Sources of mathematics self-efficacy and its impact to students mathematics performance in Tanzanian secondary schools
Abstract
Beliefs about ones ability to perform a specific educational task have the impact to SBS capability
to accomplish such a task. This study investigated sources of students mathematics self-efficacy
and their impact on mathematics performance among secondary schools in Tanzania. The study
involved 267 Form 3 (Grade 11) students sampled from three secondary schools in the Dar es
Salaam region. Previously validated questionnaire scales comprising four factors: mastery
experience, vicarious experience, physiological state (emotional arousal such as anxiety) and
social persuasions were adapted to measure sources of students mathematics self-efficacy.
Meanwhile, students mathematics performance was obtained from the National Examinations
database. Structural equation modeling technique was used to estimate the model about sources
of students mathematics self-efficacy in Tanzanian context. Descriptive results indicated that
with the exception of physiological state, students considered vicarious experience, mastery
experience and social persuasions as the plausible sources of their mathematics self-efficacy.
Furthermore, a four factors structural equation model was found to best describe sources of
students mathematics self-efficacy after specification of poor fitting variables. Further analyses
showed that vicarious experience positively predicted students mathematics performance while
physiological state was a negative predictor of students mathematics performance. It is
recommended that potential interventions for improving students mathematics performance
should capitalize on improving students vicarious experience and reducing student fear in
mathematics classes.
Collections
- SIMC 2019 [99]