The effect of secondary school students' affective features towards mathematics and the stress they experience before the teog exam (the exam for accessing to various types of high schools) on their mathematical success

This study was carried out in order to investigate the effects of affective features (anxiety, attitude, and motivation) toward mathematic and students' pre-exam stress on Mathematics achievement. From this point of view, following problems has been focussed: 1. What kind of relationship is there among the mathematics achievement of students and pre-exam stress, motivation in mathematics, mathematics anxiety and attitudes towards mathematics? 2. Are there any statistically significant differences between male and female students in terms of pre-exam stress, motivation in mathematics, mathematics anxiety and attitudes towards mathematics? 3. Is there any statistically significant difference between groups according to need for extra mathematics support in terms of pre-exam stress of students, motivation in mathematics, anxiety and attitudes towards maths? 4. What is the prediction power of motivation in mathematics, mathematics anxiety and attitudes towards mathematics as well as pre-exam stress of students on mathematic achievement? A relational screening model was used to evaluate and answer the research questions. The participants of the study are 8th graders in secondary schools in Siirt in 2014-2015 educational years. The sample for the present study was composed of 985 students in 11 different secondary schools which were randomly selected. The grades from mathematics test in the TEOG exam (General High Schools entrance exam conducted by the Ministry of Education) in the first term of 2014-2015 educational year were considered as the students' success of mathematics. An "Stress Scale" developed by the researcher to determine the stress level of the students, "Mathematics Motivation Scale" developed by Aktan (2012) to assess motivation in mathematics, "Mathematical Anxiety Scale" developed by Erol (1989) to evaluate mathematical anxiety and "The Scale of Attitudes Towards Mathematics" developed by Aşkar (1986) to assess the students' attitudes towards mathematics have been used in the study. The data were collected in three weeks with one week interval between each. The stress level of the students was measured within five days before the TEOG exams. t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, correlation and multi-linear regression analysis have been employed for analyses. It was found out that there was a positive, medium level and statistically significant correlation between attitudes towards mathematics and motivation in mathematics on the mathematics achievement of the students. Statistically significant positive, medium, and negative correlations were found between mathematics success and mathematics anxiety levels. There was a statistically significant low negative correlation between mathematics success and stress levels. In terms of gender differences, a statistically significant positive difference was observed between stress levels and mathematical anxiety levels in favour of girls. There was not a significant difference as for the genders between attitudes towards mathematics and motivation in mathematics. Extra mathematics support was observed to have no impact on pre-exam stress of the students. Moreover, it was seen that the students who paid for extra support in maths were more successful, and had less exam anxiety than the ones who had the same support free of charge and the others who did not have any support at all. Also, those who paid for extra mathematics support had higher motivation and attitudes than the other two groups, those getting lessons free of charge and the others who did not have any extra support at all. Those who got extra lessons free of charge seemed to have higher motivation and attitude towards maths than those who got no support at all. From the regression analysis that was applied to determine the prediction power of pre-exam stress, mathematics anxiety, motivation and attitude about mathematics success, it was concluded that attitudes towards mathematics, motivation in mathematics, mathematics anxiety and pre-exam stress are the main predictive elements of mathematics success and these variables account for 24,5 % of total success. The most powerful predictive element of mathematics success was mathematics anxiety followed by stress, attitudes towards mathematics, and motivation subsequently. The mathematics anxiety was concluded to have a negative impact on success; on the other hand, stress, motivation, and attitudes played a positive role for mathematical success. Several suggestions were provided according to the findings of the study. A few of these suggestions are: The relationship between mathematics achievement and affective features should be cared while planning in-class teaching schedule; Courses on affective features should be put into the curriculums of teacher training schools; In-service training courses with respect to affective features should be provided for teachers; Teachers should avoid any behaviours that may increase mathematics anxiety which is the most important predictor of mathematics achievement; The exams should be prepared in tune with universally accepted testing and evaluation standards. Key words: Mathematics achievement, stress, motivation in mathematics,mathematics anxiety, attitudes towards mathematics.