Relationship between Student Anxiety and Achievement in Mathematics among Secondary School Students in Ganze District Kilifi County Kenya

Abstract

This article is based on a bigger study which sought to establish the relationship between affective factors with students` achievement in mathematics. The article shares findings from the study objective to establish the relationship between student anxiety and achievement in mathematics. Descriptive Survey research design on a sample size of 250 students used a mathematics anxiety rating scale and mathematics achievement test to collect quantitative data. The computational formula of Pearson`s product-moment correlation coefficient  determined the null hypothesis, “there is no statistically significant relationship between student anxiety and achievement in mathematics”. The study found that there was a statistically significant positive correlation coefficient of  between student anxiety and achievement in mathematics. This implies that student anxiety is indirectly proportional to achievement in mathematics. However, analysis based on gender differences contradicts the stereotype that females are always of higher anxiety levels towards mathematics than males. Males in mixed-boarding and mixed-day secondary schools indicated lower anxiety levels than females, unlike in single-sex boarding secondary schools where both genders indicated similar anxiety levels towards mathematics. The study recommends mathematics teachers have to build up friendly situation that avoids anxiety in a classroom environment for better achievement since student anxiety is indirectly proportional to achievement in mathematics