STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS’ COMPETENCE, TEACHERS’ CONTROL ORIENTATION AS CORRELATES OF STUDENTS’ INTEREST, SELF EFFICACY BELIEF, AND ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS’ COMPETENCE, TEACHERS’ CONTROL ORIENTATION AS CORRELATES OF STUDENTS’ INTEREST, SELF EFFICACY BELIEF, AND ACHIEVEMENT FEBRUARY, 2017... 34Bandura’s Soc

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS’ COMPETENCE, TEACHERS’ CONTROL ORIENTATION AS CORRELATES OF STUDENTS’

INTEREST, SELF EFFICACY BELIEF, AND ACHIEVEMENT

FEBRUARY, 2017

APPROVAL PAGE

This project has been approved for the Department of Educational Foundations

By

Prof Uche Eze Prof.C.J.A Onwuka

Supervisor Head of Department

This is to certify that Ugwu, Bernard Ezenwa, a Postgraduate Student in theDepartment of Educational Foundations with registration number PG/Ph.D/09/50884has satisfactorily completed the requirement for the research for the degree of Doctor

of Philosophy in Educational Psychology The work embodied in this thesis is originaland has not been submitted either in part or full for any other diploma or degree of this

or and any other university

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This thesis is dedicated to my very dear and supportive wife Mrs TheresaUgwu and children, Thank God, Promise, Darlington and Precious

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The researcher is highly indebted to Prof U.N Eze, the project supervisor,whose fatherly roles, constant encouragement, sincere advice and constructivecriticisms throughout the period of this work, brought the investigation to this finalstage May the good Lord reward him sufficiently The researcher is also grateful to

Dr D U.Ngwoke, Dr D E.Adimora, Dr L.N Onuigbo, Dr I G Nwimo,Dr F.U.Odo, Dr Eke V.U,Dr Christain Ugwuanyi, Prof.E C Umeano and Mr Osita Ossai fortheir genuine assistance.Nze Nwali T C is equally appreciated for his friendly support

The researchers profound gratitude and deep appreciation go to Dr (Mrs) EbereObetta, Mrs Oge Agbo, Mr Adene Friday, Mrs M Obetta,Mrs Onyish C.N,Mrs EzeP.O, my Colleagues, friends and others too numerous to mention here for their verysupportive roles and encouragement that eventually made the completion of this work

a reality Thanks to U.K Computers for her patience in formatting and printing thework

Very big thanks to the researcher’s wife and children for their support andunderstanding

Finally, the researcher expresses his undiluted gratitude and appreciation to theAlmighty God for his protection and guidance that eventually brought this work tofruition May He receive all glory, all power and adoration

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Relationship among Teachers’ Competence, Control Orientation,

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Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour/Reasoned Action 34

Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory of Self-Efficacy Belief 36

Studies on teachers’ competence and students’ achievement 39

Studies on Teachers’ Competence and Students’ Interest 42

Studies on teachers’ competence and students’ self-efficacy belief 45

Studies on teachers’ control orientation and students’ achievement 47

Studies on teachers’ control orientation and students’ interest 51

Studies on teachers’ control orientation and students self efficacy belief 53

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, EDUCATIONAL

IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUMMARY

Suggestions for Further Studies 87

APPENDICES

B: Distribution of Secondary Schools by Education Zones

and Local Government Areas in Enugu State 121

C: Number of Public Secondary School in Enugu State

D: Continuous Assessment Data Collection Profoma for the

2014/2015 SS II Student in Their 2013/14 SS I Academic

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LIST OF TABLES

1: Regression analysis of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ competence and their mean achievement score in mathematics 66

2: Regression analysis of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ control orientation and their mean achievement score in

3: Regression analysis of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ competence and their mean interest rating in mathematics 68

4: Regression analysis of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ control orientation and their mean interest rating in

5: Regression analysis of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ competence and their mean self-efficacy belief rating in

6: Regression analysis of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ control orientation and their mean self-efficacy belief

7: Analysis of variance of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ competence and their mean achievement in mathematics 73

8: Analysis of variance of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ control orientation and their mean achievement score in

9: Analysis of variance of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ competence and their mean interest rating in mathematics 74

10: Analysis of variance of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ control orientation and their mean interest rating in

11: Analysis of variance of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ competence and their mean self-efficacy belief rating in

12: Analysis of variance of the relationship between students’ perception

of teachers’ control orientation and their mean self-efficacy belief

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LIST OF FIGURE

1: Schematic representation of the relationship among students’ perception

of teachers’ competence, control orientation and students’interst,self-efficacy belief and achievement in mathematics

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ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to determine students’ perception of teachers’ competence, teachersclassroom control orientation as correlates of students’ interest, self-efficacy belief andachievement in mathematics Six research questions and six corresponding null hypotheses wereformulated and tested at p < 0.05 level of probability The study utilized a correlation researchdesign The study was carried out in Enugu State of Nigeria comprising six Education zonesnamely: Agbani, Awgu, Enugu, Nsukka, Obolla-Afor and Udi The population of the study was

25, 559 senior secondary two students in the public secondary schools in Enugu State A stage sampling technique was used to sample 1212 senior secondary class two students for thestudy Five instruments: Teacher’s Competence Questionnaire (TCQ), Teachers’ ControlOrientation Rating Scale (TCORS), Students’ Mathematics Interest Rating Scale (SMIRS),Students’ Mathematics Self-Efficacy Belief Questionnaire (SMSEBQ) and Students’ MathematicsContinuous Assessment Data Collection Proforma(SMCADCP) were developed and used fordata collection for the study The TCQ, TCORS, SMIRS and SMESBQ were face validated byspecialists in the field of study and Cronbach’s alpha method was utilized to determine theinternal consistency reliability of the items which yielded a reliability estimate of 0.79, 0.76, 0.93and 0.96 respectively for four sets of instruments The researcher administered the instrumentswith the help of three research assistants to facilitate the study and cover the scope The students’continuous assessment scores in mathematics for four terms were lifted from the progressregisters of the classes involved, the average of which represents the students achievement inmathematics The data collected were analyzed using multiple linear regression to answer theresearch questions while the hypothesis were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05level of significance Wilson’s interpretation of the value “r” was adopted in order to describe therelationship among the variables It was found out that there were very low positive relationshipamong students’ perception of teachers’ competence (r =0.084),teachers’ control orientation(r

multi-=0.045) and students mean achievement score in mathematics Students perception of teacherscompetence(r=0.100) and the mean interest rating in mathematics has a significant but very lowpositive relationship students’ perception of teachers’ control orientation(r =0.383) and theirmean interest rating in mathematics has a low positive relationship.There was a very low positiverelationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence(r =0.045) and their mean self-efficacy belief rating in mathematics There was a low positive relationship between students’perception of teachers’ control orientation(r =0.313) and their mean self-efficacy belief rating inmathematics Among the educational implications of the findings was that students’ perception

of teachers’ competence and control orientation can be a veritable tool for enhancing students’interest and self efficacy belief in mathematics Based on the findings, the followingrecommendations, among others were made: Stakeholders in the education industries shouldencourage teachers through workshop and seminars to adopt a humanistic teacher controlorientation as a friendly teaching strategy to enhance students’ interest, self-efficacy belief andachievement in mathematics Teachers should also be encouraged to use innovative teachingmethods that are consistent with the teaching and learning contexts which stimulate students’interest, self-efficacy and achievement in mathematics Government should ensure that in-servicetraining, workshops and seminars are organized for teachers on regular basis so as to update andimprove their teaching skills and knowledge

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CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION Background of the Study

In Nigeria today, greater emphasis is placed on industrial and technologicaldevelopment As a result, students at all levels of schooling are encouraged to take upscience and technology related subjects Mathematics as a subject cuts across all thesciences and pervades literally every field of human endeavour, playing a fundamental role

in the economic development of a country (Terlla, 2007).Ekwueme and Meremikwu(2013)stated that no nation can hope to achieve any measure of scientific and technologicaladvancement without proper foundation in school mathematics and science.Salman (2005)

as cited in Abakpa and Iji (2011) described mathematics as a precursor of scientificdiscoveries and inventions Thus, the learning of mathematics has become imperative inevery society since the citizens need to cope with the fast changing development in scienceand technology

Consequently, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry ofEducation, gave prominence to mathematics by making it a core subject at the primary andsecondary school levels, thereby according it a central place in the school curriculum.According to the National Policy on Education, Mathematics is a compulsory subject forevery child of school age so that he or she can acquire the appropriate mathematical skillsthat will enable him or her cope with life challenges (Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN),2004) This is also aimed at laying a sound basis for scientific and critical thinking, givingthe child opportunities for developing manipulative skills that will enable him or her tofunction effectively in the society within the limits of his or her capacity

In spite of the relative importance of mathematics in the overall economicdevelopment of a country, researches show that there is increasingly poor achievement in

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the subject among secondary school students ( Awolola, 2010; Abakpa & Iji, 2011; Onyishi,2014) etc Achievement, according to Ugwu (2008) can be defined as a measure of learner’slevel of knowledge, skills or performance Achievement is seen by Brown (2005), as thelevel of goal accomplishment Achievement was also defined as the extent of success orfailure of goal accomplishment in a given/specified content which the learner has earlierbeen exposed to (Eze, 2003) Achievement has been perceived by Uka(2008) as theprogressive realization of predetermined valuable goal.Uka added that it is a journey that is

on “going’ but it is not an event Achievement is the attainment of a worthwhile goal(Santrok, 2005) Deductively, achievement can be looked at as a demonstration ofcompetence over a given task(s) and the ability of the students to express their intellectualcapabilities in mathematical concepts The trend of poor achievements in mathematics hasbeen confirmed by the recent Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results released

by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for the years 2012 to 2015 For instance,the WAEC result analysis revealed that only 38.81%, 36.57%, 31.28% and 38.68% of thecandidates obtained credit passes and above in the years 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015respectively throughout the states including Enugu state.Taiwo(2014) confirmed this uglysituation and revealed that in 2012,about 61percent of the students who enrolled and sat forthe WAEC examination failed, rising up to 63 percent failure in 2013 and over 70percent in2014.In 2015,65percent failed (Abah & Adebayo,2015) These uninspiring achievements insenior secondary certificate examinations (SSCE) are causes for concern

A number of conferences and workshops have been organized with a view toaddressing the problems of poor achievements in mathematics (Ezeahurukwe, 2010).Similarly, a number of strategies have been recommended for teaching so that students candevelop interest and achieve better in mathematics These include the use of: (a) discoveryapproach of teaching (b) use of teaching aids (c) appropriate practical work among others

According to Azuka(2001),discovery approach of learning is a method whereby thelearner is guided by the teacher to discover mathematical facts and formulae throughobservations and organized activities In this approach, the teacher provides the necessaryteaching materials and guides the students to carry out some activities which would leadthem to arrive at new knowledge This approach according to Azuka enables students toactively participate in the learning process and discover things for themselves For moststudents, practical work provides the most effective means by which understanding ofmathematics and science can develop This is because when a subject is presented as a mass

of sheer facts, students are unable to form patterns and establish meaningful relations amongthe stimuli, or link them with their own past experiences, the result of which is a distortedconcept formation and a distressing tendency to avoid the subject later in life (Elliot et al2002).This means that until a child practicalizes a concept or participates in the learningprocess, he or she cannot understand the concept hence, the likelihood of poor achievement Teaching aids help to make mathematical concepts real and demystify the mysteries

of mathematics, thereby arousing and sustaining the interest of students in teaching (Azuka,2001).Most teachers in our school system do not use interesting teaching aids in theclassroom and this further compounds the difficulties of the teaching and learning ofmathematics This is why the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) Abuja in 1989developed mathematical kits for primary and secondary schools used for the re training ofteachers all over the country This would help to rekindle and sustain interest and self-efficacy in the study of mathematics and mathematical sciences at all levels for a betterachievement in mathematics Other corporate organizations such as Promasidors NigeriaLimited (Makers of Cowbell Milks) and Macmillan publishers have programmes forsecondary school students aimed at reawakening secondary school students’ interest inmathematics Examples of such programmes include the 2008 and 2009 Cowbell National

Secondary School Mathematics competition and the 2008 Macmillan workshop on effectiveteaching of mathematics

Despite these efforts, students’ interest in mathematics continues to wane andconsequently mathematics achievements at all levels of education in Nigeria has notimproved to a satisfactory level Trends in research in western countries tend to suggest thatstudents’ perception of their teachers’ competence and control orientation has the potential

of influencing their interest, self-efficacy belief and achievement in mathematics (Pozo,

2008 & Barnett, 2003)

Teacher’s competence is the ability of the teacher to deliver quality professionalservices designed to increase the probability of successful learning (Edmund, 2001).Competence is usually associated with high professional performance Hence, competencecould be seen as the successful performance of a task through the use of knowledge, skillsand judgments Competence can also be referred to as a state of being functionally suitable

in the performance of a duty A competent person is therefore capable of certain acts oractions Such a person is capable of the actions required to achieve an intended outcome.Competence was explained by Westra (2001) to be strongly associated with the ability tomaster complex situations and goes beyond the level of knowledge and skills to include anexplanation of how knowledge and skills are applied in effective ways An importantcharacteristic of a competent teacher according to Gutek, (2004) is that the teacherencourages students to reflect on social realities and empowers them to transform theexisting conditions that shape their lives.Moreover,a competent teacher is the one whoengages students in dialogue and manages through dialogue to achieve genuinelearning.This is because when students and teachers engage in shared critical dialogue, theymutually create and construct knowledge instead of passively transmitting it They canshare their experiences, reflect upon them and finally make critical evaluation regarding the

way they themselves have obtained that knowledge and experiences A competent teacher,according to Ugbe (2000) is the one who abandons the educational “chains”of depositing,receiving, memorizing and repeating knowledge on students’ behalf but rather promotesconsciousness to students and helps them become conscious beings who adopt a concept ofconsciousness upon the world.

There is a direct link in the field of education between teachers’ professionalcompetence and students’ performance (Anselmus, 2011) A competent mathematics teacherwould be one who can effectively and efficiently help his or her students to build anddevelop mathematical competencies Therefore, a competent mathematics teacher is likely

to produce students with high achievement in mathematics Teachers’ competence wouldtherefore be seen as the ability of the teacher to produce desired result in the course of his orher duty as a teacher

Research evidences tend to show that students’ perception of their teachers’competence could relate to their interest,self-efficacy belief and achievement (Barndtt,Matters & Jackwon, 2005; Pozo, Reballoeso & Ternards, 2000) Students usually evaluatetheir teachers according to their capabilities to teach a subject matter; their sensitivity tostudents’ individual needs (CollingGoid, 2010); their ability to develop personal relationshipwith the students (Kutrick & Jules, 2002) Students’ perception of positive relationship withtheir teachers could contribute to success in academic settings (Grolnick & Ryan, 2001;Skinner & Welltorn, 2003) Such perceptions may be associated with increased motivation,interest and achievement in academics among students (Murdock & Miller, 2002; Patrick,Ryan & Kaplan, 2007) Such perception may also be associated with increased confidenceand self-esteem (Barker 1999, Shann, 1999)

Embedded in teacher’ competence is the issue of teachers’ control orientation.Teachers’ control orientation is a label associated with various acquirable and identifiable

sets of consistent classroom behaviours by the teachers regardless of the content beingtaught (Cont & Sweborn, 2003) It provides teachers with a means for cognitivelyorganizing, comprehending and evaluating their everyday world i.e the classroom (Gutek,2004).It also provides teachers with a set of ontological assumptions about students withwhom they interact every day Thus teachers’ control orientation constitute a criticalintermediary between the teachers and the strategies they adopt to maintain an orderlyclassroom environment (Wiseman & Hunt, 2008) Such strategies include authoritative,authoritarian and humanist control According to Heimlich and Norland (2008), teachers’control orientation is a critical component in determining the extent of students’ learning,since teachers provide the vital human connection between the content, the environment andthe learners Teachers’ control orientation can operationally be perceived as the controlstyles which teachers adopt in the classroom to ensure effective teaching and learning thatcan guarantee students’ success There are two main aspects of teachers’ control orientation

as identified by Hoy (2001) which the present study explored: humanistic and authoritarianteachers’ control orientation The rigidly traditional school serves as a model forauthoritarian control orientation This kind of organization provides a highly controlledsetting concerned primarily with the maintenance of order Students are stereotyped in terms

of their appearance, and behaviour Teachers do not attempt to understandstudents’misbehaviour as they view misbehavior as bad and believe that irresponsible andundisplined students should be controlled through punitive sanctions Watchful mistrust andautocratic control are the critical aspect of authoritarian perspective Acording to Hunenburyand Mankowsky (2000), authoritarian teachers manifest suspicions and distrust ofstudents ,often addressing students in an unpleasant and angry manner; reacting personallyand judgmentally towards students who misbehave

Teachers with humanistic control orientation on the other hand stress the importance

of the individuality of each student and the creation of an atmosphere to meet wide range ofstudents’ needs (Agne, Greenwood & Millar, 2004) Teachers classified as humanistic arepatient, congenial and approachable by students Such teachers are responsive to students’suggestions and ideas, and encourage students’ self discipline and independence

The model for humanistic orientation is the school conceived of as an educationalcommunity in which members learn through interaction and experience (Hoy, 2001).Students’ learning and behavior are viewed in psychological and sociological terms ratherthan moralistic ones The withdrawn student is seen just as much of a problem as thetroublesome one Teachers believe that students can learn to be responsible and self-regulating individuals Moreover, the humanistic teacher is optimistic about the students andhas open and friendly relations with students.The humanistic oriented teachers desire ademocratic classroom with its attendance flexibility in status and rules, open channels oftwo-way communication and increased self determination Teachers and students are willing

to act on their own volition and accept responsibility for their action

Four categories of teacher control versus autonomy construct were identified by Deciand Ryan (1995) namely: high control, moderate control, moderate autonomous and highlyautonomous The highly controlling teachers use tangible external motivators or sanctions toensure that students learn The moderate controlling teachers appeal to the students’internalized sense of obligation The moderately autonomous teachers encourage thestudents to use social comparison information which emphasize understanding how his orher peers diagnose and solve the same problem The highly autonomous teachers encouragethe child to diagnose his or her problem, generate a solution and try it out for him or herself.Interest has also been identified as a critical determining factor in students’self-efficacy andachievement

Interest is defined by Anekwe (2006) as the feeling one has in the course of wanting

to know or learn more about somebody or something Okebukola (2002) saw interest as alearned response of liking or preferring It involves the selection and ranking of responsesalong a like-dislike continuum Obodo (2002) defined interest as the attraction which forces

or compels a child to respond to a particular stimulus It is an aspect of affective domain thathas to do with one’s readiness to like or dislike something Interest is a subjective feeling ofconcentration or persisting tendency to pay attention and enjoy some activities orcontent(Imoke & Agwagah, 2006) In this study, Interest is operationally explained as afeeling of curiosity or concern about something that makes attention turn towards it Whenstudents are interested in something, they have no difficulty in concentrating on it.Consequently, Koller, Baumert and Schnabel (2001), maintained that there is a significantassociation between students’ interest, achievement and their self-efficacy belief inmathematics and other sciences and technology related subjects

Interest in a significant factor in students’ academic lives; it affects their classroombehaviour, and as a result, future success (Santrock, 2009) Precious research also shows thatinterest positively contributes to mathematics acheivment, for example Matteson (2011)found that mathematics teachers firmly believed in the importance of interest on thestudents’ performance The researcher emphasized that, for the students to become life-longlearners, educators need to develop their interest and encourage them to learn for the sake oflearning

Interest is a multifaceted phenomenon and can be viewed from differentperspectives depending on the level of specificity Personal interest reflects the person’srelatively stable evaluative orientation toward a certain object (Krap, Hidi & Renninger,1992), where as situational interest refers to the transitory emotional state aroused in aspecifc situation or by features of an activity (Schraw, 1997) As reviewed by Schraw and

Lehman (2011), situational interest was found to have a positive effect on textcomprehension, the production of writeen responses, and achievement among other things

The view of interest as an emotion provides a perspective to considering how interestinfluences task engagement In her broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions,Fredrickson (2001) argues that interest broadens the momentary thought action tendency ofexploration by arousing feeling of involvement that aim at increasing knowledge andexperience

Given this great importance of student’s interest for their learning processes, it ishighly problematic that interest substantially declines during secondary school (Gottfriedand Fleming, 2001)

This decline occurs particularly in maethamtics

(Frenzel, Goetz & Watt, 2010)

Generally, there has been a persistent decline of students interest in maths, whichsubsequently results in poor achievements in the subject This is evident in the recentSenior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results released by the West AfricanExamination Council (WAEC) for the years 2012 to 2015 For instance the result analysisrevealed that only 38.8%, 36.57%, 31.28%, and 38.68% of the candidates obtained creditpasses and above in the years, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively through out the statesincluding Enugu State

Self-efficacy belief has been identified as an important motivational factor thatinfluences learning and performance According to Bandura (1991) self-efficacy is people’beliefs in their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action to attain goals Bandura(1998) argued that a strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personalwellbeing in many ways People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficulttask as challenges to be mastered than threats to be avoided Such an efficacious outlook

fosters intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities Self-efficacy was seen bySkaavik and Bong (2003) as being future-oriented and represents an individual’s use of selfperception in successfully accomplishing a particular task with the target behaviour clearlyspecified Self-efficacy belief may be seen as beliefs about how competent one is tosuccessfully complete a specific task Self-efficacy in mathematic may include the belief incorrect application of strategies such as computation and problem solving; working onunfamiliar problems; meta-cognitive strategies and working in small groups (Schunk, 2001).

Literature tends to suggest that students with higher mathematics self-efficacy beliefpersist longer on difficult mathematics problems and are more accurate in mathematicscomputation than those lower in mathematics self-efficacy (Hoffman & Shraw, 2009).Bandura’s (1997) social cognitive theory proposed that self efficacy is most stronglyaffected by one’s previous performance, observing others (e.g watching peer succeed at atask), and verbal persuasion (e.g encouragement from parents and teachers) Althoughstudies indicate that manipulating features of learning environment along these theoreticalpremises has immediate and detectable effects on self-efficacy (Shunk & Hanson, 1985), itseems possible also that students’ perception of their learning environment could affect theirself-efficacy beliefs This is anchored on Ame’s (1992) argument that learning environmentmay not provide a common experience for all students and that students’ subjectiveinterpretations of their environment determine how they respond to it This argument givescredence to Bandura’s (1997) theory which suggests that self-efficacy belief is influenced byhow an individual interprets relevant information

Research evidence has revealed that both self efficacy and interest seen to improvethe quality of engagement by broadening one’s thought-action tendencies, strengtheningcommitment, and enhancing attention and persistence It is also likely that changes in self-efficacy and interest during a task influence students performance This is because,

according to (Silvia, 2005), the changes in efficacy beliefs and interest within a task followsimilar logic Impliedly, observed declined in students’ interest lead to their low self efficacywith the attendance poor performance in methamtics in Enugu State as revaled by theanalysis of the recent senior school certificate result of 2012 to 2015 by the West AfricanExamination Council (WAEC)

It is therefore in the light of these expositions that the researcher deemed it necessary

to find out the relationship among students’ perception of teachers’competence,teachers’control orientation and students’interest,self efficacy belief and mathematics achievement inEnugu state

Statement of the Problem

Mathematics is one subject that cuts across all the sciences and pervades literallyevery field of human endeavour It plays a fundamental role in the economic, scientific andtechnological development of a country The need for students’ good knowledge ofmathematics in Nigeria that is rapidly undergoing social change and scientific/technologicalprogress cannot therefore be over emphasized Consequently, great emphasis is placed uponthe teaching and learning of mathematics because of its utility to individuals as well as thenation at large The subject is so indispensable to national goals and objectives that it ismade compulsory at the basic and secondary school levels In the area of the study, it isworrisome that the achievements of students in the subject in external examinations aredeclining steadily This situation has become a source of concern to all stakeholders inmathematics education in the country It is believed that if the achievements of students inthis subject continue to decline unabated, it may affect both the economic and technologicalgrowth of Nigeria Consequently, both the federal and state governments through theirvarious co-ordinating bodies have made significant efforts aimed at overcoming the problem

of students’ poor achievement, low self-efficacy belief and lack of interest in mathematics in

Nigerian schools For instance, The WAEC Chief Examiner’s Report (2009) suggested thatteachers should help students improve their achievement and develop interest inmathematics by reducing the abstractness of mathematics to reduce their apathy and fear ofthe subject

The government on the other hand has strengthened its policy on the schoolsupervision to make teachers more committed to duty; has encouraged science teachersthrough science allowance; and to attend conferences, seminars and in-service course(National Education Research and Development Centre (NERDC), 2007; Federal Ministry

of Education (FME, 2008) Also researchers are unanimous in their submissions that theprevalent lecture-based method of teaching mathematics in primary and secondary schools

in Nigeria does not equip learners with necessary skills, beliefs, motivation, interest andknowledge to approach mathematical problems and learning tasks in an efficient andsuccessful way These researchers have advocated for the alternative classroom practicesthat can facilitate the process leading to effective learning of mathematics (Ale, 2006;Andile & Moses, 2006)

However, in spite of these efforts, evidence showed that Nigerian students stillrecord poor achievements in mathematics including Enugu state Although mathematicsresearchers and educators have identified poor physical environment,obsolete teachingmethods,lack of qualified teachers among others as being responsible for students’lack ofinteres, low self efficacy belief and poor achievement in mathematics

However,there seemed to be paucityof literature ascertaining wether teachers’competence and teachers’ classroom control orientation as percieved by students correlatewth their interest, self efficacy belief and achievement in mathematics .Therefore, theproblem of the study posed as a question is: What relationship exist among

students’perception of teachers’ competence,teachers’classroom control orientation andstudents’ interest,self efficacy belief and mathematics achievement in Enugu state

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to investigate students’ perception of teachers’competence, teachers’ classroom control orientation as correlates of students’ interest, self-efficacy belief and achievement in mathematics

Specifically, the study seeks to determine the:

1 relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence and their meanachievement score in mathematics

2 relationship between students’ perception of teachers classroom control orientationand their mean achievement score in mathematics

3 relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence and their meaninterest rating in mathematics

4 relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ classroom control orientationand their mean interest rating in mathematics

5 relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence and their meanself-efficacy belief rating in mathematics?

6 relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ control orientation and theirmean self- efficacy belief rating in mathematics

Significance of the Study

The significance of this study derives from the theoretical and practical basis of therelationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence, teachers’ controlorientation and their interest, self efficacy belief and achievement in mathematics Thisstudy has some theoretical significance for kyriacou’s theory of teacher effectiveness This

theory is based on the interactionstic perspectives in which the individuals and theenvironment influence, and are influenced by each other in a continuous interaction Itprovided a framework to make learning easier and teaching more rewarding by layingemphasy on three basic ingredients of effective teaching namely; attentiveness,receptiveness and appropriateness This may result to a favourable perception of theteachers’ in the classroom by the students, which invariably could lead to improved interest,self-efficacy belief and achievements in mathematics This study may therefore likelyimprove teaching and learning of mathematics and improve students’ performance in bothinternal and external examinations Practically, the findings of the study may be beneficial tostudents, mathematics teachers, psychologists, school counselors, schooladministrators/supervisors and teacher educators when published in journals, discussed inacademic conferences and workshops

The teachers and students may be enabled to realize the importance of personalfactors in learning and the need to develop a climate in the classroom which supportseffective teaching and learning This involves modifying teaching methodologies andmaintaining order without undermining learners’ self-esteem, hence the need to establishcordial relationship with the students This may promote students’ positive perception of theteachers which invariably may enhance students’ interest and self-efficacy belief inmathematics with encouraging achievements.The findinds of this study may as well benefiteducational psychologists when published.This is premised on the fact that counselinginformation and strategies will be provided for them on how best to counselteachers,students e.t.c

The school counselors will benefit from the findings of this study This is becausethey will see the need to keep records of students who persistently absent themselves from

mathematics classes on account of how they perceive the mathematics teachers with a view

to offering the needed counseling services

For the school administrators/supervisors, the findings of this study will enable them

to widen their supervision scope to include students’ evaluation of their teachers’effectiveness This, they could do by administering to the students, teachers’ rating scale(TRS) This, is premised on the fact that, if one really wishes to know what the studentsthink of the various educational experiences and the degree to which they accept them, andfind satisfaction in them, one could ask the students and rely on the information they giverather than the information received from teachers and examiners There is therefore everyneed to use students in the evaluation of teachers’ competence and classroom controlorientation

The teacher educators on their part will benefit from the findings of this study This

is because it will expose them to the need for regular workshops and seminars to beincorporated in their teacher training programmes Such workshops and seminars shouldthen be anchored on what constitutes a competent teacher with good classroom orientation

In conclusion, the result of this study will serve as a reference for further studies onrelated topics

Scope of the Study

The geographical scope of this study was Eungu state located at the South- Easternpart of Nigeria.It has six education zones: Agbani, Awgu,Enugu, Obllo Nsukka and Udi.Thestudy was delimited to only senior secondary class two (SSII) students in Enugu State Theindependent variables in this study include teachers’ competence and classroom controlorientation while the dependent variables are interest, self-efficacy belief and achievement

in mathematics The study examined students’ perception of teachers’ competence, teachers’

classroom control orientation as correlates of students’ interest, self-efficacy belief andachievement in mathematics.

Research Questions

The following research questions were generated to guide the study:

1 What is the relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence andtheir mean achievement score in mathematics?

2 What is the relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ control orientationand their mean achievement score in mathematics?

3 What is the relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence andtheir mean interest rating in mathematics?

4 What is the relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ control orientationand their mean interest rating in mathematics?

5 What is the relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence andtheir mean self-efficacy belief rating in mathematics?

6 What is the relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ control orientationand their mean self-efficacy belief rating in mathematics?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses (Ho) were tested at 0.05 level of significance

Ho1: There is no significant relationship between students’ perception of teachers’competence and their mean achievement score in mathematics

Ho2” There is no significant relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ controlorientation and their mean achievement score in mathematics

Ho3: The relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ competence and their meaninterest rating in mathematics is not significant

Ho4: The relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ control orientation and theirmean interest rating in mathematics is not significant.

Ho5: There is no significant relationship between students’ perception of teachers’competence and their mean self-efficacy belief rating in mathematics

Ho6: The relationship between students’ perception of teachers’ control orientation and theirmean self-efficacy belief rating is not significant

CHAPTER TWOREVIEW OF LITERATURE

Reviewed literature pertinent to the present study is presented under the followingheadings:

Kyriacou’s(1997) theory of Teacher Effectiveness

Ajzen’s(1985) theory of planned Behaviour (TPB)

Bandura’s social cognitive theory of Self-Efficacy Belief (2001)

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly’s Flow Theory and undivided Interest(1987)

Empirical Studies

Teachers’ Competence and Students’ Achievement

Teachers Competence and Student Interest

Teachers Competence and Students Self-Efficacy Belief

Teachers Control Orientation and Students’ Achievement

Teachers Control Orientation and Students’ Interest

Teachers’ Control Orientation and Students Self Efficacy belief in Mathematics

Summary of Literature Review

18

Conceptual Framework

Teachers’ Competence

Competence was viewed by Moulder (2004) as a comprehensive concept for abilities

or capabilities of people or organization to achieve particular levels of performance.According to Oloitan and Ali (1997), competence is described as the successful performance

of a task through the use of knowledge, skills, attitude and judgments It is a state of beingfunctionally suitable in the performance of a duty Edmund (2001) presented two differentconceptions of competence First, competence according to Edmund is taken as behaviour orperformance, the doing of particular things independently of purpose or intent Secondly,competence is taken as command of knowledge or skill involving choosing and knowingwhy the choice is appropriate Obiweluozo (2010) sees competence as the ability to dosomething to a level that is accepted Ely in Enete, Amusa and Eze (2009) viewedcompetence as essential knowledge and skills obtainable in a profession, and these, theprofessionals in the field must possess and be able to demonstrate at optimal level ofacquisition and functioning In other words, competence refers to the possession ofknowledge, ability, good attitudes and skills to do what is needed Teacher have beenshown to have an important influence on students’ academic achievement and they also play

a crucial role in educational attainment because teachers are ultimately responsible fortranslating policy into action and principles based on practice during interaction with thestudents (Afe, 2001) This however depends on the teachers’ level of competence

Teacher as stated in the National Policy of Education (2004) is an individual that hasbeen professionally trained in any teacher education programmes such as from college ofEducation, faculties of Education, Institutes of Education, among others The teacher byimplication is solely responsible for helping his/her nation attain her dreams and aspirations.Teacher quality and competency need to be guaranteed to achieve this goal

Teachers’ competence has been conceptualized as the possession of the necessaryteaching skills and abilities and the demonstration of such skills and abilities in such waysand manners that reflect positively on students’ achievement (Uchefuna, 2001) In otherwords teacher competence is the ability of the teachers to produce desired results in thecourse of their duties as teachers Similarly, Renu (2006), conceptualized teachercompetence as the possession of a set of components of professional knowledge base andthe activation of these components in the actual teaching situations in response to contextualfactors This gives credence to Illukena’s (2004) assertion that for any training programme

on teacher education to guarantee competent teacher, it is only when that teacherdemonstrates the skills once out there in the field For Illukena, the competencies that aprofessional teacher should have are those that promote effective teaching and learning,those that transform the teaching and learning environments and values the learners ashaving the potentials to achieve, and that the teachers is therefore to help the learner achievethat full potential

Teacher competence according to Obiweluozo, (2010) involves the ability to planproperly, provide effective instruction and evaluate the learning using appropriate methodsand techniques to perform a host of activities inside and outside the classroom In otherwords, teacher competence refers to the right ways of conveying units of knowledge,application and skills to students The right way here, according to Obiwelozo (2010),includes knowledge of content, processes, methods and means of conveying content Acompetent teacher possesses certain amount of knowledge and certain attitude and skills.The teacher demonstrates the ability to create classroom conditions and climate, which areconducive for students’ learning and achievement

Teacher competence in this study involves the ability of the teacher to presentteaching contents in understandable ways through the application of adequate and

appropriate classroom management that will encourage the participation, development andcommitment of students

Teachers’ Control Orientation

Classroom management is frequently conceptualized as a matter of control ratherthan as a dimension of curriculum, instruction and over all classroom climates (Duke, 2000).Teachers’ control orientation is therefore a critical component in determining the extent ofstudents’ learning since teachers provide the vital human connections between the content,the environment and the learners (Heimlich and Norland, 1994)

In their view, Deci and Ryan (1995) defined Teachers’ control Orientation by twoconstruct: autonomy versus control on one hand and humanistic versus authoritarian on theother hand According to them, teachers who tend to motivate students to learn through theuse external controls such as rewards and comparisons are considered controlling, whereasthose who sought to minimize salient external controls and instead attempt to take thestudents’ internal frame of reference with respects to problems, ideas and initiatives areconsidered as autonomy supportive They further identified four categories of the teachers’control versus autonomy construct: highly control, moderate control, highly autonomous andmoderate autonomous The highly controlling teachers use tangible external motivators orsanctions to ensure that students learn

The moderate controlling teachers appeal to the students’ internalized sense ofobligation The highly autonomy supportive teachers encourage the child to diagnose his/herproblem, generate a solution and try it out for himself or herself, whereas the moderatelyautonomy teachers encourage the students to use social comparison information whichemphasizes understanding how his or her peers diagnose and solve the same problem Theteachers who incline to the humanistic orientation stress the importance of the individuality

of each student and the creation of an atmosphere to meet wide range of students’ needs

According to Greenwood and Millar, (1994), teachers classified as humanistic are patient,congenial and easily approached by the students

In contrast to the humanistic orientation, authoritarian orientation depicts aclassroom atmosphere with a rigid and highly controlling setting concerned primarily withthe maintenance of order According to Hunenburg and Mankowsky (2000), authoritarianteachers manifest suspicious and distrust of students, often addressing them in an unpleasantand angry way Students might perceive these situations differently which may influencetheir interest, self-efficacy belief and achievement in mathematics, hence the need for thisstudy

Teachers’ control orientation was conceptualized by Cont and Sweborn (1996) as alabel associated with various acquirable and identifiable sets of consistent classroombehaviour by the teachers regardless of the content that is being taught Similarly, Javis(2004) sees Teachers’ control orientation as the totality of teachers’ philosophy, beliefs,values and behaviours towards the classroom teaching and learning activities It is thecontrol styles which teachers adopt in the classroom to ensure effective teaching andlearning that can guarantee students’ success

In their own view, Agne, Greenwood and Millan (2004), defined teacher controlorientation as consisting of attitude, behviours, values and practices in dealing with children

in the school In his own argument, Deci (2001) asserted that teacher control orientationtranslate into teachers’ behaviour which students can readily perceive According to himwhen they perceive that their teachers care about them or listen to them, their motive to learn

is enhanced This might have a positive relation with the students’ interest, self efficacybelief and achievement in mathematics This was collaborated by Culling (2000) whoopined that secondary school students evaluate their teachers according to their capability to

teach a subject matter, their sensitivity to students’ individual needs’ and the teachers’relationship with the students

Ngwoke and Akaneme (2010) defined teachers’ control orientation as the direction

to which teacher discipline strategies tend on a continuum of learner) control In other words, it is the discipline strategies teachers employ to effect thedelivery of instruction for improved teaching and learning They further pointed out that thediscipline strategies which teachers employ in the course of their teaching may be charted as

internal-external(teacher-a continuum to depict internal-external(teacher-a pinternal-external(teacher-attern of totinternal-external(teacher-al teinternal-external(teacher-acher-control on the one end internal-external(teacher-and totinternal-external(teacher-al leinternal-external(teacher-arnercontrol on the other end of the continuum This implies that teacher control orientation;whether the students should be controlled or be given freedom to make decision determinesthe structure of classroom which in turn influences their motive to learn The present studyexamined the relationships between teachers’ control orientation as perceived by thestudents and students’ interest, self efficacy belief and achievement in mathematics In thisstudy, teacher control orientation means the different pedagogical strategies which teachersemploy in the classroom to ensure the effective delivery of instructions

Interest

According to Kobella cited in Okebukola (2002) interest is explained as a learned

response of liking or preferring It involves the selection and ranking of responses along alike-dislike continuum Interest according to Okebukola is directed towards activities andobjects, and so determines attention Thus, interest, is a latent attention and attention isinterest in action When students are interested in something, they have no difficulty inconcentrating on it He concludes that to have an interest in an object is to be ready to payattention to it

Interest was seen by Hunter and Csikeszentmihalyi (2003) as an affect with both traitand state properties At the trait level, individual interest is a valuing of an interest object, so

much so that it becomes identified with the self Having such interest is essential forpsychological health, he added At the state level, situational interest is identified as one ofthe several basic human emotions and is considered to be similar to the motivational state ofcuriosity (Silva, 2001)

As detailed in Carmichael and Hay (2008), students’ interest in mathematics willhave both trait and state like properties At the trait level, individual interest is described as a

“person’s relatively enduring predisposition to re-engage in particular content over time”(Hide and Renninger, (2006) At the state level, situational interest is more transitory and ischaracterized by a positive emotion akin to excitement This study will however focus onindividual interest

In a learning context, students who are motivated out of an interest in a subjectproduce qualitatively superior learning outcomes than their less interested peers (Schiefele,1991) Consequently, there is a significant association between students’ interest and theiracademic achievement in that domain and their future choice of subjects (Koller, Baumert &Schnabel, 2001)

Two types of interest were explained by Onyemerekeya(1998) which

are:-(i) Direct, Natural or spontaneous interest and

(ii) Indirect or Acquired interest According to Onymerekeya, when direct interest isaroused, the learner will pay without compulsion This is so because the subject under studywill be so attractive and interesting to the students that they do not have to make anydetermined effort to pay attention Onyemerekeya also pointed out that interest is arousedwhen the subject matter of the lesson has some connection with the students’ own lives andexperiences and or their basic needs

On the other hand, indirect or acquired interest is a situation when students payattention on realizing that the subject in question has some bearing on their relation to praise

or reward, studying to pass promotion examination etc when students are faced with thestudy of subject in which they are not naturally interested, they usually have to force theirminds to concentrate The students under this situation are giving the subject voluntaryattention Onyemarekeya (1998), further asserted that teachers need to arouse learners’direct interest in learning activities This they can do through positive motivation, use of avariety of instructional materials, using a variety of questioning skills, especially higherorder and divergent questions as well as active participation by the learners in classactivities Onyemerekeya added that once aroused, efforts must be made by the teachers tosustain the interest Such activities as projects, assignments, free and uninhibited interaction

in the class can be useful for sustaining interest This is a case for competent teachers withgood classroom orientation

Researchers have demonstrated that interest influences the type of learning thatoccurs Specifically, beyond increasing the amount of recall, interest seems to have asubstantial influence on the quality of learning Eccles (2007) gave a report on a study thatinvestigated the link between liking a subject and doing well in the subject He found thatintrinsic motivation, a construct that is related to individual interest increases students level

of achievement Schiefele (1991) also demonstrated that students who are motivated out of

an interest in the subject produce qualitatively superior learning outcomes than their lessinterested peers Consequently, there is a significant association between students’ interestand their academic achievement (Koller, Banmert and Schnabel, 2001)

In his opinion,Anekwe (2006) noted that interest can be seen as the feeling one has

in the course of wanting to know or learn more about somebody or something Anekweinsisted that interest from educational or psychological point of view is a motivationalconstruct Anekwe further explained that interest is very important in understanding anindividual for properly guiding his future activities Anekwe however pointed out that when

a learner has extreme dislike for an activity, the learner prefers not to take part in it,withdraws from it or has as little as possible interaction with it Interest in this study isconceptualized as a feeling of curiosity or concern about something that makes attention turntowards it This implies that a student who is interested in his or her studies pays attention ordevotes time to them

Concept of Self-Efficacy Belief

Self-efficacy belief has been identified as an important motivational factor thatinfluences learning and performance Introduced by Bandura (1977), self-efficacy beliefrefers to people’s beliefs in their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action toattain goals, (Bandura, 1991) A multidimensional construct, self-efficacy belief influenceshuman functioning directly and indirectly through its effects on determinace of behaviour,(Bandura, 1997) such as motivation, self-regulation, attribution and emotion

Self-efficacy belief is not merely a self-recognition of being good in school, butjudgments of capability in task specific skills to accomplish goals related to learning andperformance (Pintrich and Shunk, 2002) For instance, self-efficacy in mathematics includethe self belief in strategies such as computation, and problem solving, working onunfamiliar problems, meta cognitive strategies, and working in small groups (Schunk, 2000,2001)

Self-efficacy is future-oriented and represents an individual’s use of self-perceptions

in successfully accomplishing a particular task with the target behaviour clearly specified.(Skaavik and Bong, 2003) According to Bandura (1986), self-efficacy refers to the beliefsabout how competent one is to successfully complete a specified tasks Bandura identifiedtwo dimensions of self-efficacy: personal self efficacy and outcome expectancy Personalself efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the course of actionrequired to produce a given attainment whereas outcome expectancy is a judgment of the

likely consequence such performance will produce (Bandura, 1997) Personal self efficacy,

he noted is future-oriented belief about the level of competence a person expects to display

in a given situation Bandura’s second factor, outcome expectancy, is the notion based onthe expected success of that action

According to Bandura (1998), a strong sense of efficacy enhances humanaccomplishments and personal well being in many ways People with high assurance in theircapabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered than threats to be avoided.Such an efficacious outlook fosters intrinsic interests and deep engrossment in activities.They set themselves challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them Theyheighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure They quickly recover their sense ofefficacy after failures or setbacks They attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficientknowledge and skills which are acquirable

They approach threatening situations with assurance that they can exercise controlover them Such an efficacious outlook produces personal accomplishments, reduces stressand lowers vulnerability to depression

In contrast, people who doubt their capabilities shy away from difficult tasks whichthey view as personal threats They have low aspiration and weak commitment to the goalsthey choose to pursue When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on their personaldeficiencies on the objects they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcome rather thanconcentrate on how to perform successfully They slacken their efforts and give up quickly

in the face of difficulties They are slow to recover their sense of efficacy following failures

or setbacks They fall victims to stress and depression

Students’ belief about their efficacy according to Pintrich and Shunk (2002) can bedeveloped by a competent teacher with good classroom control orientation through thefollowing ways:

1 Ensuring that the students have the capability to learn what is being taught

2 Providing information on the relevance of learning in students’ lives

3 Content tailored such that students understand it, and instructional presentations cateringfor individual differences

4 Setting learning goals and guiding students to monitor daily progress

5 Feedback on progress in learning and rewards linked to progress

6 Using modes that help develop self-efficacy and increase motivation

7 In group situations, designing tasks which can be successfully attained if members workindustriously

In the same vein, Bandura (1994) argued that people’s beliefs about their efficacycan be developed by four main sources of influence According to him, the most effectiveway of creating a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences Success builds arobust belief in one’s personal efficacy while failures undermine it, especially if failuresoccur before a sense of efficacy is firmly established

The second way of creating and strengthening self belief of efficacy is through thevicarious experiences provided by social models Seeing people succeed by sustained effortsraises observers’ belief that they too posses the capabilities to master and succeed incomparable and similar activities By the same token, observing others fail despite highefforts lowers observers’ judgment of their own efficacy and thus undermines their efforts

Social persuasion is a third way of strengthening people’s belief that they have what

it takes to succeed For instance, people who are persuaded verbally that they possess thecapabilities to master given activities are likely to mobilize greater effort and sustain it than

if they harbor self-doubts and dwell on personal deficiencies when problems arise

The fourth way of modifying self beliefs is to reduce people’s stress reactions andalter their negative emotional proclivities and interpretation of their physical stress It is not