The relationship between undergraduate students’ mathematics anxiety and motivation to learn mathematics:a mixed method study

This paper aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between math anxiety and motivation to learn math by a mix-method design. Statistical analysis was conducted utilising quantitative survey data, and a qualitative method was used to analyse two focus groups' data. The survey sample consisted of 116 undergraduate students from Universities in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and China. The academic Motivation Toward Mathematics Scale (AMTMS) and Single-Item Math Anxiety Scale (SIMA) were used as data collection tools. Descriptive analysis and correlation analysis were used for data analysis. The qualitative study sample consisted of 12 students divided into high and low-motivation groups. First-cycle and second-cycle coding methods with thematic analysis were conducted to generate themes. According to the study results, there was a negative relationship between mathematics anxiety and motivation. Specifically, the amotivation sub-scale had the strongest positive correlation with math anxiety. Conversely, the intrinsic regulation sub-scale had the strongest negative correlation with math anxiety. The focus group offered detailed insights that helped explain the results and provided subjective views on the relationships between the two variables. This study can aid educators in moderating students' math anxiety and motivation, developing effective teaching strategies, and promoting student math achievement. The study's qualitative results could also inform future research on the cause and effect of math anxiety and motivation.