The attitudes towards mathematics: analysis in a multicultural context

Students often exhibit negative attitudes towards mathematics, manifested through rejection, denial, frustration, and avoidance, among others. These attitudes can have a negative influence on academic performance. This work aims to analyse the relationship between attitudes towards mathematics and gender, cultural background, academic year, and academic performance. An Ex Post Facto causal-comparative study was used, with a cross-sectional design, involving the participation of 1101 students of first and second year of Secondary Education. The Attitudes Towards Mathematics in Intercultural Classrooms-Revised (AMAI-R) questionnaire, consisting of 4 components (Affective, Anxiety Control, Behavioural or Study Habits, and Cognitive), was used. The results indicate that there are no differences concerning the gender variable, although women show more anxiety and more negative affective reactions. About grade, second-year students show worse attitudes towards mathematics than firs-year students. Regarding the cultural group, differences are observed according to the ethnic group to which they belong. In addition, students who fail mathematics or repeat grades exhibit worse attitudes. Therefore, the contribution of this research is the possibility that teachers can use a valid, reliable, and easy-to-apply questionnaire in the classroom at the beginning of the course to find out the students’ attitudes, detect negative ones, and counteract their influence on the teaching-learning process, or implement intervention programmes for students to modify them and reduce gender gaps in the STEM field.