What is 'maths anxiety' ?

So what is meant by ‘maths anxiety’?

It appears that Richardson & Suinn’s (1972) definition is generally accepted as a broad measure of what constitutes maths anxiety where it is described as a person’s negative affective reaction to situations involving numbers, math, and mathematics calculations, “a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations” (p. 551 in Ashcraft & Moore, 2009, p. 197). Ashcroft and Faust (1994, in Sheffield and Hunt, 2007, p.19) describe it in even stronger terms to suggest maths anxiety is “feelings of tension, apprehension, or even dread…” Students may feel their heart beating quicker and demonstrate a lack of self concept towards mathematical problems (p. 19).

This palpable sense of dread was clearly evident in my son as a youngster when faced with mathematics. The emotive or affective aspect seems to resonate strongly within these definitions which somewhat supports a functionalist approach to emotion where emotion is central to all our endeavors including cognitive processing (Berk, 2009, p. 400).Within this construct of emotion-cognition relationship, anxiety directly impacts upon performance with high levels severely impairing performance (p. 400).

Is maths anxiety a specific learning disorder (SLD)?

While argument still exists over agreeing upon a uniform definition for SLDs, Chapman & Tumner (2000, p. 247) describe an SLD as an unexpected, persistent, and specific difficulty that initially appears in one learning area. They refer to the following definition (p. 241):

Definition 1: The 1977 U.S. Office of Education 
The term "specific learning disability" means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning disabilities which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, or mental retardation, or emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

(United States Office of Education. (1977). Definition and criteria for defining students as learning disabled. Federal Register, 42:250, p. 65083. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.)

If we are to use this, the question then becomes, applying the ‘exclusion factor’, what is an emotional disturbance, and is maths anxiety more than (or less than) and emotional disturbance? By reading further in Chapman & Tumner (2000), they situate SLDs using a broader view that takes into account cognitive and motivational processes. Referring to previous research (Chapman, 1988; Chapman & Tumner 1995a, 1997, they further point out that persistent failure in learning can lead to the development of negative academic self-concepts (p. 246). So maths anxiety could be a SLD if…

Krinzinger, Kaufmann & Willmes (2009) perhaps provide a little bit of clarity. They purport that while maths anxiety is often associated with Mathematical Learning Disabilities, “the emotional aspects often associated with these

primarily cognitive problems are often neglected” (p.206). Interestingly they refer to Lang (1968) who stated that maths anxiety is-like any other phobia-influencing individuals on three different levels: physiologically, cognitively, and behaviourally. These directly parallel the observations I had made of my son and would tend to support our thought that he did indeed suffer from maths anxiety.

However, while this tells me what maths anxiety is, it raises even more questions. What causes maths anxiety, and more importantly what comes first, the chicken or the egg? (i.e. does maths anxiety cause poor performance or does a lack of self concept lead to anxiety?)

References 

Ashcraft, M, & Moore, A. (2009). Mathematics anxiety and the

affective drop in performance. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 27(3), pp. 197 – 205. Retreived from:

http://jpa.sagepub.com/content/27/3/197.abstract

Berk, L. (2009). Child Development (8Ed). Boston, USA: Pearson Education

Chapman, J., & Tumner, W. (2000). Students with learning and reading difficulties . In D. Fraser, R. Molten and K. Ryba (Eds.), Learners with Special Needs in Aotearoa New Zealand. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.

Krinzinger, H., Kaufmann, L., & Willmes, K. (2009). Math anxiety and math ability in early primary school years. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 27(3), pp. 206 – 225. Retrieved from:

http://jpa.sagepub.com/content/27/3/206

Sheffield, D, & Hunt, T. (2007). How does anxiety influence maths performance and what can we do about It? MSOR Connections, 6(4), pp. 19 – 23. Retrieved from:

http://www.ltsn.gla.ac.uk/headocs/6419_anxietymaths.pdf

University of Waikato

Faculty of Education

Curriculum Development in Mathematics, Science, and Technology TEMS320-12B

Assignment 2: Investigating an issue in a critical manner.

Investigative Question: How might I recognise mathematics anxiety and what might I do to to allay it?

So, why did I choose to research the murky realms of Maths Anxiety?  For me, as a pre-service teacher in my final year of tertiary study, the reasons are twofold. The first is for purely personal reasons. My eldest son will soon be 16 years old, and from a very young age it became obvious that he had difficulties with mathematics. He quickly realised that he was 'failing', and it appeared that no matter how hard he tried the gulf continued to widen. Here, it would be remiss of me to note that as a father who had always found maths easy, I had high expectations that he would have the same innate ability...so naturally, we (I) pushed harder because it was "obvious" that he just wasn't trying! How could he not get maths? It was simple. 

As his school life continued, our son developed what we called a phobia of maths. When still young, any school work that looked or even sounded like maths resulted in an almost palpable physical reaction...fight or flight! This slowly progressed to the point where, as a coping mechanism, when the word maths was mentioned you could hear the shutters being slammed down...followed by a raft of avoidance and deflection strategies. Unfortunately, as parents we, at times, were not as understanding as we could/should have been, and this only exacerbated matters. However, this wasn't helped by the common school of thought that prevailed at the time which situated maths anxiety as an urban myth used as a cop out strategy to explain away laziness or stupidity!

The first reason for wanting to take this exploration is obviously very personal and somewhat cathartic, and it is embedded within the second. As a beginning teacher next year, I want to be in a position where I can readily identify what maths anxiety looks like, what the risk factors are, and how to help allay the effects of it for students in my classroom. I want all my students to face maths without fear -and perhaps with excitement in its stead- so they can all achieve to their true potential.

An Epilogue: My son has made amazing progress of late. Though he will never sleep with his maths book under his pillow, or obtain a doctorate in applied mathematics, he is achieving (in what is an important academic year) through hard work, perseverance, and a little bit more patience and understanding.