The effects of the mathematics literacy level of the secondary school 8th grade students to mathematics achievement

The aim of this study is to develop a 5 point likert scale in order to identify mathematics literacy of secondary school 8th grade students and to observe the relationship between success in mathematics and mathematics literacy. In addition predictive power of mathematics literacy in terms of mathematics success has been studied. Firstly a draft scale form of 83 items was prepared by making use of literature and opinions of experts. After the form was applied to 500 8th grade students, factor analysis of the scale was made based on the data gathered. As a result of the factor analysis 43 items were taken out of the scale and final scale form of 40 items was achieved. In order to validate factor structure confirmative factor analysis was carried out. As a result of the analyses it was determined that factor structure consisted of consistent items. Secondly, Mathematics Achievement Test consisting of 25 questions which were benefited from TIMSS-2007 mathematics questions was prepared in order to identify success level of students. Internal reliability coefficient of the test was calculated and KR-20 reliability coefficient was identified as 0.899.In this study relational screening model was used. For this aim the application was carried out with 334 secondary school 8th grade students. The applications have shown that level of students is intermediate. It was also determined that there is a positive and high correlation between mathematics literacy of the students and mathematics success. When mathematics literacy was observed in terms of its predictive power about mathematics success it was seen that mathematics literacy accounts for %73 of mathematics success. It is highly important that awareness of teachers is raised as to the concept of mathematics literacy, which is very important for mathematics success and for the courses to be more efficient. It is thought that in order to raise mathematics literacy level of the students it is quite beneficial to make associations between mathematics and other courses and to explain the topics by giving real life examples. Key Words: Mathematics Success, Mathematics Education, Mathematics Literacy, Scale Development.