A Survey Research Of Middle School Students' Mathematics Self-efficacy And Self-evaluation And Its Calibrations

Non-cognitive research in mathematics education is increasingly popular recently.Mathematics self-efficacy has also received extensive attention as a core concept in motivation theory.Shanghai students showed a significantly higher level of mathematics self-efficacy in the recent PISA test than other regions and countries,but the level of mathematical self-concept was low,which deserves our attention.Therefore,this study surveyed a group of seventh graders from one public middle school in Hangzhou on their self-efficacy before solving math problems and selfevaluation after solving math problems based on one school-based math test paper.Three research questions were addressed: First,what is the level of mathematics selfefficacy and self-evaluation of middle school students? Are there differences among gender,different academic levels,and different levels of math tasks? Second,how accurate are students' student mathematics self-efficacy calibration and self-evaluation calibration? Are there any differences among gender,different academics levels,and different degrees of difficulty in math tasks? Third,what are the relations between mathematical self-efficacy,self-evaluation,its calibration and mathematical performance?This study used a questionnaire survey combined with the interview method.The results found that(1)the level of mathematics self-efficacy of middle school students was higher than that of self-evaluation,and there was little difference between students' self-efficacy and actual performance,but self-evaluation was slightly lower than the actual performance.(2)As the difficulty of mathematics tasks increased,the accuracy of self-efficacy and self-evaluation decreased,and the level of self-efficacy and selfevaluation increased.(3)The higher the student's academic level,the higher their level of self-efficacy and self-evaluation.And weak students had significantly lower level than other students.The accuracy of self-efficacy increased with the improvement of the academic level.For accuracy of self-evaluation,top students were more accurate in the calibration,and students in the medium degree had the greatest deviation from their assessment.(4)There was no significant difference in mathematics self-efficacy,selfevaluation,and its calibrations between boys and girls,but the disqualified girls had a significantly lower efficacy than boys.(5)The higher the student's self-efficacy level,the better their mathematics achievement and the higher the self-evaluation level.The more accurate the student's self-efficacy calibration,the better their mathematical performance.