The Effect of Mathematics Self-Efficacy on Anxiety of Teaching Mathematics

The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of mathematics self-efficacy belief on anxiety of teaching mathematics. The participants of the study consist of 42 mathematics teacher candidates in the Department of Mathematics Education, Faculty of Education. The scale of mathematics self-efficacy, developed by Umay (2001), and the scale of mathematics teaching anxiety, developed by Peker (2006), was enrolled as measurement tools. Pearson correlation was used for the correlation between teacher candidates’ average points from the both scales. The results revealed that there was a significant and negative correlation mathematics self-efficacy beliefs and anxiety of teaching mathematics. This result means that the students’ mathematics teaching anxiety decreases as their mathematics self-efficacy beliefs increase. On the other hand, it was seen that mathematics self-efficacy belief explains 35% of the variance in teaching mathematics anxiety. Besides, it was determined that mathematics teacher candidates’ mathematics teaching anxiety was at low level, and mathematics efficacy beliefs are at high level. Mathematics self-efficacy refers to the belief or perception that one is capable of organizing and executing the actions necessary to succeed at a given mathematical task. For this aim, their knowledge and abilities relating mathematical concepts and also their confidences about their mathematical abilities must be enhanced.