math anxiety (anxiety due to attitudes toward math, anxiety due to self-esteem, and anxiety due to content knowledge) differed on whether they attend private math course Fourth, students? attitudes toward math, math GPAs, 6-7th grade SPT scores, and math anxiety differed on whether they have been satisfied with their math teachers. Fifth, 36.8% of the participants were found to have convergent, 33.9% of them had assimilative, 17.1% of them had divergent, and 12.2% of them had accommodative learning styles. Sixth, students? attitudes toward math, math GPAs, SPT scores, and math anxiety significantly differed on their learning styles.Keywords: Learning styles, mathematics anxiety, attitude, achievement, 8th grade students.