Abstract

BESTER, Garfield  and  KUFAKUNESU, Moses. The relationship between irrational beliefs, socio-affective variables and secondary school learners' achievement in mathematics. IJTL [online]. 2021, vol.16, n.2, pp.118-132. ISSN 2519-5670.

Theoretically, the study was based on ten irrational beliefs that Ellis identified as part of his ABC-model. Activating events (A) in a mathematics context can trigger certain beliefs (B) that may have affective consequences (C), which, in turn, can have an influence on achievement in mathematics. The main objective of the research was to investigate how these irrational beliefs and affective consequences relate to one another and to achievement in mathematics. A sample of 306 secondary school learners was selected. The learners completed questionnaires on irrational beliefs and socio-affective variables. Their achievement scores in Mathematics were also obtained. The analysis of the data showed that irrational beliefs correlate negatively with mathematics achievement. Self-concept and teacher-learner relationship had a partially mediating effect on the relationship between irrational beliefs and achievement in mathematics. The direct and indirect effects of irrational beliefs explained as much as 40% of the variance in mathematics achievement. Most teachers of mathematics will at one stage or another be confronted with learners' irrational beliefs, and it is, therefore, recommended that teachers know how such beliefs should be disputed and replaced with rational beliefs as a way of enhancing academic performance in mathematics.

Keywords : irrational beliefs; mathematics achievement; stress; anxiety; motivation; self-concept; teacher-learner relationships; parental involvement.

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